Jaron's Journal
| March 25, 2010, 9:43 PM Weekly Blog #5: Where am I politically? |
| Alright lot, I've got to make this quick as I have some serious Post-NaNoWriMo-ing to do.
In thinking about politics, I must say that I don't enjoy the Republican/Democratic dichotomy very much. We're just so blasted...polar! And I'm not a fan of ridiculous extremes. In any case, as with almost anything, I'm right in the middle somewhere politically. Here's some things that are important, or have become important to me. 1. Environment: I really must side with democrats/liberals on this one. I don't know why we think it's alright to trash our environment with such abandon. We've got to live here, right? We're commanded to be good stewards of the place, right? 2. Abortion: I must side with conservatives on this issue. To me, life is life is life. There is no neat line. I could go on saying that it is my "choice" to kill people in my life who bother me; but then I would be labeled a sociopath, wouldn't I? Does it make any sense for me to be like, "Well if I'd only gotten to this earlier..." 3. Big/small government: Wow, I'm...split on this one. We need...a good sized government? I'm tending towards the small here... 4. Taxing the rich: I'm...more on the democratic side here. Those of us who make more money can stand to be taxed can't we? But then again I totally understand the "we should do what we want with our money" argument. I only wish that we'd give it away more freely just to do it in those instances, but that's against human nature unfortunately... Ha, ha, that's all I've got for right now! Forgive my over-generalizations, as I'm not clavicle-deep into politics. I only know I'm somewhere in the middle. I like what republicans say about some things; I like what democrats say about other things. Can't we form another party...? 4 Comments | Leave a Comment |
| March 17, 2010, 9:09 PM Weekly blog #4: Drinking |
| Alright, lot, I'm seriously going to try and make this a lot more weekly. I've got this scheduled into my iPod, so hopefully I won't forget from here on out.
As it's a busy day, according to my iPod (I have to workout, Blog, write, and work on music ((I don't think I have time for the last bit (((can we get three deep in parantheses? ((((I hope so)))) ))) )) ), I'm going to be short and write about something that annoys me within Christian subculture; namely, drinking alcohol. It seems to me that our culture as a whole seems to be very all-or-nothing. For instance: you're either a Republican or a Democrat; you're either over-eating or your dieting; you're nothing in between. This is especially true in regards to drinking. Either you don't touch one drop, or you're a drunkard. But there can be something in between, right? There's a wonderful concept, known as "temperance," which is basically the quality of "not doing something in excess". In the realm of drinking, this means having a drink now and then; but not getting addicted to the stuff. But as Christians, I feel we are almost superstitious when it comes to drinking. We fall on the "don't even touch the stuff" side of the fence. We feel that it isn't bad "technically," but we feel that we shouldn't--in case it causes anyone to stumble. And as such teach others that it's a very good idea to completely abstain from it as well and become tempted to look down on those who do drink. But in doing the latter, aren't we perpetuating a dichotomy that shouldn't exist in the first place? Treating drinking as "evil," and passing judgment on others (who don't necessarily do it in excess) who aren't technically doing wrong, might have just the effect we are hoping to avoid--creating unnecessary distance in our relationships with others and causing them to stumble (because they may not feel they are doing wrong; and they would be justified in thinking so if they weren't drinking in excess). So what am I saying? Well, abstain from alcohol if you feel it is necessary, but be careful in how you judge others of doing the same as it may be perceived as overly legalistic. And legalism, as I've seen, tends to scare non-christian's away. That's all :) I could speak more about this, but I must be getting to writing. Thoughts? 6 Comments | Leave a Comment |