It's 3 a.m. and I'm Tired of Silence

It is 2:29 a.m. on a Saturday morning and I have absolutely no idea where this blogpost will go.

 I do know,however, that I just returned from David Platt's Secret Church and that I am completely and utterly moved by Jesus Christ in so many ways. If you don't know what Secret Church is then I encourage you to find out more, but basically David Platt teaches the 100% gospel truth for 6-7 hours straight, highlighting areas around the world that actually do have to gather in secret churches. If you have read his book "Radical" then you know how this got started and the meaning behind it and how incredibly powerful it can be not only for those who are actually meeting in secret churches, pouring over the word of God with their lives literally at stake, but also for those of us who just want more Jesus. If you have time, then I think you might even be able to find the podcast of the secret church and I HIGHLY encourage you to spend 7 hours with David Platt exploring some of the most crucial, controversial topics that Christians have to deal with these days. I do not know what I am about to write, but I do know that God did not make me to be silent and I can not be silent after what I just heard.

Tonight we dealt with a number of topics, some of the major ones being abortion, homosexuality, sexual immorality, marriage problems, slavery, poverty, racial boundaries, among many other things. Ultimately the main thing that really resonated with me was that the truth on these controversial topics can not simply be glossed over because we as a church have an utter fear of society.

When is the last time you sat down at a church sermon and your preacher talked at length about how homosexuality is a flat out sin? Or how abortion statistically has defeated the number of deaths in the holocaust again and again? Racial Discrimination? The government? Yeah, I can't remember either. That's because churches just don't. We as a Christian society have completely bought into this whole idea of "come as you are" and "judgement free zones". While these types of things are very important and should indeed be regarded as gospel truths, we have completely blown them out of context. We have let society scare us into avoiding pointing out the wrongs of sin in fear of the hundreds of thousands of fingers pointed at the church with the labels "hypocrites", "bigots", "homophobes", "racists", you name it. We have churches today that preach that being gay is perfectly acceptable, that being faithful to God will result in financial blessings of which you should not have to share, that knowing Jesus should be comfortable, and more. And to what prevail?

BILLIONS of people are dying without the gospel. People who will never know the forgiveness, the wholeness, the never ending love that is Jesus Christ who died for our sins! As a church we should realize that the sins of a homosexual are no worse than the sins of sexual impurity that a heterosexual couple may commit, however we must not remain silent on a controversial issue in fear that it will offend someone. In case you haven't read the very words of Jesus, almost everything that Jesus calls us to do are completely controversial! We just don't read it as this way because our modern westernized culture has taken the radical words of Jesus Christ and shaped them into something we can find comfortable. Spoiler alert, Jesus calls us all to a radical life. We were made to be absolutely uncomfortable. We were destined to work and then work and then work some more and to give most of what we make to the poor or the widowed or whatever other cause you feel like you should give to. We were called to die to the desires of our own flesh, flee from sin as much as we can, and let Jesus walk with us every step of the way. We were not called to live as we please, to buy multiple homes and store up possessions for ourselves, to utterly ignore the problems around us or the billions dying in the world without Jesus. We were not called to live only in America, to justify that people in America "need Jesus too", simply as an excuse to not go to the nations. (If you are called to America, by all means, serve America! If you are using it as an excuse to provide yourself comfort, that is a sin and a direct violation of the Bible). Contrary to popular belief in the south, the white race is not the superior race. It is very biblically evident that we all came from the same race, therefore how can we possibly regard one as better? How could we possibly justify opposing things such as interracial couples? As long as both parties revere God, it is completely biblical (The only times God told his people to not marry interracially were in times when the other race were not godly and would lead his people astray). Opposing everything Dave Ramsey might teach, our finances are not ours. We should handle God's money with care and with education, but we should not hold on to it. I, as well as most of North America, am so incredibly guilty of this. While most of the world is living on $1-$2 dollars a day, the average American lives on no less than $90. This should shake us all to our very cores. My heart hurts thinking that I as well as almost everyone I know has bought into the world's view on material objects. The effects of our lust of money are deadly. It is complete foolishness to tell ourselves it is not our jobs to support others financially, be it someone who lives down the street from us, across the country, or across the world. There is nothing in the Bible that tells us this is okay, that your hoarding of money can be justified because someone in another country doesn't deserve it. That they don't handle it in an educated way, therefore they don't deserve it. Please, tell me where Jesus said anything close to that, because so many of us live as if he said it time and time again.

I realize that was a lot of biblical vomit, but my heart is absolutely full. 200 pages of a study guide filled with truths that for so long I have felt guilty for believing. Living in a society where anything goes while I believe very controversial biblical truths, especially in positions with political influence, has been one of if not the biggest struggle in my life. To take a stance on something knowing someone will call me a bigot, tell me that I serve an oppressive religion (Oh my goodness, if only they knew...Forgive them, Father), write off my beliefs as irrelevant because I live in the bible belt, am white, for the most part attend church at baptist churches.... that, readers, has been so hard.

I don't stand by my beliefs because "that's how I was raised". I don't stand by my beliefs because that's what white southern baptists in the bible belt of middle-class believe. I stand by my beliefs because they're biblical. I stand by my beliefs because they are 100% without a doubt biblically supported and truthful. They are things that are biblical fact and to argue them is to change the very words of God and at that point change a religion. I stand by them because at one point in my life I hit rock-bottom and knew that I was void of God and I was in need of a Savior. I felt Jesus Christ, I knew without a doubt that God was real and that I was feeling him and absolutely nothing anyone can ever tell me will ever change that belief. I stand by them because I am a sinner in so many different ways, no better than any gay, feminist, receiver of an abortion, killer, rapist, you name it. I stand by them because I have seen utterly broken people in the midst of the darkest points of their lives turn to our God, cry out his name, and have their lives absolutely changed. I believe in them because I have seen the hand of God reach down and touch my life forever. And believe me when I say that even the thought of death in persecution will never EVER make me back down from those beliefs. I will defend my Jesus until the very end of my human body if that is what it takes because, though most of our modern day church simply doesn't want to hear it, that's what we are called to do if it comes down to it.

So, after a very long post that probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense but is just what is swimming around in my heart right now, I challenge you to discover God's truths. In the next few days I might be writing a post on each issue addressed tonight. The thoughts portrayed in this blog are very honest, but I assure you they are all grounded in truth and scripture, and most of all love. I believe we were not called to serve ourselves or to twist the words of the bible into things that benefit our sinful desires, and I probably offended quite a few-if not all of my readers. Not a single person does not struggle with a sin addressed in this, including myself. And that's okay. But we MUST be aware of it. I hope you look for the posts to come on topics, my takes of what David Platt led us through, and again I encourage you to look for his secret church podcast.

Is It 2016 Yet?

If you know me, you know that there are some things that I am slightly obsessed with, a few of which are Lilly Pulitzer anything, anything related to dogs, and the US of A. I am involved with various political organizations, such as the American Legion Auxilary Volunteer Girls State, my school's Student Government Association, Tennessee Intercollegiate Student Legislature (TISL), and other small things. I have had a love of America ever since I remember, always holding the upmost respect for those in the armed forces, even seriously considering joining myself as an engineer for the Air Force. I believe in voting informed, holding the government accountable, and knowing what is going on in the government. I also believe in voting for the best candidate for any race. The one that lines up with what you believe on individual topics, not just what you think you believe in a political party. If you look at the history of political parties, you will see that what we deem "democratic" or "republican" was actually the opposite at one point, which explains why we see a lot of old timers who obviously believe in Republican values voting die-hard Democratically until they die. This is one of many examples that I use to urge you not just to look into candidates within the party you think you are affiliated with, but to both parties. Not only will it help you better select, it will also assist you in not sounding like an idiot when someone asks you why you don't like a certain candidate.
With that being said,
 Party politics by rule works something like this:
-Members of the Republican/Democratic party are SUPER Republicans/Democrats. They are usually much more concerned about getting their party re-elected than they are about electing a candidate somewhere in the middle. So as we can see in our Republican primary candidates, for example, the candidates all "believe" the most Republican things they can support. Anti-abortion, traditional definition of marriage, lower taxes, border control, repealing Obamacare (my new favorite because that will be a really big disappointment whenever they get elected into office), all that jazz.  When the Republicans elect their super Republican and they have to begin campaigning to the rest of the nation, their views tend to get a little less Republican-ized. Funny, huh? Then, when they get to office, we see that almost all of the things that they promise actually do not happen. Did Obama fix the economy? No! Does Obama even have control over the economy? Not a lot, no. Sure, presidents can do some things to help boost the economy, but for the most part (unless they pull an FDR and do some things that are actually kind of illegal) presidents have no control. This phenomenon in which almost every citizen slowly becomes dissatisfied with the president that they loved so much when they voted is called the Expectations Gap, and you can thank the Great Depression for the fact that we now expect much more from our President than he can actually legally deliver. Which is the long way of saying that the best Presidential candidate for the nation actually is probably somewhere between a Republican candidate and a Democratic candidate but they don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting elected, so to speak.

*takes deep breath*

Now that that's out of the way, I will say that for the upcoming Presidential election I will be voting Republican. I find that I (most of the time) agree with Republicans more, however I ALWAYS will make sure I know what every candidate believes.However, there is no Democratic candidate that I agree with (in fact I would almost sell a limb to assure that Hillary does NOT get elected, jokingly saying that the only person that has been in office dumber than her was Jimmy Carter), so I will have to vote for the "lesser of two evils", a super Republican. Luckily I really am liking the Republican candidates and honestly can't choose who I like most. In all honestly, they all believe almost the same things (at least for the primary, for reasons described above). So here are my notes on 3 (excluding Jeb Bush, because lets not kid ourselves)

Rand Paul: We've seen some good things come out of Rand Paul, such as his 2013 fillibuster moment which was AWESOME (political nerd coming out, sorry). I really like knowing that he is willing to stand up (for long periods of time, even!) for what is right. As I said, he pretty much thinks the same way right now as the rest of the candidates, so that's all I got.

Ted Cruz: I've heard good things and I've read some of the things he has voted on/believes in, but honestly I don't know much about him besides the fact that my parents like him. So for right now, I'm still soul searching on this one.

Marco Rubio: This is where it gets interesting, if you like strategy. We have also seen good things out him, but strategy is where it gets really important for the Republican party. First off, Marco Rubio has gotten some national recognition before which is really important for portions of citizens who vote on names that they may have heard before, not on policy. Also, he is a Latino American. Our Latino numbers are increasing very rapidly and they stereotypically vote democratically, as that's usually who gives them the most benefits. However, if we had a presidential candidate that was one of them, would that make them more inclined to vote for him? Granted, Jeb Bush is also a friend of the Latinos, however I believe that Marco Rubio has the upper hand being as he is one. And 3/4ths of America doesn't hate his brother. That helps too. Anyway, this fact could really assist the Republicans in getting the upper-hand of what is bound to be some lame feminist movement with Hillary (I am a woman engineer, if anyone knows about sexism it is me. So believe me when I say we have far fewer issues than what feminists will lead you to believe).

That's just my two-cents on the whole issue there. We still have a large chunk of time before we need to seriously start considering who to vote for, but it's nice to know where they stand now and where their platforms morph to over the process as a whole. With that being said, I want to take some time to debunk what so many Americans believe:

The President is not our King. No matter whether you like Obama or dislike Obama (Or Bush, or any other president), he (or she?) does NOT hold all of the power. Take it from someone who takes Government classes because I think they are fun, the American Government system is so incredibly in-depth and well thought-out that our checks and balances really do work. Yes, there have been historical instances where presidential power probably did come a little close to over-stepping it's  bounds. There are probably other instances involving Congress or the Supreme Court, but was there an uprising about that? No. MUCH more Americans vote in the presidential election than in the congressional election, which is really crazy because CONGRESS WRITES YOUR LAWS. Congress is the most important branch of the government (not just my opinion, read the constitution) and next to no one gives a flip about them because this country is under the impression that the President runs this thing. HE DOES NOT. Now, do I want to see Hillary Clinton elected? Heck no! I don't agree with literally anything that she says. While the executive branch does not have all the power, it does have some and that should be respected and accounted for. But if Hillary Clinton becomes president do I honestly think that America will burst into flames (aside from the jokes I will inevitably make)? No, of course not. Because when that happens she will suck so bad that Republicans will inevitably have control of the House and Senate and the whole system will jam up as it is now and policy will get nowhere until we can get someone else in there. That's exactly what we are seeing in the office today. I do not like Obama even a little, however he has not run our country into the ground. He has done some really stupid things, like Obamacare for example (something I hope gets taken care of in the next few years, though it will be a booger to revise). He also has over-utilized executive actions (most of what he has done has been executive actions, not orders as the media would have you to believe, which means that it is much less formal and holds much less legality, making it much less scary. Feel better?), I agree, but in all honestly all he has done, with the help of Congress, is make a bunch of gridlock on legislation and taken a lot of vacations. So that's my long spiel about how 'Merica actually works. Sorry, it had to be said.

I hope that was coherent as describing the many facets of our government is way complicated. Again, we will have to see where candidates are in a year or so, but that's just my thoughts on where it is going. Remember to be informed and read up on what is going on for the election next year and to vote at all costs! Not everyone (intact almost no one) has the right and the power that you hold and it's only by you holding the government accountable that we get to keep America great. God bless.