Land of the free?

My family often visits "America's Fourth of July City" for Independence Day and we did this year as well. This place goes all-out for the Fourth.  There are dozens of craft booths, a food alley, carnival rides, historical presentations, concerts, and of course, fireworks--at least two major displays during the week of the Fourth, plus fireworks, firecrackers, and all other manner of explosives going off all over town.

This town knows how to celebrate.

But I wonder--what are we really celebrating?  Are we celebrating our freedom to purchase and light off firecrackers?  Our freedom to overeat and drink too much?

Twice today I saw veterans recognized for their service.  They know what we're celebrating.  They served this country, fought in wars, and know people who gave their lives so that the freedoms our forefathers won could be enjoyed by us today.

We have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion.

But in the name of "tolerance," we've lost the freedom to tell anyone they're wrong.  The citizens of our country are losing jobs to people who aren't citizens, but are given almost all the benefits that a citizen deserves.  It's okay for our country to give weapons to rebels in other countries, but it's frowned upon for an ordinary citizen on our shores to carry a weapon to protect himself and his family.  Anyone can believe in whatever religion/god they want, but try to tell them there's only one God and they've got the wrong one and you'll be shushed.  We have to tolerate everyone, but our beliefs aren't tolerated by anyone.  By calling it a "choice" we've legalized the murder of hundreds of thousands of unborn children who didn't deserve to die.

Are these the "freedoms" that thousands of men and women gave their lives to protect?

Is this really freedom at all?

I love this country, but it makes me sad to see some things that are happening in it.  I'm thankful that I live here, but this isn't the America that it was when Thomas Jefferson did most of the writing of the Declaration of Independence.

So today, I'm thanking God for the freedoms I have, and praying that he blesses this country despite its faults and failures (just as he blesses me despite my sinfulness).

I'm most thankful for the freedom I have in Christ: freedom from sin, freedom from the power of Satan, and freedom from death itself.

I'm free from guilt.  Jesus has destroyed that on the cross.

I'm free from fear.  Satan is vanquished: I have nothing to fear.

I'm free from condemnation.  Jesus took the punishment I deserve and gave me his perfect holiness.

That is freedom that no government, no country, no person can take away.

"Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32

"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and the glory of the children of God." Romans 8:20-21

Why I'm Voting for Romney/Ryan (and why I'm not)

My husband and I just finished watching the vice-presidential political debate.  We watched the presidential one a couple weeks ago.  Watching these debates, and all the other political discussion and ads on TV lately, has reminded me of something: I am NOT voting for either candidate because I agree with them on everything.  Neither of the candidates has a plan with which I completely agree.

That's not a bad thing.  It's also to be expected.  As my dad says, "You're not voting for a person so much as you are for a platform."  The Republican party is one I can stand with on MOST things.  And I feel that after four years of disappointment in what President Obama has done, it's time for the other party to have a go, again, at running the country.

Paul Ryan proved why I like his platform in the debate this evening.  The moderator asked the VP candidates, "You are both Catholic--something that hasn't happened in a presidential race in a long time.  Based on your religion, what are your opinions on abortion?"

The Catholic church's stance on abortion is that it is wrong (because they believe that life begins at conception), with, as Ryan said, the exceptions of rape, incest, and threat to the mother's life.  That is also the stance of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and although I don't agree with it entirely, I can accept it.  Ryan pointed this out, and stated firmly once again his belief that life begins at conception.  He did not back down on this at all.

When posed with the same question, Biden also noted the Catholic church's stance, but that he believed every woman should have the opportunity to choose whether or not she wants to have an abortion.  It's not the government's right, he said, to deny women that opportunity--that right--to do what they want with their own bodies.

(Yes, I am paraphrasing what the men said.)

What I appreciated about Ryan was that he did not back down from saying that abortion is wrong, period.  He didn't contradict what his faith believes about the life of unborn children.  And he did say that yes, in a case of clear right and wrong, it IS the government's right to dictate what people can and can't do.  It's wrong to kill an adult person in cold blood except in cases of self-defense.  The government dictates that and has laws that uphold that.  Abortion should be no different.

So I am voting for Romney and Ryan because they uphold what I believe is right.  I think their plans regarding foreign policy, the war(s) on terrorism, nuclear weapons, and taxes in the US will do a lot of good and are the wisest decisions that the government can make right now.  I have confidence in their character, as much as I can considering they're politicians, and more importantly, I have confidence that God is in control, period, no matter who is in the White House.

That, finally, is what it all comes down to for me.  God is in charge.  Not the President of the United States, technically the most powerful person in the world.  Not the people of the United States who vote that President into office.  Not terrorists who murder those people of the United States.

God is in control.  I have full confidence in that.  No matter what happens politically, in relation to other countries, or to the economy, the fact that God's in charge will not ever change.  I know he will always take care of me.  I know that nothing that happens in the world can affect my eternal salvation.  And I know that God will always give me opportunities to stand up for my faith in him.

God himself does not need defending.  What we can do, and should do, as Christians is to speak up for what is right and denounce what is wrong.  We need to make clear what is of God and his Word and what is not.  That's what matters eternally--not the person who will be in the White House for the next four years.

Rely on God, my friends...not politicians.


P.S.  I'm glad to be writing again.  I've missed it, and I hope to write a little more often starting now.  Thanks to those of you who are still sticking with me!  You are a blessing.