Defense of the Gospel
Defense of the family
Defense of the Church
Defense of the Peace
Letters from a Kinder, Gentler Republic:
In Honor of the Legacy of George HW Bush:
We hold these truths to be self evident…
I honor the respect that George HW Bush paid to that extreme truth, He seemed to really embrace the reality that his personal bias that he had embraced from his youth was his to restore. I hold this to be self evident in his short and single term. He, at first seemed a political patsy and a figurehead. I, personally couldn’t get my head around the term “kinder, gentler”. we are at war, man! was my continual argument. Where is the bite? Where is the outrage that these dear little ones are destroyed every day?
That was my perspective and I was reared in a militant household and had embraced the violent tactics of that upbringing. He had as well and I love him for teaching me that coming to center isn’t enough, even in violent times.
He was a child and an adult in the days of Martin Luther King and had been touched by that faith system intensely, but he seemed to know that his embracing of these tactics had to be expressed in the language of the “GOBC”. He did just that!
He didn’t talk about it much, but Kinder and Gentler were a war cry for the group who couldn’t articulate their newfound repentance and faith in peace and peaceful unification of the country.
I don’t agree with taking the issue of abortion captive to that ideal, but I understand his sentiments, in retrospect. I love him all the more for the embrace of the peaceful tactics of the civil rights movement.
Still, I think his sentiments were true, yet misguided when it comes to the issue of abortion. God doesn’t call us to draw unity at the death of the unborn. We can’t be gentle about the violent ripping of the children from the wombs. And moreover, we cannot use the Church to barter for the unity of the nation. That is wrong! whatever your political persuasion.
Kinder and Gentler Nation refers to race relations in America. I see that now. At the time, I said, "what are you talking about, man! Where is the kindness in what you are doing to the church? where is the gentleness in what you are doing to the people of God in America?" That was a deception of the enemy. We are called to defend the faith. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, not breeding death and not something that we can see. I am learning in my old age that they are not even in debate and discussion. Those techniques are just as carnal and physical as guns and knives, sometimes.
This is about the Legacy of George HW Bush,
who I voted for, inspite of his ambiguity of speech concerning the things that I regard as important in our current political climate, “the life of the unborn”. If we are Christians we are not fighting the civil rights movement for any other group but the unborn, until they aren’t hunted anymore.
I sometimes forget that the earlier generation had an axe to grind about Black and White issues and that is what George HW made clear he was dealing with. He planted another African American on the Bench instead of Thurgood Marshall. He used his term to make a statement about the fact that there are conservative African Americans in this country who have a right to be represented on the bench as well as the liberal ones. Why? that was quite a battle for the 1960’s and 70’s hippified Americans. Liberality in those days meant Blacks opened the door for the other "everybody’s", except the unborn, ie. Homosexuals, etc. If we don’t take it that way, we are missing what the “Revolution” was supposed to be about. NO! Other people groups need representation, But that wasn't what George HW Bush was sent to the Presidency to rectify. He took his task in hand and did that one thing and got accomplished what he was sent to do. We will always have disagreements on policy about things of policy and cooperation, but we can't get tangled in the muck of putting everything in one pot and pulling out whatever comes as the most important topic. We have to address what is before us. I think He showed me that.
Sin is not being a Liberal. Liberal doesn’t mean accepting sinful behaviors and creating a "kinder, gentler" world doesn’t include a blanket statement on who we will reconcile with next. Killing babies and the elderly is still a violence that we must stand against.
The whites who called in the cavalry at every insurrection of the Black man in the 50’s and 60’s had to give some on those issues and Bush was the tool in the shed to make that issue clear to the world. It is a new day for conservatism. Perhaps he went too far and opened the door to compromise on the issues of life and faith. If so, it is our job to close that door, here and now. Read my lips, the Church is not for sale at any price! The Unity of God's church is more important than what people think I am. {my reputation} He really showed us that.
George HW Bush was faithful to the task that was given to him. He didn't compromise his racial bias and embraced a man who was not the same color as he was for Supreme Court. People ridiculed his choice and his Texan style, but he represented the silent and true faith in a God who is growing us all from Faith to faith.
