Happy Tattoos Day!

Hey it's tattoos day! So I'm answering some tattoo questions!

Vote The Bible?

A lot of people say we as Christians need to "vote the Bible."  I have even said those very words in the past, though I'll admit that I was more just repeating a line that I've heard a thousand times than truly thinking it through.  So now my question is this: what parts of the Bible should we vote?  Should we vote against men having the right to shave their beards and the sides of their heads?  I have a mo-hawk so I'd be a little put off if it was made into law that I can't shave the sides of my head.  How about making a stand against wearing different types of fabrics together?  Should we vote against women braiding their hair and wearing nice outfits?  Should we vote that women should never speak over men or be leaders over men?  I think I've found a new item for the platform of those sexist candidates.  Should we vote that women should drink cursed water/poison if her husband gets jealous and THINKS she MIGHT have had an affair, causing her to miscarry/abort any child that is not her husbands?  I mean after all, each one of those things are in the Bible (some even in the New Testament).

So do we vote for those things or in our efforts to "vote the Bible" do we get to leave out those verses and pick just the ones we like?

I think somewhere along the lines of "voting the Bible" it truly became 100% political and party partisan.  It became us picking one or two political issues and finding one or two Bible verses to back up our opinion.  Even if those verses were out of context we simply fell back on the words of "I'm just trying to vote the Bible like all Christians should do."  We took those verses and heard the (9 times out of 10) Republican candidate quote them and thought "See! They're voting the Bible just like me," and then fully embraced (though rarely admitted) our partisan bias because they were on the "right" side of the issue.

I don't know much about him nor do I know if he was the first to say this but last week Rev. William Barber spoke at the DNC.  Some of you will immediately write off his words because of where he spoke.  Again that partisan bias coming in.  In that speech he said, "I'm so concerned about those that say so much about what God says so little, while saying so little about what God says so much."

But it's so true isn't it?  You see God is love.  The Bible is packed full with a message of love.  Most Christians call the Bible a "love letter."  And yet so often Christians both politically and religiously use this "love letter" to create walls of prejudice, judgment, and hate.  Instead of not judging unless we ourselves want to be judged, we "vote the Bible."  Instead of taking the plank out of our own eye before worrying about the tiny speck in someone else's, we "vote the Bible."  Instead of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, we fight them on every issue all the while hiding behind the words "Vote the Bible." 

Are we really voting the Bible? Or are we hiding behind a certain political party that has decided to pick one or two issues using one or two Bible verses to spread their political parties agenda? 

At the RNC Senator Ted Cruz said we should vote our conscience in this presidential election.  I would both jokingly and seriously say that if you're voting your conscience you are going to find something wrong with every single person running for president and you might not be able to vote for anybody.  As of today I'm not decided on who to vote for.  I'm considering voting for Jill Stein (Green Party) or Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party).  My Republican friends tell me if I do that I'm basically voting for Hillary Clinton while my Democrat friends tell me I'm basically voting for Donald Trump.  Meanwhile I am rolling my eyes at the friends who are so married to their political parties they couldn't possibly vote outside of them despite having real issues with their own candidate.  Come on guys lol. 

I don't really have a solid conclusion to all of this, to the words "vote the Bible," other than it's basically impossible to vote the entire Bible especially seeing as half of Americans aren't Christians in the first place.  True freedom for all will always offend someone.  I will say this: God is NOT a Republican.  God is NOT a Democrat.  God is NOT a part of the Green Party.  God is NOT a Libertarian.  God is not a part of the Transhumanist party (now that's a weird party LOL). 

You know what God IS?  GOD IS LOVE.  Everything hinges on LOVE!

So next time we get into a political argument (and believe me we will because we're all human beings) let's remember our votes don't matter anyway according to the Bible. 😜