Who has RIGHTS to the Rivers of Justice?

I get so tired of Americans who are not able to see beyond their own noses -- and some even openly admit it!

I got emotional and even angry in a conversation with someone yesterday. I initially braced myself at her opening question, "so who are you going to vote for?" At first I was glad she went on without giving me a chance to respond. But then she used a label intended to demonize people - even Christians - who are "liberal." I could feel my blood-pressure rising as I pinched my lips closed tightly. She went on that she just can't imagine any Christian who would vote for someone who agrees with abortion. I could contain myself no longer.

I stood up and adamantly retorted that I did not think that any of those candidates "agreed" abortion was a GOOD choice. They simply are promoting an individual's right to choice just like individuals have rights to bear arms. Good or bad, our country is proud of its rights. The ethical side to our rights (like killing unborn babies and killing people with our guns) is certainly something we should be concerned about. But quite honestly, there is a missing link somewhere in our society when we need to start making moral and ethical choices purely matters of law and politics.

I hear people naively state, "we are a Christian nation." Then where are the societal systems and structures like family and the church who should be teaching and reaching out to those who are struggling with such moral and ethical choices. Instead of demonizing the people involved, can we rather ask, "what is wrong with the system within which these kinds of choices keep being made?" Ethics and morals should be taught and reinforced within the Church and family, but neither structures are very strong anymore in a society that looks to the media and market for moral guidance. And now, instead of placing the responsibility on the family and Church, we place it on the politicians. Afterall you need to blame someone other than yourself for why people do bad things.

But the truth is that you can't make every single ethical choice a legal/political matter, for then it is no longer a choice and no longer a matter of ethics. Rather it becomes law, something reinforced purely punitively. I said it before, I get sick and tired of Christians listing the "sins" we need to vote against, namely, abortion and homosexuality. Again, it proves the narrow-mindedness of many American Christians and their leaders. It also exposes manipulative leadership, using politics to separate the sheep from the goats. When will Christians stop worrying purely about justice issues that affect themselves and rise up against systemic issues that need a voice for justice?

In my conversation with this woman, I got very emotional at the point when she started going on how abortion guides her vote because one time when she worked in the hospital she saw a baby after it had been aborted. I agreed how much of a sin and tragedy abortion is, but has she EVER thought of all the BORN children of hundreds and thousands of other moms in the world who SAW their own children blasted and burned by our bombs . . . who weep and mourn and feel the pain daily for entire families and villages that have been wiped out because of the LEGALIZED killing we perpetrated in other lands. Who in America is weeping for those children? Who sees pictures of those mothers in their minds when we think about who to vote for? It brought me near to tears.

What if 9/11 was not our only experience of tragedy? What if we had war affecting towns all over the East coast? How would our political perspective change if lots of moms here in America were mourning the destruction of their homes and the loss of their children from war?

The sad truth is that, even if we here in America would have that experience, our ability to identify with those in other countries would last for just a moment. In the next moment we would recover our indignation and anger and pride and reliance on the mightiest military in the world. Our status and power in the world gives us a power perspective -- we CAN fight back . . . we PREVAIL!!! No one will remember to mourn for the victims of the same plight in the rest of the world. They have no power; they have no hope for justice . . . without a stronger voice to advocate for them. We do! We have the voice and we have the power.

I lived for years in a country where US bomb craters as big as a couple houses still speckle the countryside from 30 years ago. Even today, hundreds of people are either killed or maimed each month in SE Asia from land mines planted because of our American agenda there decades ago. Who thinks about those families when the bread-winners of the family can no longer work because they have no legs or an arm? Who thinks about those children who will go hungry, all because of what our country turned a blind eye to 25-30 years ago?

We are so proud of our status in the world, yet we don't want to take responsibility for its impact. We'd rather sit around complaining about our economy and healthcare situation. We'd rather argue about how much a family can make and still get a tax break. We'd rather wimper that we can't take a long vacation this year because of gas prices . . . so "families just might have to go to the shore close by instead," so the news reports say. Well imagine that! At least people are still thinking about vacations! They can't be that bad off!

When will Christians start looking beyond the politics that protect their own comforts and securities to the politics that rob those in the rest of the world of theirs. The Kingdom of God is NOT American!!!! The Kingdom of God is global. Do we think globally when we choose who to vote for? And I mean beyond US interests and how war will affect gas and oil prices. What about killing? What about destruction of the environment? What about the destruction of infrastructures that maim the economies and the ability of people to actually live in the places where we invade? Who in America ever thinks about making war illegal? War is an unethical action we perpetrate in other lands, more than not, against innocent civilians and certainly destroying God's innocent Creation. If we want to think about making something illegal, start with something we can't control here. Start with something that by its very nature is political. Choose politics that address that!

I'm tired of people -- especially Christians -- demonizing politicians or other Christians or anyone because of what party they choose to vote for. Stop using the word "evil" to describe people who are earnest in their pursuits of justice and good leadership of this country which is going down the wrong path. Start reminding each other that PRO-LIFE is broader than a baby in a womb here in America. God cares about LIFE all over the world and so should we. Justice is a river that should flood all places the Kingdom is present . . . how dare we allow America to hoard that precious resource too!