Jesus vs "Obamacare"

Yesterday across this great nation, groups of impassioned folks gathered around our country in protest of big government and deficit spending. The large gathering I passed here in Medford (which looked more like a Nascar rally) seemed to be protesting what they called “Obamacare”. It got me thinking.
Most of you know me and know that my political views are often considered more liberal than my peers. But I REALLY try to think for myself and look at things with open eyes and through the lens of Christ. The last few years this has forced me to rethink many things.
I struggle with the open rebellion, especially by folks of faith against health care reform. It seems to me that any system which leaves MILLIONS without healthcare needs to be reconsidered….ESPECIALLY by folks of faith. So I was hoping we could have an intelligent conversation about health care here. Here are some thoughts top start the talk:
Regardless of what you think...this issue IS a moral issue! Christians should be concerned about the good of all individuals. Good health is something we should want everyone to have and health care is one of the ways we maintain good health. And when we look at the world around us, it is also a scarce good—the demand very much exceeds the supply. So figuring out how best to see to it that people get quality health care is a legitimate moral concern, and a real concern for Christians. The way I see it...UNIVERSAL care is the only answer.
No person of good will opposes health care. So, the real issues are MUCH more specific: Who is primarily responsible for the health care of individuals and families? How ought laws and institutions be arranged to make quality health care available to people? How do we encourage innovation in health care? How ought tax and economic policy be arranged to achieve the goal of quality, affordable health care for all who want it?
The argument I hear the most is that it is not the governments job to pay for this! The church should do more! While I agree this would be awesome, it is not happening. The only organization large enough to really make a difference here is our Federal government! Why the sudden uproar? Both parties support Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security without nationwide rallies and revolts??? So they must agree that it is appropriate for the government to play a role in providing for the fundamental needs of its citizens in certain situations, and health care seems to be one of them. In fact, providing health care for citizens who cannot afford it is not only the morally right thing to do, it is the economically smart thing to do since numerous studies and economists have proven that emergency room care and other care for non-insured individuals costs the average American about $1,000 in insurance costs per year. Churches play a role in caring for the needy—but they can only provide charity to the extent that they can and it is a limited role for churches. Yet, I truly believe the government should be a “giver of justice” and providing health care for all Americans seems the right thing to do.
Obviously the new plan is not perfect. There are flaws. As a person of faith, I ALWAYS have to be concerned with the right to life, and the issue of abortion. In the current health care plan, this is a HUGE issue! Is life going to be protected? I think that from what I can tell......this is an area where there has been tremendous misinformation and even deliberate distortion of what is REALLY in the bill. This bill provides for the strict segregation of funds that cover abortions from federal funds. It also requires insurance companies to have an annual audit of this segregation of funds that is overseen by the state Commissioner of Insurance. Our taxes are not really going to be pouring into a thriving abortion culture! In many ways it seems (and I am NOT an expert here) that the dreaded “Obamacare” actually goes further than current law by offering positive economic supports to vulnerable pregnant women so that they may more easily be able to choose life for their unborn children and know that they will have the help they need when their child is born!!!! I believe this will actually DECREASE abortion rates.
This is a divisive issue I know. And it is a BIG DEAL. But let’s at least try and find common ground here. There are some things we can ALL agree on! I assume that all Christians agree that health care is a good thing, and that we should want as many people to be able to have as much of it as they need. All Christians, I think, would agree that there’s a difference between that goal, and a particular political policy intended to achieve that goal. We should want policies that help give rise to more access to good health care for more people, without violating other important Christian principles and creating worse problems. And if we follow two thousand years of Christian teaching, Christians should agree that any law that creates positive incentives for abortion and forces people to (effectively) fund abortion for others, while pretending to do otherwise, is unjust.

p.s. (thanks to the latest Relevant Magazine in providing many of these quotes and stats for me)

What does PRO LIFE really Mean?

It is a common combination on cars around this part of the country: some blend of Christian stickers (usually a fish and/or some sort of ProLife statement) combined with some sort of Patriotic support of the Wars in the Middle East (often accompanied by Anti-Obama propaganda as well).

I too am pro-life, but my stance is much different than most of these folks I imagine. To me, ProLife is not as black and white and simple as it's often made out to be. To me, ProLife does NOT just cover the unborn, but also those who are currently living as well!

So I wonder how these other folks reconcile a story like this.....

STORY

Any thoughts?

The Evil Speech

Now THIS is funny! :)

History in the making...

There was quite a lot going on this calendar week. Monday we celebrated the work of a man who gave his life in pursuit of the promise that we were all equal. He worked and sacrificed for the belief that “God created all mankind in His image…”(Gen 1:27). And Tuesday we witnessed history as some of the fruits of that work saw America swear in our first black president. Regardless of your political leanings, it was most definitely a stirring moment and monumental in American history. It was incredible.

The event brought to mind the scripture that says “Praise be to God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them…”(Daniel 2:20-21a). Yes, we have free will on earth to do as we choose, but I like to believe that my God still holds the reigns of everything in the universe! It is my prayer that we remember God in this time of political buzz and changes. One of my least favorite things about election seasons is how quickly we seem to forget that God is still in control of this world! Man will be man, and evil will be done, but I know God hears the cries of His people!

I urge us today to pray for our nation. Pray that we will be people who return to striving for righteousness and goodness. Pray we will be a holy nation that calls on His name. Pray that we will seek peace. Pray we will make decisions in love. Pray we will hold high God’s standards. Pray we will love others. Pray we will be a light of honor and holiness.

I also urge us to pray for our new leader. Pray that he will look to God for wisdom. Pray that he will truly serve the “least of these”. Pray that he will lead with morals and honesty. Pray he will value life. Pray that He will truly be a man of God above all else.

Most of us reading this are Americans. But let us not forget that our first citizenship belongs to the kingdom of God! We serve the “King of Kings”. May our hope, faith and trust be not in man, but in Him alone.

From this...





to this...

Letter to the President

I have read many fake letters today to Obama. Some were good, others were totally absurd. So, I thought I'd take a shot. I took some from all of them, added my own words and here we go:

Dear President Obama,
I congratulate you on a victory in a fight between two good men. I pledge that I for one will be praying for you. Your speech was amazing and historic last night. I pray you hold true to what you said. I am grateful that you truly seem to believe in hope and change for the better, and I believe you can draw the best out of us as a country to be a part of this. I pray that we will now stop the lip-service and commence the action. It is up to we the people to be the change that you speak of, so please inspire us to do so. I believe you are a very smart man. I may not agree on some things with you, but still think you are admirable. I admire how you resist the quick and easy answer to complex problems. I respect many of your positions. I also respect the way you seem to truly love your family deeply. While I understand that you believe your plan may actually reduce abortion rates in America (and I believe it just may), I can never agree with you on the stance of pro-choice. I believe in life, and think you do too, so I continue to pray that the only one who will ever make a difference in this area, our shared Father in heaven will take action when He is ready. I admire how you care for the weak and defenseless, and the downtrodden and defeated. Please lead us in an energy revolution like you promise. Help us break our addiction to oil and treat this beautiful creation of God with a deserved respect. Bring our boys home from that war, but please do so slowly and with much prayer and intelligence. We need you to lead. You have spoken often of a better way. Now, please please show it to us. I would never want your position or power. I cannot imagine the stresses it brings. We pray for you and your family. We pray for your safety and health. We pray that you look to God for guidance. Thank you for championing hope…now please bring it to us!

May God Bless You-
Brian Pannell

Why I am Voting......

It is no secret to most, that as of now, I plan on voting for Barak Obama. Yes I am still a Christian! :) Very much so! I constantly get “attacked” for this choice. I am getting tired of hearing, “how can you call yourself a Christian and vote for Obama”, but I understand. I am tired of defending my choice. Only one friend has been able to ask about this without sounding like I was on trial (thank you Tom). The #1 argument I get is something along the lines of “what about the fact that he supports abortion?”. And in the rare times people feel they need more debate material than one little point, they throw out “Doesn’t he support gay marriage?”. Well…….I am going to argue my points ONE MORE time. I am going to give you a brief reason of why I plan right now on voting for Obama. I don’t think he is perfect. I am sure there are better candidates somewhere out there. But, from the choices I have been shown, He is the best to me. Let me tell you a few of the reasons why:

Let’s start with is: I am VERY pro-life. I don't support abortion in any way. It breaks my heart and I loathe it. I hate the fact that it exists! Abortion though, sadly is not going away right now. No president has gotten close to making this happen. No man is going to amend the Constitution. George W.is the “most Christian President ever” supposedly and has even appointed his own people to the Supreme Court and what has happened? The Supreme Court has not overturned Roe v. Wade. If he hasn't done it, why would we think the next guy will? It's just not going to happen. Don’t get me wrong. I will still stand against it any time I can. I will say without shame anytime and any place that I think abortion is a terrible, painful sin. And, I will not give up hope! I believe God can do anything. And I have faith He is working on all of this, even when I cannot see it. But as such, I think abortion is NOT the only factor to vote on. Keep in mind though that PRO-LIFE does not just refer to the life of unborn children (at least in my opinion). It means valuing LIFE IN GENERAL, in my book. My friend Kile said it like this: “But when I say pro-life I also mean anti-death penalty and anti-frivolous war.” It kills me how the folks yelling at me about this have no problem with a senseless war taking just as many lives!

I cannot be a one issue only voter anymore. There is MUCH more to consider. Many friends now refer to me as their “liberal” friend. I don't see it that way, but I guess in this respect I am. But as I see it these days, the way we use the term “liberal ideas" refer often to things that truly seem to line up with Jesus MUCH more than the Republican ideas I was brought up with. I like the idea of using every resource and energy possible, even the government, to help the downtrodden, weak and oppressed. This sounds very Christian to me. So I guess I have changed. I can no longer accept the argument that the only issues our government needs to deal with is abortion and keeping the gays from getting married. I think both are wrong. I think they are sins. And I believe them to be important issues to stand up for! I will never stop praying for them to be eradicated. But I also think there are other issues that we have too often ignored that are just as important.

For instance, I find it a shame we live in this great and blessed nation yet some 50 million of our own citizens cannot even afford basic healthcare, while we burn billions on war! At least Obama wants to try and do something about this. His health care plan may not solve everything. But it has to be better than doing nothing! He proposes a new plan that hopes to make sure that health care can be affordable and available to everyone that needs it.

From everything I can tell, he believes in and follows Jesus Christ and says so openly. As such He seems to believe that Jesus calls His followers to help those in need. He values social justice. He is also a brilliant man. I like that he looks to diplomacy first in foreign policy. He seems to unite people and I think he may be able to get people to work together. The guy can SPEAK! Hearing him is inspiring. He seems open minded. He is different, and America needs a change. We need “new blood” to breathe life back into our country! Of the candidates out there Obama is the closest to what I want from my leader even if I do strongly disagree with him on certain ideas.

I am not militant about this. I am not going to advertise with car stickers or yard signs. I am not going to argue with folks for voting another way. But, I am constantly being asked about this so I thought I'd tell you a little about it. Is he perfect? Of course he isn’t perfect. Could he turn out to prove me wrong in all of this? Yes he could. But that is why I am thinking how I am. In case you were wondering…now you know!

Hey guys

So.....do not be dismayed if anyone reads my Africa Diaries...........I am NOT finished. I will be gone for a few days.....I will be in CO for an unexpected family funeral. When I return, so shall the blog, until then, you guys be good, and go Obama!

Obama and Lies

just a brief break from Uganda reports........ I will have another one later today!!!!

i read this today and found it quite insightful. Share your thoughts!


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