Please know that my reference to “celebrating Halloween” had nothing to do with your post regarding your small group and the event with the international students. This is a conviction of mine. I have to say that I didn’t come to this conviction until I started raising children and did not want to create any confusion within their minds. I’m sure someone could argue about this, but I’m not interested in trying to be right on this. (I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the term “crawfishin’”, but I think I’m doing it.)

This was the first time I ever responded to anything that you have written. We have only talked a few times and the day we had lunch was a difficult day at best for me. I can’t even remember what we talked about because my mind was elsewhere. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that because we are not very familiar with each other, my posted comment may have come across as something personal. Please know that it was not. My final statements about being misguided were meant to be sarcastic, as was most of what I wrote, but I can see how they could easily be taken as condescending. My sincerest apologies!! As I stated in the final paragraph, your comments provoked thoughts in me that I wanted to share. They were not intended to be personal. I also was not trying to paint anything as black or white. I could not agree more with Joshua’s statements regarding painting things as black and white, and listening to Holy Spirit. Somehow that’s where I was going…maybe my route was not clear. The whole notion of WWJD can take us down a strange path. But it can be a useful tool as well at times. If nothing else, it will make us think about what we do. You described me to a tee with …“I will be the first to admit that much of my weekly routine does not fit that description and it scares me to think of the extent to which that doesn’t bother me.”

Yes Joshua, I believe we are saying the same thing…however you were considerably more eloquent. Your summation to my sarcasm was right on. Thanks.

I hope we can still be friends J

Stewart, I did address your concern about taking the WWJD thing too far in this comment.  It is precisely when we go beyond what Jesus did and did not do in Scripture that we enter into the realm of seeking to follow the Spirit of God.  I did my best to look at how Jesus lived his life in the political climate of his day and then pray that God would help me to act in accordance with that same Spirit.  Also see my response to Laurie where I talked about seeking to do all that we do “in faith.”  I would say that we would all do well to reflect on just how much of what we do actually flows out of the faith we profess in the God of the Bible.  I will be the first to admit that much of my weekly routine does not fit that description and it scares me to think of the extent to which that doesn’t bother me.  I have a long way to go in those terms. 

I did also want to make 1 quick note on the Halloween reference.  I am not sure if that was a general thought or one that related specifically to my post on my small group hosting a Halloween Party, but in either case I would point out that Jesus was quite fond of taking the customs of his day and flipping them on their head which is precisely what my friends and I did – and what many other followers of Jesus do.  In no way did we celebrate evil or death.  Rather, we sought to redeem the day my providing a life-giving atmosphere of hospitality, openness, and sharing.  I am proud of my friends and any other beleivers that follow Jesus in this redemptive practice.

Thanks for the other comments. Josh, hope I didn’t overstep the bounds of infringing on your intellectual property by changing the html tags to strike through “College” in your comment

On one hand, I don’t think that JR’s entire argument is summed up in the WWJD discussion.  It’s part of his argument, but the whole of his argument seems to be more centered around the fact that it was a personal conviction that he tried to honor.  So far, no one has had a problem with that.

I too think that it is problematic when we begin to extend the and solidify the boundaries between the sacred and the profane.  Going to church was sacred, now it’s profane.  Going to the voting booth was sacred, now it’s profane.  Going to the movies was profane, now its… well I guess that one’s up in the air.  Dancing, Card playing, rock music… it goes on.

If you ask me, things in themselves are not sacred nor profane.  It is our response to those things, does our experience with that thing drive us closer to God or pull us further from it?  This is the voice we need to listen to.  If we start dumping our black and white paint on everything, the whole world will be gray and no one will know what to do.  Instead, we should listen to that voice in our lives that is the Holy Spirit saying “walk with me.”  By doing this, we will find ourselves in the sacred.

And honestly, how dare we begin to assume that we might know what Jesus would do if he were here?  I like to think that if Jesus were here he would do some of the things that I do, (like pray and eat) and he would do some of the things that I am too cowardly or comfortable to do (like talk to that guy, or stop drinking coffee at all), but I don’t know.  My God is a pretty big thing, and I’m not going to pretend to have the slightest idea what he might do were he to show up walking around again.  Because I don’t pretend to know what he would do on the sidewalk, I’ll try instead to listen to him as he stirs inside of me.  And a lot of the time, I’ll miss.

To quote myself, “I would say that all those who follow Jesus are given freedom to vote if they choose, but nowhere do I sense that this is an obligation.”  So, to stick with your good analogy – if I am sick and want to go to the doctor, I may freely choose to do so.  But, as one who worships the healer of all creation, this might not have to be my default position. 

I’ll say it another way, or rather let Paul say it another way, in the context of a discussion about matters of conscience, the apostle Paul says, “… everything that does not come from faith is sin.”  (Rom. 14) This is why I did not vote.  Because in my estimation that action, for me, would not have been coming from faith in God – it would have been coming from my faith in non-church politics and a system so compromised that I worry about just how much a role I play in it. 

Laurie, you sound to me like a person who has a stronger conscience in this matter than me and I encourage you in it.  With all sincerity I pray that if God chooses, God will guide me to a place where I can vote and participate in the political realm of the world “in faith,” but until that day comes, I feel like I made the most God-honoring decision that I could.