Most of the time, it is pretty awesome to be me. Other times, it just sucks.
My brain works like none other that I know, but that is just because you all don't purge your brain publicly like I do. I know you are out there, closet crazy brain. Just like me.
For some reason, over the past three years - yes, THREE years! - the issues of abortion and the death penalty have been internally driving me bonkers. It is an internal debate, and just so I can bring some clarity to it, I am going to put my thoughts and feelings into words, in this blog, pre-election season. Now. For sanity's sake.
I almost went crazy last election season for a variety of reasons... I will spare you the details... but seriously, at times, I thought I was losing my mind because of the evilness of the political process and really, the internal ugliness of people - white, yellow, black, Christian, Jew, Atheist, Muslim... me included... you get the point.
For background sake, I am morally conservative, yet politically liberal. I don't fit a political group, and even as a Christian, I find myself questioning mainstream Christianity often these days when things just don't feel right. It isn't that I want to be a nonconformist. I have just personally experienced one too many 'leaders' leading a certain direction, in the name of God, politically and/or religiously, for their own aspirations and gain. It is very transparent, sad and incredibly troubling.
I am pro-life, anti-abortion. I am anti-death penalty. I have always been pro-life, as it refers to abortion. But, there was a time that I didn't really give much thought to the death penalty (I just assumed that it was the way to go), because it really wasn't something I would ever need to ponder. Or so I thought.
I do not know anyone on death row. But, my sisters do. Yes, both of them. It just happens to be the same man that they know. I don't need to get into the details, but when it becomes personal, you tend to think about something like the government taking the life of someone, even someone who has committed a heinous crime, a bit more. Yes, you think about it more emotionally, not unlike the way you would think of someone taking the life of an unborn child.
Here is where my head starts to swirl.
Raise your hand if you think abortion is murder.
Raise your hand if you believe in the death penalty (which, of course, can be the sentence for murder, especially if the accused is thought to possess the ability to kill again.)
In your perfect world, should all women who have had abortions, regardless of their reason(s), be sentenced to the death penalty? After all, if you are against abortion, you think abortion is murder. Right? Although I do not have any stats to support this theory, I doubt that there is something magical that happens once a woman has had an abortion once, which precludes her from having another...and another... and another... without a serious transformation of her heart.
I know it all comes down to legislation, but really? If abortion was illegal, would you support the death penalty for a woman that had an illegal abortion? What about your best friend who had an abortion? Or your daughter? After all, what is worse that taking the life of an unborn child? Certainly worse than the friend on death row, who was completely whacked out on drugs, and took the life of a store clerk he was robbing, when he was barely an adult... right? Wrong.
Phew. Okay. I am settling down. Breathing... breathing... am I completely confusing you? See, this is why I need to sort it in real life, because my brain goes a mile a millisecond with these issues.
In my mind, abortion and capital punishment both equal murder. I don't care who is President or which party has the political power. Strip it down, and it is very difficult for me to see the difference in the two.
Instead of trying to fix it, we just get rid of it...?
" It " being the unborn human or the situation the unborn baby will create if born... or " it " being the troubled human who committed an awful crime(s).
We just get rid of them? Say whaaa?
Last election season when I was getting the crazies over the debates of abortion and capital punishment, a pastor at our church had told me to be careful, because there was biblical evidence that supported the death penalty. He is the theologian, not me; however, the evidence wasn't enough to convince me (not that he was trying to convince me... he was just giving me both sides of the coin). It all sounded smart, but it still didn't feel right right.
I know it cannot be as simple as this... or can it?... the mercy of Jesus, shown in the Bible over and over again to all makes and models of sinners, wasn't something that had to be earned - it was freely given by Jesus. Yes, while you could argue that capital punishment is a means to remove threats to our society, I am not really confident that is the road Jesus wants us to take ... versus, say, life in prison with the opportunity to rehab the body and mind, and transform the heart.
I don't know much about anything, as I have said over and over again on this blog, but why is it that Jesus didn't and doesn't discriminate the outpouring of the gifts of mercy and grace, yet, we feel we have the right to?
As a Christian, I don't get it. And, I likely never will. But, there. It is on the internets now, and the brain is purged. I can now go walk my dog with a less clogged brain.
Housekeeping items --- that's right --- time to VOTE (once a day)!
And, here, too, once a day! I know, I am a pain in the butt... tell me something I don't know!
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