Blogging Off

I forgot to mention that I’m taking part in something called the November 2008 Blogoff. The rules are as follows:

1. You must post a blog entry every day of November (including weekends).
2. You may not just reference a photo or a video, there must be a minimum of one paragraph written.
   
3. You may not blog about blogging.

You may write on whatever topic you’d like, but one post per week has to be devoted to the following topic:

Week 1: Politics

Week 2: Religion

Week 3: Sexuality

Week 4: Money

Joining me in this challenge are the following bloggers:

• Brandon Barker
• Shane VanderHart
• Jake Bouma
• Ryan Tow
• Justin/Think Differently
• Erik Ullestad
• Andy Coticchio
• Megan Rapp
• Andrew Roberts
• Living to the Hilt
• Lisa Notes… What God is teaching me

I need to check out some of the other bloggers to get to know more about them, though I already visit at least one of them semi-regularly, and I suspect most, if not all of them, have some religious or spiritual slant (but I’m not certain of that).

Hopefully I’ll manage not to miss a day.

Advertisement

How Would Jesus Vote: The Sequel

I pondered very briefly about how Jesus might vote way back in the earliest days of this blog. My opinion hasn’t changed about how he would vote. He has too much knowledge of human nature and individual sin to have ever been able to cast a vote for anyone, even if such a practice had existed in his days on Earth. He wouldn’t have stood for picking the lesser of two evils and he wouldn’t have used his influence to lift one politician up over another. I just don’t see it.

But should you vote?

Hell, yes!

If you haven’t already voted (and many of us have taken advantage of early voting where it is available, as my wife and I did last week), you must get out and do so tomorrow. It’s as simple as that.

Jesus probably wouldn’t be voting, and he won’t tell you how to vote, but I suspect that in the grand tradition of rendering unto God what is God’s and unto the world what is the world’s (to paraphrase), I think he would expect us to make a stand.

It’s clear from my own postings that I support Barack Obama. You don’t have to. I hope you do, but I won’t tell you how to vote. I’ve pointed out my reasons for having little to no faith in the other team and I’ve pointed out where Obama has been unfairly attacked.

But none of that means that Obama will speak to you. I hope I’ve convinced some people, but as with faith and our souls, only an individual can make a valid decision for him or herself. No one appointed me the steward of all truth. I try to be balanced on most things, and I believe my candidate comes out on top, but you may weigh entirely different factors.

But regardless, this election is too important to ignore. Whether you are someone who wants to see the economy on track again; whether you are someone for whom race is a key issue; whether you are someone who has a desire or a concern about religious faith in candidates this year; whether you are someone who is concerned that the Supreme Court lean one way or the other; whether you are rich or poor; whether you are Democrat, Republican or otherwise—go vote.

It is your civic duty. Please be informed before you enter the voting booth, but for God’s sake: Vote!

Cleansed By Fire Backstory Update

Just a note to any Cleansed By Fire fans that I made another addition to the information in the portal area for the novel. No new pages this time, but I added significantly to the page on Geography and Government of the Catholic Union. Basically, I provided a fair amount of detail on the various provinces, states and protectorates of the Union. It’s not the sexiest reading, but might help you get a sense of what’s where, or at least provide a place for you to go if you get confused later on in the novel about where someone’s at in the world. Also, because that page was getting long, I added three links at the top of the page so that you can jump to the section you want on that page instead of scrolling down.