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When We Act Too "Holy"
Food for Thought:
Here's the problem with acting too "holy" or too "self righteous."
Nobody, and I mean, nobody, is that perfect.
I asked the question on my Facebook page, "Why is everyone making such a fuss about Sarah Palin's daughter?"
And the response was, "Because her political party is always talking about "family values" and "abstinence until marriage," and they have a candidate who can't even make that work in her own family."
The problem that most people have with "conservatives," if such a thing exists, is that they are acting like they do no wrong. They are acting like because they are Christian, that they are higher, morally, than any other group, including liberal Christians. They say things like, "you can pray away your homosexuality," or they intimate that THEIR children know better than to have sex before marriage. They talk about gay people like they are the scum of the earth ... and they act like NONE of them ever have affairs outside of marriage.
So they set themselves up for criticism and scorn. Jesus never expected nor declared that Christians were to be perfect. Jesus just said that when we do wrong, we have an out: we can confess and repent ... and be saved. That salvation is from ourselves, and our tendency to do stupid things.
The bane of our existence is our human-ness. The apostle Paul said it best: "the things I want to do, I don't do, and the things I don't want to do, I do." That goes for everyone, Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal. Paul also said, "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." The operative word is "all." One is not exempt because one is conservative.
I personally am appalled that the media is making such a fuss about Palin's young daughter. The girl had sex and is having a baby. It is wrong for the media to subject this young girl to such public scorn. And, if I were her mother, being a member of the "faith and values" political party, I would not have consented to being the nominee for vice president. I'll be darned if I let this country pick on one of MY children! Power does not mean that much to me. Palin had to know that the onslaught of criticism was coming.
But I think the conservatives, the Republicans, whomever it is that makes up the "holy tenth" ought to pause and think about how their pronouncements of "divine holiness" backfires on them. People ought to quit acting like being a Christian makes them exempt from human foibles. People, pastors and preachers ought to stop lifting up the fragility of humanity as examples of the depravity of some people - not them - and concentrate on preaching and teaching the love Jesus taught that we ought to have for all people.
Every single person in this world has a closet with "stuff" in it that we hope nobody ever knows about. Some people are unfortunate enough to have their "stuff" exposed. It is the height of hypocrisy for people to act like they are above falling down, and falling down hard.
Are the conservatives going to change their "faith and values" diatribe now that a high-ranking official has truly shown that all families, conservative or liberal, struggle with the same problems and issues, no matter how "holy" they are?
It will be interesting to see.
By
Susan K. Smith
|
September 3, 2008; 12:04 PM ET
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Posted by: Caroline | September 10, 2008 10:03 PM
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I agree, Sarah Palin's daughter should not be put "on trial" for having sex outside of marriage and getting pregnant. That proves one thing only, that she isn't perfect, just like every single person walking this earth. The fact is that many of those same public officials that are pointing the finger at Sarah Palin definitely have many indiscretions of their own. We know of quite a few men in office who have been caught up in extramarital affairs, and I guarantee there are a lot more who haven't been caught. People who sit there and point the finger want to act like they are so self righteous but while they are pointing that one finger at someone else, there are three more fingers pointing back at them, literally and figuratively. The fact is NO ONE is perfect, and because of that NO ONE has the right to judge anyone else because they have "skeletons" in their own closet. I really wish these critics would stop being the first ones to point out Palin's daughter's flaw because (NEWSFLASH) they are not perfect.