faith and/or politics…

I think this is one issue that has been misunderstood, unbalanced, sensationalized, and intentionally distorted from every angle by far too many people.

I am a Christian. I believe that when God says something is wrong, it is wrong. I try to live my life by the standards set by the living example of Jesus Christ, and I believe that it is my responsibility as a believer to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with [my] God.” And I absolutely refuse to vote for a presidential candidate based solely on whether or not he (or she) supports same-sex marriage.

If you’re still reading this, thank you. Let me explain.

The United States was founded on Judeo-Christian values, but it was never intended to be a Christian nation. When religion had strict control over government decisions, it became corrupt and intentionally misrepresented Biblical teachings to those who had no access to the truth - which is why so many people of faith made the journey across the ocean to escape religious persecution. Why? Because even Christians are human, and humans are often corrupted by power.

The Constitution is not a sacred text, nor are laws and judicial rulings intended to regulate the religious temperature of the citizens of our country. They were and are written to maintain a stable society as free as possible from injustice and harm. I would argue at any time that any society that is governed by Biblical principles is more stable than any other. However, I would also argue that Biblical principles are intended for those who claim to be Christ-followers. To criticize someone for not acting like a Christian when they never claimed to be one in the first place is ridiculous. When Jesus gave instructions, it was to those who followed him and who wanted to know how to walk in a better way - not to those who were far from him. And when you think that this is not a country that is comprised entirely of believers, does it reasonably follow that the laws that apply to EVERYONE should be strictly Christian?

The underlying theme in Jesus’ teachings is that there is something deeper involved in committing any sin than just the sin itself. The Old Testament law was based on outward obedience. Jesus very clearly explained that actions are direct results of internal spiritual problems that are much more difficult to resolve than simply ceasing to act on the improper motivations. By making Christian laws, you do not create a Christian country. You create a country full of people who are afraid to do what is biblically wrong because they’ll be put in jail. If we can focus on reaching out to those people and leading them to a God who has freely extended mercy to them, we will create a country full of people who are more than willing to do what is right - because they have fallen in love with Jesus, not because a police officer told them not to.

I am not advocating that religion should fall out of every political discussion, nor am I suggesting that your faith cannot impact your political beliefs. I am simply saying that it is entirely possible to be a really good Christian and be a really horrible politician (no attacks on individuals in the comments, please :) let’s keep this clean), and that it is entirely possible to define marriage as between one man and one woman without actually preventing the degradation of the family unit.

The only response I personally have then is to find politicians who, regardless of their religious views, have a commitment to make decisions that protect people and encourage a safe and stable society. Who refuse to use religion as a political springboard, because that in itself more offensive to me than supporting the removal of a phrase from the Constitution. I’m taking the responsibility of spreading Christian values away from non-Christian politicians and taking it on as a caviot of the Great Commission that Jesus gave to ME.

when you aren’t standing close to the wall

Sometimes I feel sorry for the non-engineering interns I work with. We’re kind of a geeky group and we work together every day, so most of our lunch conversations center around our projects and research and test fixtures. This would work out a lot better if the intern lunch table were all engineers - but it’s not.

So as I was about to express my newfound fascination with something whose explanation would inevitably include a healthy dose of physics theory, I realized something -

To appreciate a lot of things in life, you have to be familiar with them. I have a really hard time getting excited about groundbreaking advances in financial planning practices, mostly because I know very little about it. I can’t really make valuable contributions to an emphatic discussion on search engine optimization (aka becoming the first page listed in a google search for a given topic - which, thanks to Josh, this website is) or the latest and greatest FTP software. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that I don’t know anything about it.

I’m starting to understand that it’s very difficult to become truly excited about an advancement or a new discovery unless you had a very personal knowledge of the challenges it overcame. If you have agonized for hours over the severe constraints of mechanical advantage in the system you’re studying and then have a moment of enlightenment that solves your design woes, you can emphatically scribble your equations on a white board, thoughts jumbling with excitement, eyes bright with discovery, all to realize that YOU’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT BECAUSE YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHY IT’S A BIG DEAL. And unfortunately for you, not everyone you try to explain it to will be quite as floored by your newfound ability to seemingly defy the laws of physics (thought that might be stretching it a little).

In short, you have to know the intimate details of how high a wall is to appreciate the jump that successfully clears it.

The wall looks shorter the further you’re standing from it.

the pretty new website known as stephaniefinch.com

Welcome to stephaniefinch.com! Many thanks to Mr. Joshua Fraser, my blog has a makeover and a new home. More to come soon, but for now I’m just amazed by how pretty it is.

:)