Election Year...

I recently finished Shane Claiborne's more recent book, Jesus for President, a must read in this election year. I loved Shane's first book, Irresistible Revolution, and couldn't wait for this one to come out. Shane's example of being a Christ follower has influenced the way I think about my life and the lives of those around me, he is truly being the hands and feet of Jesus. For more on Shane and those he lives with check out: thesimpleway.org

So back to the book. I'm not going to say that the topics they bring up are easy to digest but they are challenging and, i believe, biblical. the book focuses on war, peace, taking care of our neighbors (hint- our neighbors aren't just Americans, not that we take care of Americans that well to begin with), realizing where our allegiance lies, etc. the american church has become so intertwined with politics and government that it's hard to see out of that box but we should first be serving God, not government.

so the book has challenged me in many ways, here are a couple:
1. public health is my schtick but i have tried to address these needs working for a government- a government that serves its interests first and often leaves the least of these still suffering. i've never felt like i was serving two masters in my job but if that conflict were to arise, the authors would argue that you should be working to improve the health of others outside of the government. the same goes for military personnel, politicians, etc.
food for thought...

2. so God is my first king, so what does that lead me to do as an american citizen. do you not vote, write in a separate candidate, ??? the book does not spell this out for us, which is a good thing but the argument is made whether or not we should be voting for a candidate that supports war (and really, don't all candidates support war- maybe not the iraq war, but other wars).

so you really should read it and then let me know what you think about it.