A Pilgrim's Journal

I stumbled across a recent post talking about American catholics and US politics. Normally this isn't very exciting to me, but one paragraph jumped out at me for completely unrelated reasons. I'll quote the paragraph here:

	There's going to be a landslide this fall.  The Dems, in
	their blind arrogance, have mismanaged the country for two
	years and then berated the people who are suffering from their
	mismanagement.  That's why there are Tea Parties.  People have
	had enough.  But, as James says, the anger of man does not bring
	about the righteousness of God.  The great failing of every
	revolutionary movement, says Chesterton, is that it knows what
	is wrong, but is very unclear about what is right.

The above political commentary I'm not qualified to comment on, but the last two sentences are key. I can confirm that it is all too easy to know what is wrong, and unclear about what is right.

Later he writes:

	The devil always sends lies into the world in pairs so that,
	fleeing one, we might embrace the other.

Good to remember when looking at politics of any stripe!

For complete reference, here's the verse he is talking about:

	18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth,
	that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
 
	19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be
	swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
 
	20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 

	   James 1

This struck a chord with me, considering my recent political posts. I try to be accurate in all my posts, but there needs to be a balance as well. I don't want to mindlessly stir up anger, and I hope I have not done that. What am I trying to achieve with my political ranting? An improvement of some sort. If we know the truth, perhaps we won't be so distracted by spin.

There are three hopes I have when writing about politics:

1. Voters will learn something that is not in the top headlines and become better informed.
2. The party I'm examining will somehow see it and change for the better.
3. Opposition parties will see and avoid similar mistakes.

Does that sound pompous? Probably. I don't mean it that way. Especially considering that my blog exists in a mostly unread corner of the internet.

I hope that my political rants may highlight things that people might not have seen before. While my posts may discourage voting for one party, please don't assume it is a blind endorsement of some other party. They all have their faults, just like all of us.

It is also good to remember that the Kingdom of God is more important than any earthly kingdom, and it deserves more of our mental focus and loyalty than any other king or political party. I should take that to heart in my blog writing. It is easy to get caught up in the anger, yet the Bible is always right: the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

May God have mercy on Canada and pour His wisdom and love upon our leaders.