Is character important? *

I went to a "get out the vote event" in a local park here for one of the mayoral candidates. And reading opinions in the local newspaper prompts this blog.  The event at the park was mostly a black thing. Black speakers, trying to promote a liberal democratic candidate. Actually, if I was able to vote in this race I would be voting for the so-called democrat in this race. I don't like the negative campaign the Republican candidate is running. Falsehoods, half-truths, etc. whatever they can say to sway a few votes their way. And it doesn't have to be true.  But after the event in the park, I was almost ready to go back the other way. They were making like it is a race thing, and I do not believe everything is racially motivated.  I believe a lot of young people that wear their pants down below their buts should not be hired. It's not a race thing, it's about respect and dressing and believing in yourself. If you go around believing the racial garbage you hear and wear attire and look like a gangster, why would I hire you? Barbara heard it before she ever came to Washington, a black cannot get a job out here. But she came and in a few months time had a job, partly because she doesn't buy into that garbage. As for the opinion in the newspaper, someone said it's not party affiliation that matters but the character of the candidate that matters. I agree with that, and I believe the democratic candidate in this particular race has better character, is not telling all kinds of half-truths and slander the other candidate, but this is my plan for this city. But the opinion that got my dander up was almost saying the opposite. He was saying character is based on party affiliation and the democratic candidate should not be elected because he actually had the nerve as a democrat to vote for Obama and travel to Washington DC twice in support of Obama. Now how in the world that actually has anything to do with his real character? I am not an Obama supporter, but I do believe in character and saying what you stand for. As I believe George W. Bush did, saying where he stood even when it was unpopular.  I am not a Democrat and I am not a liberal. But I believe the character of an individual and actually trying to do what you think is right for the people you are representing is a much bigger qualification that plain old party affiliation. Then this writer has the nerve to say the republicans that are supporting the democratic candidate are not real Republicans in the first place. Character is important and it is based on more than what party you belong to or at least should be based on more than your political party of choice.  To borrow some words from others: Abraham Lincoln once said, “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”  The British writer and politician Thomas Macauly (1800-1859) once said, “The measure of a man’s character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.”
God Bless, LVZ.

I John 3*

This is a wonderful chapter. Sometimes when I write, I feel like I come off very legalistic, and I don't want to. I do want to understand God's word correctly. I don't want modern thinking to influence my interpretation.  I also don't want my legalistic past to influence my thinking. I John 3:18, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."  Actions speak louder than our writing and talking is what this says to me. Are my actions pleasing to God my Creator? I do believe we need to stand for truth in this day and age, even when it is unpopular. We need to love people even when we don't agree with their lifestyle. I hope that is the way I come off when I may quote a scripture dealing with homosexuality. I feel like no matter how I try, I will still sound like a bigot when I stand firm for what I believe is the word of God. This society wants to legitimize homosexual behavior, and anything, any opinion other than of total acceptance will not be accepted by the mainstream liberals. Maybe I am wrong but that is how they come off to me. I am not against a civil union granting them partnership rights, but I am against changing the definition of marriage. I think this is a centuries old definition based on the Bible and needs to be maintained. I believe when the bible talks about calling evil good, and good evil; this conversation fits that. This is a difficult area, they are increasing in numbers and want to promote their lifestyle. These are just words about how I think. I hope my actions come off better than my words. I do want to be true to my God, I do want to stand for truth as I see it. If I am blind in this area, I pray to God to open my eyes.
As I think on this subject, and a blog I wrote earlier about how I believe it is a lot \of little choices we make throughout life that define us. Not just about homosexuality, but how about a liar? Is it not the same? They choose to tell lies and it becomes easier and easier and they become better and better at telling them. I remember a car salesman I once worked with. I was nineteen and washing cars on a car lot. This 1968 Camaro or maybe it was a firebird, came into the car lot on a trade-in. When I cleaned up the car the back window had these little stickers on it from almost all fifty states. I had to scrape them all off as part of my original detail. I do know they replaced the engine in that car. I heard the salesman telling a prospective buyer that the car had never been out of the state. Why he would say the exact opposite of what was probably the truth, I'll never understand. Any other car on the lot he probably wouldn't have made that statement. But that car that had stickers from almost all fifty states, he says has never been out of the state. It wasn't an important detail to sell the car if the car had traveled out of the state. I think he just practiced lying. He was a nice guy and he actually got me a 20  cent raise, because he thought I was a pretty good detailer and wanted to keep me. He made choices to lie when it probably would have been just as easy to tell a truthful good point about the car. How about me, I had an affair once with a lady I worked with when I was going thru my first divorce. I was still married, but do you know it became easier and easier to develop a relationship outside of marriage every time I did.  Choices I made about my life one at a time, changed me from a man who had only been intimate with one woman for almost the first 20 years of my adult life to a man that has had multiple relationships outside of marriage, and multiple marriages. Once again I have made choices and have chosen to be a faithful spouse for over six years now. The choices we make in life define us. I know I went a wrong direction for a while but I do want to be like Jesus. We learn what Jesus is like thru reading his word. God didn't create me to be an adulterer, he just created an imperfect human with the ability to choose my way. May I continue to make wise choices in my life, that align with God's word.  God Bless, LVZ.