Gospel.com Blog

It’s here at last—election day, the culmination of years of campaigning and political debate in the U.S. Whether you were first in line at the ballot box this morning or are still trying to figure out which candidate is the proverbial lesser of two evils, here are a few links from around the Gospel.com community to help you put the political craziness into spiritual perspective:

• GetReligion is the go-to blog for discussion of religion’s intersection with the media and society. They’re busy blogging about the election as it unfolds today, and you can be sure they’ll be analyzing the results over the next few weeks. If you want to learn how religion (and Christianity in particular) are being handled by the media, this is the place to start.
• James Watkins has written quite a bit about the political race—but without the partisan rancor that motivates so many bloggers and pundits. Take a look at his Election 2008 page for his insights into understand the relationship between faith and politics. His blog has lots of good election commentary, too.
• We’ve heard a lot about the “culture war” over the last few years—but is there a better way for Christians to influence culture? Delve Into Jesus challenges Christians to rethink the “culture war” mentality and instead model themselves on the early church.

So go out and vote—and as you do, pray that your grace and thoughtfulness will reflect Christ to the angry, hyper-politicized culture around us.

Election.

Could there be a more contentious word for the American follower of Christ? There are political elections. Elections in which voices from every side of the aisle will sputter about how Jesus would vote. And there is the matter of spiritual election in which one is predetermined to be heaven-bound or not.

Two issues that, in my opinion, should elicit a very similar response: prayer, Bible reading, a healthy understanding of the grace we are given and urged to give by Christ, and humility.

Prayer because—let’s be honest—without God’s guidance, we are left to our own wisdom, which is a terrible position to be in.

Bible reading because each of these ideas are complicated. Everybody needs to determine for themselves how to vote and what to believe, and appealing to the sourcebook of knowledge is a great place to begin.

Grace because chances are if you have or have had acquaintances, friends or family in your life you know what it is like to disagree with someone. Who hasn’t understand why a loved one would believe something? Who hasn’t been on the receiving end of that bewilderment?

Humility because as history has shown us there’s a lot of ways to make a fool of ourselves. Better to know one’s position in God’s kingdom than to be pompously prideful.

Plenty of people will enumerate reasons about who you should vote for, but we’d urge you to enter into the voting booth with a discerning heart and the knowledge that your true allegiance is not to a government but to God.

With Thanksgiving on the horizon and Christmas not far beyond that, 2008 is drawing to a close—but for college students, it might seem like the end of the semester is infinitely far off. Are you swamped with classwork, midterm exams, research papers, and the general craziness of campus life? StudentSoul.org has gathered several good articles to help keep focused, both academically and spiritually:

• The Everything Trap—do you feel like you’re trying to spin too many plates? Read Dennis Anderson’s thoughts on managing the things you
• How to Care for Your Soul—real spiritual help for your hectic everyday life.
• Busy Sickness—why are we so busy all the time? Some thoughts on busyness, and how to keep it from running you into the ground.

There are many other good resources for students over at StudentSoul.org, so if you’re feeling overwhelmed at school, take a look!