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Jesse posted this link in the comments yesterday. It’s John Piper’s thoughts on one-issue voting. I thought it was very insightful. Here it is in its entirety:

Investigating dog life in Minnesota has solidified my decision to vote against those who endorse the right to abortion. So then what is my response to the charge of being a one-issue voter?

No endorsement of any single issue qualifies a person to hold public office. Being pro-life does not make a person a good governor, mayor, or president. But there are numerous single issues that disqualify a person from public office. For example, any candidate who endorsed bribery as a form of government efficiency would be disqualified, no matter what his party or platform was. Or a person who endorsed corporate fraud (say under $50 million) would be disqualified no matter what else he endorsed. Or a person who said that no black people could hold office—on that single issue alone he would be unfit for office. Or a person who said that rape is only a misdemeanor—that single issue would end his political career. These examples could go on and on. Everybody knows a single issue that for them would disqualify a candidate for office.

It’s the same with marriage. No one quality makes a good wife or husband, but some qualities would make a person unacceptable. For example, back when I was thinking about getting married, not liking cats would not have disqualified a woman as my wife, but not liking people would. Drinking coffee would not, but drinking whiskey would. Kissing dogs wouldn’t, but kissing the mailman would. And so on. Being a single-issue fiancé does not mean that only one issue matters. It means that some issues may matter enough to break off the relationship.

So it is with politics. You have to decide what those issues are for you. What do you think disqualifies a person from holding public office? I believe that the endorsement of the right to kill unborn children disqualifies a person from any position of public office. It’s simply the same as saying that the endorsement of racism, fraud, or bribery would disqualify him—except that child-killing is more serious than those.

When we bought our dog at the Humane Society, I picked up a brochure on the laws of Minnesota concerning animals. Statute 343.2, subdivision 1 says, “No person shall . . . unjustifiably injure, maim, mutilate or kill any animal.” Subdivision 7 says, “No person shall willfully instigate or in any way further any act of cruelty to any animal.” The penalty: “A person who fails to comply with any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

Now this set me to pondering the rights of the unborn. An eight-week-old human fetus has a beating heart, an EKG, brain waves, thumb-sucking, pain sensitivity, finger-grasping, and genetic humanity, but under our present laws is not a human person with rights under the 14th Amendment, which says that “no state shall deprive any person of life . . . without due process of law.” Well, I wondered, if the unborn do not qualify as persons, it seems that they could at least qualify as animals, say a dog, or at least a cat. Could we not at least charge abortion clinics with cruelty to animals under Statute 343.2, subdivision 7? Why is it legal to “maim, mutilate and kill” a pain-sensitive unborn human being but not an animal?

These reflections have confirmed my conviction never to vote for a person who endorses such an evil—even if he could balance the budget tomorrow and end all taxation.

* * * This article is from A Godward Life, Book I: Savoring the Supremacy of God in All of Life by John Piper (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1997), pp. 279-280. Used with permission.

What do you think? Do you agree with Piper? If not, where does his argument break down for you?

Above is the video of Don Miller’s prayer at the DNC on Monday night.

As expected, Don is catching a good bit of flak from evangelicals for appearing at a Democratic event. He’s also catching flak for saying that he will vote for Obama, with most of the flak stemming from Obama’s stance on abortion.

I am really trying to think through and work through this issue and I would appreciate the help of anyone who reads this blog.

Personally, I hate abortion. The thought of it makes me angry, and I’m not embellishing. But I also realize that only a few decisions of the thousands a president makes in his term have any direct or indirect impact on abortion. Additionally, the chances of Roe V Wade being repealed are very slim. So based on that, here’s my question(s) to you, choose any to answer that apply:

1. Regardless of your personal stance on abortion, what role does the issue play in determining your vote? Is it a very small factor, one of a few big issues you consider, your biggest factor, the Only factor you consider?

2. If you vote Republican based primarily on the abortion issue, how do you justify electing someone to do a job based on one issue that represents less than 1% of what that job entails?

3. If you knew for an absolute fact that the president we were going to elect would make NO decisions in the next 4 years that affected abortion at all, would his/her stance on abortion still factor in to your decision on who to vote for?

I’m looking for honest answers from y’all because I am personally working through this issue. If you take the time to answer, thanks in advance.

here’s some additional thoughts I posted a few weeks after posting this thread.

Tags: Abortion, DNC, Donald Miller, Vote

Are you playing Fantasy Football this year? I’m in 3 Leagues again.

+ There’s the church league (that’s the one I pay an entry fee for - yeah I gamble a few bucks on fantasy)

+ There’s the Burnside Writers League (that’s the one with the most trash talk)

+ There the league I’m in with some friends from Texas (that’s the league I usually ignore)

Will I win one this year? Probably Not. But my drafting fun starts tonight. Yeehaw!

Tags: Fantasy Football

Alright, so here’s a quick visual tour of my day today.

First, Erica and I took Parker to his first day of Kindergarten. Tomorrow is his first day…today was a 90-minute orientation.

Parker and Landon aren’t in the same class because we requested it. We’d like them to actually make new friends this year. They did manage to find each other in the gym before we went off to our classrooms.

After Parker’s orientation we snuck over to Kylie’s classroom where she was enjoying her first day of 2nd grade. How about that, she’s already at the head of the class, reading a book (can you spot her?).

Parker and I dropped Erica off at home and went to McDonald’s to eat. Parker’s playing with his Boba Fett bobblehead with ketchup on his face and green marker all over his hand. When he saw the picture, he told me to delete it because of the ketchup. I said, “no way”.

Then Parker and I went pitch and putt. Kid did pretty good for it being his second time. This putt for par on the 3rd hole was tracking, but i think he left it a foot short. He did tap in for a bogey though! It was his best hole of the day.

We’re standing on the 9th tee and the guy on #8 hits a 75-yard shot that lands 15-feet from us. Thanks for yelling “fore” buddy. I watch him re-tee and hit another shot, this one lands near the green. 30 seconds later we’re leaving the tee box when he yells “FORE!”. I look up, but it’s too late, he has hit a 3rd tee shot, and this one has just nailed me in the shoulder. a few inches higher and it would have hit me in the head. He was apologetic, but nearly as much as he should have been considering it was his third freaking shot and he waited until the last second to yell. All I can say is I’m glad it hit me and not Parker. (tried to take a picture to show you my wound, but of course it doesn’t look bad. I’m a wuss.)

I gave Parker a mulligan on the first hole and 2 mulligans off the 9th tee. Other than that this is a real score. He’s no Tiger, but it’s not too shabby for a 5-year old.

We had a fun day together. Tomorrow, he’s hitting the books hard for his first full day and I’m back to work.

I love Parker so much, he’s such a fun kid to be around. I’ve been blessed with the most amazing family ever.

Tags: Pitch and Putt