I haven't fallen off a mountain

My old dog died a month ago - peacefully, contentedly in my arms. And in the meantime, one of my other dogs tore a ligament and is having major surgery tomorrow. And I'm having computer problems. If it ain't one thing, it is the other.

I did have an intelligent response waiting in my head but it seems to have deserted me. However, I am thinking, wrt Mennonites and firemen (and who knows what else) somehow left the wrong impression. Mennonite theology allows particpation in everything that does not take a human life, so clearly, being a fireman wouldn't be out of bounds, no matter how strict the interpretation.

If I may ask, I'd like to know why you would have that impression? I have a number of folks in my family who are in volunteer fire departments. Policing is another matter, in the sense that obviously, you might be required at some point to take a life. However, as I said, all of this is traditional anabaptist beliefs and not necessarily something that is followed by most Mennonites today unless you go to the Amish.

I also have a lot of policemen in my family. I honor them. I pray for them. I recognize that they are performing a valuable service. That being said, I do not entirely approve on account of my anabaptist beliefs. None of them have had to take a life to date and I hope they never have to. It isn't that Mennonites don't recognize the need for policemen or have their heads so far in the clouds that they think God will save them and they are not to use their brains or common sense - i t is rather that Mennonites/Anabaptists believe that society does need all those things, including soldiers - but that given the fallen nature of the world, God knows that, and given that there is no shortage of unbelievers at any given time, it is for those unbelievers to do those things if they wish to.

While we are told to pray for our goverments and those in power, we are not told that we have to like an unjust ruler. God has ordained earthly nations and earthly rulers and when He has His proverbial nose full of thier unrighteousness, then He will send armies or allow circumstances that can provide for the overturning of unjust governments.

it isn't wrong for the children of the Most High to enjoy peace and freedom, and to appreciate those things even if they themselves believe it is a sin to fight for those things. It's like when Jesus paid his taxes, it didn't mean he approved of Caesar or wasn't aware of what Rome was all about.

I remember when it was utterly shameful - life ruining - to become pregnant and be unmarried. I remember how those girls were talked about. It isn't secular society that made it seem so sinful but Christian society. And that was a very big reason for an abortion. I can't swear at all that if I had become pregnant when I was a young teenager, that I wouldn't have had an abortion if they had been legal then (they weren't) in order to avoid the social consequences and to avoid telling my parents.

And yes, many churches support homes for pregnant teenagers. I still wonder how many would take unwanted children - handicapped children - into their own homes? Until they do, it's meaningless and along the lines of "until you've walked a mile in their shoes."

Well, wrt your comment about in a "perfect" Church - the Church ought to be perfect. We're told to be perfect. The fact that we can't be shouldn't be something we keep bringing up, as in "Christians aren't perfect, just saved." That is a cop-out. We know we aren't perfect but that idea makes people think they don't even need to try to be perfect.

As far as in that same perfect church, one should be living their faith and evangelizing - to me in a certain way that doesn't make sense because to live one's faith is to evangelize automatically. Your life is your witness.

As far as political involvement is concerned, again, to pick one candidate over another always means picking one evil to somehow be less evil in God's eyes than another evil since we do not live in a theocracy. Democracy is a great thing. It allows me to hold this opinion. But no one can lead a country democratically and be fair to all peoples and all faiths while legislating so-called Christian values.

In doing so as much as they do in the States, Christians don't seem to realise they are sowing the seeds of their own demise, that the very tolerance that allows them to practise what they will religiously, is the tolerance that they would deny to others, thereby making a democracy not a democracy. And sure as shootin', even if certain Christian ideas of morality became the law of the land, they would be at odds with other Christians' heartfelt interpretation of the Bible. And also sure as sunrise, those very same laws through which a Christian agenda took away the rights of non-Christians will be used to take away their own rights. And that concerns me.

I don't know how much you read on the link, but here is something that may explain better the attitude of anabaptists toward government.

I take a very deep interest in politics and my non-voting has only been for the last two federal elections here. Most Mennonites today vote. There are many Mennonites in powerful positions in the Canadian government. I voted from the time I was 18 up to recently when I came to the conclusion that the early anabaptists had it right. It is not God's way that he would pick one evil as somehow less evil than another evil, in a perverse version of "Sophie's Choice."

And like most of the world, I too was mesmerized by your federal election and sat watching the results and cheering loudly and weeping while wearing my Barack Obama T-shirt. But do I think that everything he stands for is in accordance with the Bible? No. Neither is everything in accordance with the Bible with the McCain campaign.

On a secular level I am glad he won. Americans may think they were electing a President but for the rest of the world, you were electing a world leader. Like it or not, all of the world has suffered from American navel-gazing and my hope - my secular hope - is that America will be respected in the world again. It hasn't been since the Vietnam War.

On a spiritual level, I know that there will be no righteousness, no end to human suffering and injustice until our Lord comes. I don't have faith in Obama (or anyone else). I have faith in God and every day say, Maranatha, Lord Jesus.

Layla