Is Jesus a Republican or Democrat?

http://biblewalk.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/faith-and-politics/

I am not very politically active.  I refrain from participating in politics not because I do not have political opinions but because once a declaration of political affiliation is made publicly it becomes much easier to dismiss the person's suggestions and thoughts.  If I were to tell a person that I am a Democrat and advocate loving the poor, I would most likely be dismissed as a hippie liberal.  If I were to tell a person that I am a Republican and believe that abortion is unethical and immoral, I would then be a woman bashing ultra conservative.  I cannot share my faith with a person if I also share my politics because my politics would stand as a veil to the Person of my faith - Jesus.  I want to be political about my faith (meaning I want to share my faith diplomatically) but I also believe that my faith has some radical political implications.  How can I participate in the political sphere and remain faithful to Jesus while not being dismissed as the "Religious Right?" How can I share about revolutionizing the inner city through selfless acts of service or caring for God's creation by recycling while not being perceived as "Tree Hugging Socialist?"

The more I learn about Jesus, the more I conclude that He cannot be boxed.  Jesus was not a Republican and He was not a Democrat, He was not a liberal nor was He a conservative.  I know this probably outrages some readers who believe that the verse "God made us in His own image" means that our political affiliations came from Him too.  We forget that when God made us in His own image, He did not create a bunch of mini-God the Fathers who physically resemble God and believe all the things that He believe.  The fall (of man) had more complications and ramifications than we will ever be able to understand on this side of eternity.  God created us in His own image to have a heart to love, a mind to perceive, a passion to create (both art and life), a desire for righteousness and equity.  He gave us the ability to laugh and cry, to judge right from wrong in accordance with His Spirit and His Word and to walk in the power of His Holy Spirit.

The problem with the Religious Right and the Liberal Left is that they create God in their own image.  Sit down with Pat Robertson and Rob Bell and find two very different understandings of Jesus.  The whole world is in this process of creating God in its own image.  Jesus did not create the Republican party nor did He initiate the feminist movement.  Yet Republicans and Democrats will both claim that God is on their side.  Glenn Beck tells us that God is on the side of the Republicans and Sean Hannity's daily radio show implies (and sometimes outright states) that only conservative's are "Great Americans."  I read through the NY Times and the Washington Post online and I start to think that Christians are nuts and narrow-minded too (joking).

I believe in most of our elections Jesus places His own Name on the ballot and prays that the rest of the world will too.  Abortion and homosexual marriage are not the top two things on His agenda.  At least, I do not think they are.  I think the most important thing He talked about was to love the Lord with all of our hearts, minds and souls and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  I don't think either political party does a real good job at following those teachings.  Sure, the "moral issues" are important.  I think they are incredibly important.  I wish that conservatives fought poverty as much as they fought homosexual marriage and liberals were as open minded to Jesus as they are to every other worldly philosophy.  I think that sin is awful and that it should not be tolerated. I think that homosexual marriage is a sin and is not designed by God.  I also think that ignoring the needs of the poor and homeless are equally as evil.  I think abortion is murder and is typically a "Cntrl + Z" (that means "undo" for those who are not computer geeks) for poor decisions and fleshly behavior.  I also think that protesting abortion with picket signs outside of clinics does not win souls to Christ and accomplishes more harm than good.  I think we should spend our money responsibly on social programs with the understanding that poverty is not just a bank account problem, it is a mentality and it is contagious and generational that can be healed through prayer, education and love.

Where do I fit in?  Who do I vote for?  Jesus isn't on the ballot and no one in the political spectrum seems to speak for Him (or about Him without exploiting Him).  The voices of "love" I hear love anything and everything except for Jesus and the voices of "justice" I hear divorce love and mercy from their justice.  Voting for Christians seems to always become choosing the lesser of two evils and we cannot even agree as a Church exactly who is the lesser of the evils.  And the media profits from our dissension and division.  They'll pit Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell against Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins any day just to make the religious look crazy and the liberal look like God haters.  How can Christians responsibly participate in politics and actively care for their country without being lost in the chaos?

I'm young.  I'm learning.  I don't have a lot of answers.  I have a lot more questions than I do solutions.  One of the many things that I have learned from Jesus is that our actions will speak much more loudly than our words.  If Jesus spoke about love, mercy, grace and forgiveness but never actually died on the Cross, He would have been just another great politician.  It's the whole cross and resurrection thing that makes everything that Jesus said legitimate.  How can I pick up my cross and serve others so I can see resurrection in the lives of my family, church and greater community?

Well, that will be my brainstorm for a while.  I'll do my best not to form another political party called the "Jesus Party" because I will surely mess that up and that would be really bad.  That would be a True Story no one would want to read about...