The Weighting Is The Hardest Part

I've been writing about examining all candidates with a prayerful and properly formed conscience and keeping faith and morals in the political discussions.

There can be such a will of some people to defeat a particular candidate that they don't even want to hear or read anything, and I mean anything, that might cause them or others to do anything but march on in a robotic trance, with blinders on their eyes and fingers in their ears.

As Christians, we have a greater responsibility and allegiance to God than to any politician, political party, and even to our country.  Of course our country is important, but as Christians we are responsible to cooperate with God in our witness to others first, hopefully transforming the country through God's Grace.

The most common responses I have received so far have been:

Romney "is pro-life".

-Well, there's more to being pro-life than being anti-abortion.  And Romney is not always anti-abortion. And even when he is, I do not see such conviction that I believe that he will actually do anything other than say he is pro-life. There's more on this, but you can do a little research on your own right? (Of course we know Obama is definitely pro-abortion and even pro-infanticide so do not misinterpret or distort what I am saying.)

What " if your vote results in dramatic worsening of the situation for pretty much everything you care about (a bigger evil staying in power)?" and "A vote for a third party candidate is a vote for Obama."

-That is part of the discernment that one needs to consider. But it's a part and needs to be taken to prayer and considered in the whole of the process. When our conscience is clear, we will proceed with assurance and peace, not fear. The Lord does not give us a Spirit of fear.

"I know Romney is not perfect. He was not my first nor second choice in the primaries but he he is better than Obama."
-My intention is to get people to think about the weight of their vote on their souls before the weight of politics. Honestly, it's not for me to judge someone who wrestles with the full grasp of facts and takes that (hopefully with prayer) into the voting booth.

I was going to rant on a bit more about this, but Lisa beat me to it.  (Ah, good for me and for you.)

No, it's not easy, but it is your responsibility.  And although Tom Petty's song "The Waiting" was definitely composed with a different end in mind, the chorus of that song reminds me of this process.  Here it is (with my changing of that one word <2x>):

The weighting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The weighting is the hardest part
(The Waiting, by Tom Petty - with editorial liberty)

So try not to get angry about any of this, just think and pray and discern until you truly feel at peace that you have taken into account all of the information. Soon, the weighting will be over.

The Voices In My Head - Part 4; Show Me the Way

One might wonder why God doesn't just "make" us do what He wants (or wills).  Why can't He just clearly and audibly give us every answer? This opens that line of questioning about why there is evil in the world and the whole "If God is really a loving God, then...." scenario. I'll leave that mostly for another day, but of course the short answer is "sin", and we really don't like accepting responsibility.  It's much easier to blame God.

Ultimately, God's Will is that we all come to know Him and to be saved. (1Timothy 2:3-4)  He desires that we share in His divine nature through Christ. (2Peter 1:4)   He loves us enough to give us the freedom to choose or reject Him, not in one fleeting moment or decision, but throughout our lives and in a multitude of daily decisions.  We have freedom. But we also have responsibility.

Last week, I began writing about conscience; understanding how and where God speaks to us, the need to properly form one's conscience, and the propensity for erroneous judgment.

With these things in mind, the Church helps to guide us, also not telling us exactly what to do in every situation but distinguishing certain criteria when making moral choices.

One may not choose to do evil in order to achieve good.  You know, two wrongs don't make a right.  

Apply the Golden Rule:  "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you." (Matthew 7:12)  

One must be careful not to cause another to sin (Romans 14:21) or to damage another's conscience. (1Corinthians 8:12)  I believe that this "rule" deserves special attention.  There are many people whose faith is weak or fragile for whatever reason or circumstance.  Many want to believe but have their faith shaken by the world that surrounds them, including the actions of Christians.  I am reminded of lines from a Styx song, "Show Me The Way".  May we not bring judgment upon ourselves for causing another to lose their faith.

Every night I say a prayer in the hope that there's a heaven And every day I'm more confused as the saints turn into sinners All the heroes and legends I knew as a child have fallen to idols of clay And I feel this empty place inside so afraid that I've lost my faith  (Show Me The Way; by Styx)

The Voices In My Head - Part 3; Magnetic Morality

In "Counterfeit Conscience", I addressed using the tools available to us as Christians to prepare us to discern the voice of God in out hearts.

The proper formation of one's conscience is a lifelong process and responsibility.  Even one who seeks to make correct judgments in conformity with God's Will is at risk of making the wrong choices; erroneous judgment.  Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are influenced throughout our lives by our family, friends, the media, and the environment we grow up in among many other factors.  So even if we make a sincere effort to understand how God speaks to us and to prepare ourselves using the "tools" available to us as Christians, because of these influences we are still susceptible to erroneous judgement.

The propensity for erroneous judgement is increased by presuppositions of false assertions, an insincere quest for or even absence of the pursuit of a properly formed conscience, bad examples, a lack of true charity, and ignorance of and especially rejection of Christ, the Gospel, and the authority of the Church.

It is true that we are creatures of habit.  The more we become accustomed to making wrong choices, the more comfortable we will be making them.  As I discussed in "Are you convicted, accused, or left alone?", we can even lose any sense of our "moral compass".  However, the more we choose correctly, the stronger bearing we have on magnetic North, or in this case, "magnetic morality".

Hence the more right conscience holds sway, the more persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and strive to be guided by the objective norms of morality. (Gaudium Et Spes)

The conclusion of this series will appear Monday covering a few "rules".

The Voices In My Head - Part 2; Counterfeit Conscience

In Part 1 I began to address the question, "How do I know if it is God speaking to me, or if it is all in my head?", touching on how and where He speaks, and how conscience is the messenger helping to interpret His voice for us.

But for the Christian, conscience needs to be trained.  It requires proper formation.  A properly formed conscience helps us to make choices based on reason, but in conformity with the Will of God.

When I was in the grocery business, we trained our cashiers how to detect counterfeit money.  To detect counterfeit bills, one does not study the counterfeit.  One studies the real bill, seeks to learn all that is possible about what a real bill looks like.  Properly trained to recognize the real bill, the one with true value, the cashier would be better equipped to recognize the worthless counterfeit bill.

It is also important to note that as cashiers became better equipped to recognize truth over counterfeit, the counterfeiters found better ways to trick them.  This brought on changes in the way money is printed; with special portraits, bands and shifting ink, among others.  Cashiers are now also given special pens to aid them in this effort.  Even as they become more and more equipped, given more and more tools to work with, the counterfeiters continue to scheme.

And so it is today, that we Christians have plenty of "tools" and "aids" at our disposal; much more so than our parents and grandparents and so on.  However, the "counterfeiters", the ones who seek to trick us into accepting false reason, are very good at their game.  More importantly, if we become lazy and do not use the tools at our disposal, we will most certainly be duped!

So it is clear to see, that the formation of the Christian conscience is a life long process.  We have to work at it and stay vigilant against the tactics of the enemies of faith.  Like counterfeiters, they seek to distort true faith, masking their lies with half truths.

Thanks be to God!  We have lots of tools.  We have prayer, which teaches us to place our trust in God and to cooperate with His Will.  We have the great gift of the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures and authentic blueprint of faith.  We have the Church through which we exercise our faith, are renewed and refreshed by the Sacraments and by which we join our prayer to the Body of Christ, whose head is Jesus in Whom all Truth resides.

Next time; more about avoiding counterfeit conscience and erroneous judgement.

The Voices In My Head - Part 1

How do I know if it is God speaking to me or if it is "all in my head"?

This is a great question, and one that should be especially considered by one who professes to be a Christian.  Let's face it.  There is no shortage of conflicting thoughts among Christians on just about anything, but especially with regards to faith and morals.

Today, our world is full of noise and "busyness".  Add in the fact that decades of media and political slants have been rather successful at diluting at best and manipulating at worse the "messages" we receive, and it is a little more clear why it has become more difficult for us to discern the "voice" of God in our "hearts".

This is a good place to start.  To be able to recognize God's "voice", we must first understand that He speaks to the "heart", the depths of one's being.  It is where God has already written His law.  (Romans 2:14-15)  It is in the heart that "conscience" must delve to seek out God's true voice.

For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them.  Romans 2:14-15

Conscience is the judgement or reason by which one weighs the moral merits of one's actions.  The Christian understands it as something more though.  Cardinal Newman described conscience as a "messenger" of God, which "speaks to us behind a veil".

[Conscience] is a messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by his representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ. John Henry Cardinal Newman, "Letter to the Duke of Norfolk," V, in Certain Difficulties felt by Anglicans in Catholic Teaching II (London: Longmans Green, 1885) 

So God speaks to us in our hearts where He has written His law and gives us conscience as a messenger to "interpret" for us so that we are equipped to always do right, right?  Equipped, yes, but owning (or being equipped with) high priced power tools doesn't make you a master carpenter.  There's training involved, lots and lots of training.

In fact, continuing with the carpentry theme, the Christian recognizes that while one's "skills" (or ability to recognize God's voice) increases, his or her stint as a "journeyman" is truly a lifelong apprenticeship.

Next time, I will begin to address this training of or the "formation" of conscience.