occasionally i'm an opinionated person (stop laughing), but i try my best to be objective when listening to different sides of an argument before i decide what i believe. i don't tow party lines, and i don't think that any one person, party or side (save Jesus Christ) is always right. but there are some issues that i just wrestle with and never can seem to get a firm grip on. i don't want to be one of those people who sway in the wind, whose opinions change more often than their socks, and truth is i'm very rarely that person. but sometimes i just see both sides and i can't seem to figure out on which side the truth lies. the scary thing is sometimes i wonder if it doesn't lie a little bit in both.
anyway my wife and i were watching a tv show last night dealing with the government's response to protesters and those who oppose certain things in the usa, namely of course the war in iraq. how far is too far for the government to go? detaining people at gitmo, wiretapping phones of american citizens, etc. and as a christian, what kind of opinion should i have on this? i mean, the old testament is filled with war and violence, yet Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek and go the extra mile. and the truth is God is the same yesterday, today and forever. so as much as Jesus said to "love your enemies" there's the israelites wiping out entire towns. i suppose ecclesiastes sums it up with "to everything there is a season...a time for war and a time for peace" but knowing which one is which and whether or not the leaders of our country know which one is which can be difficult.
so perhaps i'm just trying to get some clarity in my own mind...i have no problem admitting that i'm wrong, but something about all of it just doesn't feel right to me...then again, that's why we don't base all we do on our feelings and why i wasn't consulted when God made things...but not to be trite...here's a song i wrote last night in response to all of this...have a great week and don't forget to think...
"uncertainty"
how many times must we lie to each other
and say that everything's fine when we're on the brink of disaster
and is the way to peace the way of war?
and do we really know what we are fighting for?
i sit here confused as to what my role should be
if i'm to fight the injustice then whose side am i taking?
because to be free means that i'm not really safe
but safe never changed the world anyway
it's back and forth in my mind
what is the truth, the spin and the lie
i know enough just to know that i don't know a lot of things
but i think i could let this go if we'd just admit our uncertainty
because it seems to me that all we do is trade
injustices, one for another
and if the way to peace is the way of war
do we truly know what we are fighting for | 
