WHAT ABOUT THOSE POLITICAL CARTOONS AND STORIES?

Political stories and cartoons are always with us on any wavelength and in any print form imaginable. The question that has been on my mind lately is, “What are we going to do about them?” You may or may not have noticed but in the upper right hand corner of our site there has been a poll that needs a simple click answer…no signing in…just a click to show your preference…but only one person has answered it in the past two weeks. Yet, I still ask, “What are we going to do about them?”
You may question why it is so important to me. After all, aren’t they just funny things we share and aren’t some statements of true facts? And aren’t we supposed to be alerted to what is true and what is not regarding the people we put in office? Yet how do we know if the comments we are passing along are true or just things written to raise a ruckus? And aren’t the cartoons just plain funny, not really hurtful or believable, something that even the candidates would laugh at about themselves?
Recently an e-mail came into my box that had some factual information that had made news headlines in the past, along with some facts that I didn’t check out because I didn’t plan to pass the piece along. It wasn’t very long until another e-message came railing at the sender of that particular piece. Following almost immediately came an answering message stating that a relative of this sender always enjoyed a good joke. It seems that just that one piece prompted one person to see it as somewhat newsworthy while another found it very offensive yet another found the same thing humorous. All the same words, all written about the same politicians, and only the author knows for sure whether it was meant to inform or as a piece of political satire.
What are we going to do about these political commentaries? It seems to me we need to take a more serious approach than we sometimes do by seeking what God’s Word tells us about those in governmental authority. (I know the candidates are not necessarily those in authority but consider the reasoning…the WHY…behind God’s teachings as well as the WHAT…His Word.) One scripture that stands out is headlined in my Bible as: A Call to Prayer in I Timothy 2:1-4 (NASB): “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
What are we going to do about those political cartoons and stories? It seems we need to proceed with caution and remember that as the Children of God we are to be different, to make a difference, and with God’s guidance apply His wisdom to determine what’s trash, what’s newsworthy, what’s funny, and most of all to remember what “is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” This means even the politicians and those who write about them.
© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 2-19-08