{"id":38538,"date":"2012-09-27T00:21:25","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T07:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=38538"},"modified":"2014-12-30T13:55:24","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T20:55:24","slug":"can-someone-explain-these-contradictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2012\/09\/can-someone-explain-these-contradictions.html","title":{"rendered":"Can someone explain these contradictions?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Conservative Christians who tell me they believe the Bible tell me that this story is true:<\/p>\n

He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. 3 And he said, \u201cTruly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4 for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had.\u201d (Luke 21:1-4)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then they tell me that my one puny protest vote for a third party candidate who does not advocate intrinsic grave evil is absolutely worthless and meaningless.<\/p>\n

Then they tell me that my absolutely worthless and meaningless vote IS ENORMOUSLY MEANINGFUL BECAUSE I AM HELPING THE OTHER GUY, BE AFRAID BE VERY AFRAID!!!!<\/p>\n

Personally, I suspect these contradictions, being true contradictions, can\u2019t be reconciled because they are at variance with reality.\u00a0 But I think my position can be easily reconciled with reality.\u00a0 It\u2019s this: You matter<\/em>.\u00a0 Your vote, no matter how statistically insignificant matters, because you matter<\/em>.\u00a0 You may not matter to powerful men and your vote may not have a statistically significant impact on an election just as the widow\u2019s mite had no statistically significant impact on the economy of the Roman Empire. But she mattered and even her tiniest choices mattered to God because she mattered.\u00a0 You and your seemingly insignificant vote matter too.\u00a0 Think about your vote that way.\u00a0 Use it for good and not to support grave intrinsic evil<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conservative Christians who tell me they believe the Bible tell me that this story is true: He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. 3 And he said, \u201cTruly I tell you, this poor widow has put in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[246],"class_list":["post-38538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-you-matter"],"yoast_head":"\nCan someone explain these contradictions?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Conservative Christians who tell me they believe the Bible tell me that this story is true: He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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