Today I'd like to refer my readers to an article by Gina Loudon titled "Voter Psychology: Purity versus Triage." The link is in the footnotes.
In this article, Dr. Loudon (PhD in psychology) analyzes possible outcomes that may result from how voters make their choices. Although she is giving a political analysis, I think you will soon see that there are some very real parallels between reasonings and emotions voters use to mark their ballots and the choices made by the runaway bride.
Loudon begins by establishing that all choices have a cost, and then analyzes the current top-three candidates in the GOP primary race. The way she sees it:
Ted Cruz - political reality has forced him to compromise; he is partially owned by an establishment that will turn on him if he tries to govern independently from them.
Marco Rubio - moved up the line when Jeb Bush's campaign could not catch on, he is even more fully owned by the establishment. His presidency would be business as usual.
Donald Trump - does not fit the political template. Many who are afraid to trust him are supporting him anyway because if the borders are not secure, there is no America as we knew her.
Dr. Loudon concludes:
The psychology here is fascinating. Many of those who risked all to dismantle the establishment decided that the establishment can feel a lot more comfortable than the unknown. [...] Is it political triage or political purity for you this election cycle?
That is a question that the runaway bride answered when she decided that she felt a lot more comfortable with "the establishment" than she did with the unknown. It is a question that the Israelites answered in the days of Moses when they decided that they felt a lot more comfortable with the manna on the backside of the desert than they did with the unknowns of Beulah Land.
For KatieLyn, the establishment is her parents' home. She decided that the 'known' is a lot safer, even though she would have had mega-tons more personal influence and control over her homelife by getting married. 50% in a leadership role (wife) is a whale of a lot more influence than 20% of a subordinate role (daughter). During the courtship, she repeatedly told Joe that she was ready to get out from under her mother's control. "Maybe she was, just not for the reasons she may have originally thought," to quote her equally capricious mother.
In any event, KatieLyn was not going to "risk all to dismantle the establishment." She wasn't going to risk anything! She was going to play it safe. She was going to conform to her mother's "be 100% sure" standard, which of course, is 100% unattainable.
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
~ James 4:14
We do not know what our life will be like tomorrow. What we have is a choice at the polls, a tiny say in how we cast our future. The best way to make the best choice is to hear what God is saying and to follow where He is leading.
I'm seeing lot of people who are predicting what God wants without ever taking time to listen and obey. Their candidate was chosen for reasons that they can justify to themselves, not because God said, "This is the one!" Others don't even vote; no one is good enough for them so they will let the ungodly do the electing for them. If they think that they can wait it out, that if they are patient enough, that God will send a better politician... or worse, if they falsely console themselves that God will do what He wants and work it out in the end... Those are the slackers in the parables, the people who did not put the resources that God gave them to any use. They are the ones called worthless servants.
The Lesson
We are never going to have a "perfect" candidate run for office. KatieLyn is never going to find a "perfect" man for whom she can be 100% sure either. What she did have though, at one point, was the Lord's 100% answer to her prayer, and His ways are perfect. "He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just," Deuteronomy 32:4.
God is not unreasonable. He knows we don't have any perfect candidates, but He isn't going to accept that as an excuse either. He knew Joe and KatieLyn could have been "more better" for each other than they were alone. His plan was to have them marry. KatieLyn disagreed and ran off.
We should be making our choices according to the Lord's plan for our lives, and that will mean that we must walk by faith. It is wrong to run back to a place the Lord wants to lead you out of. That is true both personally and politically.
I'd tell you to ask Lot's wife about the danger in turning back, but she isn't talking much anymore.
Loudon, G. "Voter Psychology: Purity versus Triage." WND. February 28, 2016. Accessed February 29, 2016. http://www.wnd.com/2016/02/voter-psychology-purity-versus-triage/.
No comments:
Post a Comment