1. Remembering a journey.
One summer over two decades ago, I journeyed to the summit of Mount Whitney. It’s 14,505 feet above sea level. As I climbed I exhaled all of my strength into the thin air. The long last effort to the summit was painful. It was hard to keep going. I wanted to quit.
My face was a mask of agony. Except that a mask conceals what is beneath it. But the mask of agony that I wore exactly showed what I felt in every square inch of my body and psyche.
Then I got to the top. It was a joy to be there. I felt grand and happy.
On the journey down from the summit, I met people going up with faces that were, like mine before, masks of agony. That was everybody that I met.
I said what I could to encourage them. I wanted them to succeed. I wanted them to know that the joy of the destination made the agony of the journey completely worthwhile.
2. Journeys of the Bible.
The Bible is a book of journeys.
Adam and Eve journey from Eden to exile with a cherubim with a flaming sword behind them barring the way to the tree of life. The patriarch Abraham journeys from his home to the wilderness to make a pact with God. His grandson Jacob flees from his other grandson, angry Esau. Jacob flees rather than stay to be cut down. After many years, he journeys back to a joyful reunion with Esau. Along the way, he wrestles with God.
He and his children journey to Egypt to escape a famine. His son Joseph journeys there first, sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. The rest of the family follows after.
After four hundred years, Moses murders an Egyptian and flees to Midian. Then God reveals himself to Moses in a bush that burns but is not consumed. Moses journeys back to Egypt to lead his enslaved people out of Egypt.
The children of Israel journey in the Sinai for forty years. When it's time for that wandering to end, God stops the waters of the Jordan River, and they cross over dry river-bottom into their inheritance.
The Israelites stay in one place for hundreds of years. In that time, they fall away from God. Then the Israelites go on a new journey – into exile and captivity. After seven decades, a remnant journeys back to the land of their ancestors.
Jesus was itinerant. His story begins with his mother Mary, with child by the Holy Spirit, journeying to visit her elderly kinswoman Elizabeth, who is pregnant with the child who will become John the Baptist. Jesus is born after his parents journey to Bethlehem. The spirit of God tells Jesus’s earthly father Joseph to take his family and flee to Egypt. After the death of King Herod, they journey from Egypt to Nazareth.
Jesus in his time of ministry does not stay in one place. He journeys from city to city, from town to town, and into the wilderness. He journeys to Jerusalem to die.
Mary Magdalene journeys to Jesus’s tombs with spices to make fragrant his corpse. There Jesus, risen from the dead, greets her. He tells her to go and tell the others. A number of disciples journey to see the empty tomb.
The Book of Acts is a book of journeys. It largely chronicles the journeys of Paul to spread the good news of Christianity. It ends with Paul’s journey to Rome, where by tradition his journey ends in martyrdom.
3. The journey to the golden city.
Some Christians believe that heaven comes to them. But Christianity is a journey, a journey like the journeys described in the Bible. It’s a journey to God.
It’s a journey that begins with the decision to make the journey.
On the journey, most pilgrims meet up with other people also making the journey. Such a caravan of pilgrims is called a church.
On the journey, the pilgrim gains skills for the journey. The pilgrim learns about the journeys of others by reading the Bible and in other ways. The pilgrim learns things useful for his or her own journey.
On the journey, the pilgrim learns to pray. Prayer enlists the help of God in the journey; it can help others, too. It may lead to the pilgrim being consciously guided on the journey by God.
Some pilgrims end their journeys too soon. Some stop believing in the heavenly city that lies at the end of the journey. Some think that the journey is a waste of time – they think that God will be along for them with no effort of their own. And that might or might not be true, but that doesn’t mean that God wants his pilgrims to stop advancing on heaven. (But there are seasons of rest.)
Some of us journey in the wrong direction. Some of us journey in circles. Some of us give up or get distracted or grow complacent. I have known giving up.
When we finally give up the ghost, if God finds us along the way where he wants us to be, that is an act of his grace – grace in guidance, grace in strength, grace in faith, and just plain grace.
For each of us, our life, if it is lived well, is lived in movement. That journey might at times be uphill and hard. Mine has been. Life has been like that for many of my friends. But there’s joy at the summit.
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
The Case Against Voting for Republicans
You can trust Republican leaders to do in the future what they’ve done in the past.
1. Prosecuting political opponents.
George W. Bush broke precedents of decency. One precedent he broke was that you don’t use criminal prosecutions to destroy your political opponents.
So U.S. Attorneys have been above politics. Typically, when a new party came to power, U.S. Attorneys would resign, and the new administration would replace them. But once in office, while that administration was in power, U.S. Attorneys typically held their position unless they misbehaved. Then Bush was elected.
Bush fired U.S. Attorneys who were not partisan enough in their prosecutions. For example, David Iglesias, a Republican, was fired because he pushed back against political pressure to prosecute a Democratic state senator before an election.
Question: Do you want political parties to use criminal prosecution as an arm of politics?
2. Shrinking democracy.
Historically, politics was relatively simple. If a party wanted to gain power, it crafted a platform that would appeal to a wide segment of the electorate.
Not so in recent times in the Republican party. A new strategy has emerged in Republican-controlled states. Instead to broadening their platform to widen their appeal, Republicans in Republican-controlled states are shrinking the electorate.
Voter-fraud is a minuscule problem. It rarely happens. But there has been an avalanche of legislation nominally to combat this non-issue. The purpose of these laws is visible in their effect. This legislation discourages minority voters and discourages young voters – constituencies that skew Democratic. The venerable, non-partisan League of Women Voters is conducting no voter-registration drive in Florida this year; the onerous new laws make it too easy to get penalized.
The Republican plan is working.
The American Revolution began, and patriots gave up their lives, for the idea of "No taxation without representation." But in the worldview of Republican leaders, taxation without representation is fine for minorities and young people.
And these are people who might fight and die for America in war, without the voice of their vote.
Question: Do you want politics that shrinks the voting pool instead of making a platform more attractive to more people?
3. Attack on truth.
It’s a peculiar "news" organization that alters photographs of persons to make them seem sub-human. But that’s what Fox News did to New York Times reporters.
It’s a peculiar "news" organization that replaces footage of a crowd at a conservative rally with footage of a crowd of a more popular rally, to make the rally seem more popular than it was. But that’s what Fox News did with an anti-health-care-reform rally led by Michele Bachmann.
It’s a peculiar "news" organization that labels its enemies "socialists" to stir up hatred against them. But that’s what Fox News does. A Fox News person even wondered if Warren Buffett was a socialist, after Buffett said that he and people like him pay too few taxes. Buffett buys and sells companies for a living.
But Fox News is only nominally about news. It’s really a slick delivery system for Republican propaganda. Once, the Republican Party issued talking points about what to say about the improving economy. A Fox on-air personality obediently read the talking points on-air.
Fox News is the network face of the Republican Party, and Republican leaders have it’s habit of casualness about truth. So, the Affordable Care Act will save lives by guaranteeing that people with pre-existing conditions can get insurance. But Republican leaders claimed that it was all about killing grandma.
For the sake of their ideology, Republican leaders won’t dilute their positions. So they can’t broaden their platform to appeal to more people. Instead, they lie.
Question: do you want politics to slip the tether of truth?
4. Attack on Christianity.
You can spend your life improving your Christian walk, but the frame of Christianity can be taken in in a few minutes. Elements of this frame are: love your neighbor, and love your enemies.
But the political frame built by leaders of the Republican Party differs from the Christian frame. Their alternative frame is, basically, "What’s mine is mine, and screw my neighbor."
So: Republican leaders tout the freedom not to pay for health care by buying insurance. To them, this is more important than saving lives of men, women, and children by making insurance available to people with pre-existing conditions. To be clear: the Affordable Care Act will save lives. But it encroaches on Republican notions of liberty, so Republican leaders uniformly side with letting people die.
And the Bible is overwhelmingly on the side of the poor. But Republican leaders are overwhelmingly on the side of the rich and on the side of big banks and big corporations. They routinely top off the cups of the rich with tax cuts that favor those with vast wealth. But they are glad to drain the glass of the working class and the poor – so they resisted extending the payroll tax for workers, until political pressure made them reluctantly yield. They tear the social safety-net. This is not Christianity. This is social-and-political Darwinism.
And since the time of George Washington, America has treated war prisoners humanely. There never was a time when some advantage might not have been gained by torture; but, until recently, there never was a time when we touted torture. But the Bush administration changed that.
Question: Do you want politics to channel Darwinism instead of Christianity and decency?
5. Conclusion.
Individual Republicans are often lovely persons. But they are dancing with indecency to music that mixes partisan prosecutions, partisan assault on voting rights, partisan lies as a tool of politics, and Darwinism.
The right-wing will probably continue to dance to this music. The left will not.
I hope that the center holds. I hope that the center rejects partisan prosecutions, attacks on democracy, lies, and Darwinism. I hope that the center rejects politicians who reject a fair criminal-justice system, broad-based democracy, truth, and Christianity and decency.
1. Prosecuting political opponents.
George W. Bush broke precedents of decency. One precedent he broke was that you don’t use criminal prosecutions to destroy your political opponents.
So U.S. Attorneys have been above politics. Typically, when a new party came to power, U.S. Attorneys would resign, and the new administration would replace them. But once in office, while that administration was in power, U.S. Attorneys typically held their position unless they misbehaved. Then Bush was elected.
Bush fired U.S. Attorneys who were not partisan enough in their prosecutions. For example, David Iglesias, a Republican, was fired because he pushed back against political pressure to prosecute a Democratic state senator before an election.
Question: Do you want political parties to use criminal prosecution as an arm of politics?
2. Shrinking democracy.
Historically, politics was relatively simple. If a party wanted to gain power, it crafted a platform that would appeal to a wide segment of the electorate.
Not so in recent times in the Republican party. A new strategy has emerged in Republican-controlled states. Instead to broadening their platform to widen their appeal, Republicans in Republican-controlled states are shrinking the electorate.
Voter-fraud is a minuscule problem. It rarely happens. But there has been an avalanche of legislation nominally to combat this non-issue. The purpose of these laws is visible in their effect. This legislation discourages minority voters and discourages young voters – constituencies that skew Democratic. The venerable, non-partisan League of Women Voters is conducting no voter-registration drive in Florida this year; the onerous new laws make it too easy to get penalized.
The Republican plan is working.
The American Revolution began, and patriots gave up their lives, for the idea of "No taxation without representation." But in the worldview of Republican leaders, taxation without representation is fine for minorities and young people.
And these are people who might fight and die for America in war, without the voice of their vote.
Question: Do you want politics that shrinks the voting pool instead of making a platform more attractive to more people?
3. Attack on truth.
It’s a peculiar "news" organization that alters photographs of persons to make them seem sub-human. But that’s what Fox News did to New York Times reporters.
It’s a peculiar "news" organization that replaces footage of a crowd at a conservative rally with footage of a crowd of a more popular rally, to make the rally seem more popular than it was. But that’s what Fox News did with an anti-health-care-reform rally led by Michele Bachmann.
It’s a peculiar "news" organization that labels its enemies "socialists" to stir up hatred against them. But that’s what Fox News does. A Fox News person even wondered if Warren Buffett was a socialist, after Buffett said that he and people like him pay too few taxes. Buffett buys and sells companies for a living.
But Fox News is only nominally about news. It’s really a slick delivery system for Republican propaganda. Once, the Republican Party issued talking points about what to say about the improving economy. A Fox on-air personality obediently read the talking points on-air.
Fox News is the network face of the Republican Party, and Republican leaders have it’s habit of casualness about truth. So, the Affordable Care Act will save lives by guaranteeing that people with pre-existing conditions can get insurance. But Republican leaders claimed that it was all about killing grandma.
For the sake of their ideology, Republican leaders won’t dilute their positions. So they can’t broaden their platform to appeal to more people. Instead, they lie.
Question: do you want politics to slip the tether of truth?
4. Attack on Christianity.
You can spend your life improving your Christian walk, but the frame of Christianity can be taken in in a few minutes. Elements of this frame are: love your neighbor, and love your enemies.
But the political frame built by leaders of the Republican Party differs from the Christian frame. Their alternative frame is, basically, "What’s mine is mine, and screw my neighbor."
So: Republican leaders tout the freedom not to pay for health care by buying insurance. To them, this is more important than saving lives of men, women, and children by making insurance available to people with pre-existing conditions. To be clear: the Affordable Care Act will save lives. But it encroaches on Republican notions of liberty, so Republican leaders uniformly side with letting people die.
And the Bible is overwhelmingly on the side of the poor. But Republican leaders are overwhelmingly on the side of the rich and on the side of big banks and big corporations. They routinely top off the cups of the rich with tax cuts that favor those with vast wealth. But they are glad to drain the glass of the working class and the poor – so they resisted extending the payroll tax for workers, until political pressure made them reluctantly yield. They tear the social safety-net. This is not Christianity. This is social-and-political Darwinism.
And since the time of George Washington, America has treated war prisoners humanely. There never was a time when some advantage might not have been gained by torture; but, until recently, there never was a time when we touted torture. But the Bush administration changed that.
Question: Do you want politics to channel Darwinism instead of Christianity and decency?
5. Conclusion.
Individual Republicans are often lovely persons. But they are dancing with indecency to music that mixes partisan prosecutions, partisan assault on voting rights, partisan lies as a tool of politics, and Darwinism.
The right-wing will probably continue to dance to this music. The left will not.
I hope that the center holds. I hope that the center rejects partisan prosecutions, attacks on democracy, lies, and Darwinism. I hope that the center rejects politicians who reject a fair criminal-justice system, broad-based democracy, truth, and Christianity and decency.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Why an Act of Kindness is an Act of Patriotism
Chaos was the rule in China. I lived there for two years. Getting on a bus wasn’t simple. When the bus’s door opened, a near-riot followed. Everybody tried to board at once, pushing and shoving and struggling to get in ahead of each other.
Church was the same. Sometimes I went to the Chinese Protestant church. When the service ended, everybody left the church like they were getting on a bus. I saw a frail woman roughly treated in the rush to leave.
America is different, and there are probably many reasons for that. But one reason is a simple regard for strangers.
We are a nation of people who (mostly) show courtesy to one another. We let another car merge in front of us in traffic. We tell somebody if they have dropped something. We stop to render aid when someone is in trouble. At least, we dial 9-1-1.
My experience in the world tells me it isn’t so everywhere. In some countries, the rule is that you watch out for yourself and your clan; to blazes with everybody else.
Even though people like Christopher Hitchens argue that religion is a malignant force in the world, I see America as a place where people look out for each other exactly in the degree that Judeo-Christianity has a solid influence. Maybe it sometimes gets downed out in the competing narratives of contemporary fiction and current cinema, but the Bible still informs our conduct. The tale of the good Samaritan is one we admire, even if we don’t always follow it. Almost every child knows the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". And somewhere in our consciousness we find the amazing and sometimes-impossible-seeming demand to "Love your enemies".
We must never forget to cherish those sentiments.
This is true because we live in a complex society. 300 million people more-or-less thrive together. When I try to comprehend this number and reflect on all of these strangers taking care of their daily business and somehow successfully contributing to a country that works, I am amazed. And I know it wouldn’t be possible without a fundamental decency, a core cooperation.
In a country like China, control exists by brute force. Executions are common. One Chinese university I taught at was near a prison and a medical school. The prison fed the medical school a steady stream of cadavers. The medical students learned on these cadavers, but the value to the medical students of each cadaver was reduced by the severe brain trauma from a bullet that had entered the rear of the skull.
I think of China and I think of America, and I fret when I see evidence of everyday indifference to the well-being of others. I worry when I see a loss of courtesy and respect. I dread divisions among us. At stake, ultimately, is a society that works together.
These words are on the United States Seal: "E pluribus unum." It means, "Out of many, one." These words must not become, "E pluribus pluribus." If they do, America is diminished.
Even the Chinese know the desirability of Christian values. I was alone in a sleeper car on a train in China. A beautiful young Chinese woman walked in. She had a ticket to share the sleeper car with me. When she saw me, a young foreigner, her face showed disgust, and she jetted up to her upper bunk across from my lower bunk and proceeded to ignore me. This reaction wasn’t universal, but it wasn’t uncommon. I chose not to be bothered by it, and I calmly opened my Bible and read, sitting on the edge of my bunk.
At some point she must have peered over the edge of her bunk and recognized that I was reading a Bible by the distinctive two-column printing of the pages. I infer this because suddenly she was eager to know me. She broadly hinted that she would welcome a later meet-up. (It never happened; I soon left China.) The point is that she, a non-Christian, added value to me because I was a Christian.
The world wants what we have. The world knows that it’s good. We must not let it slip away.
So if we love our country, we must love our neighbor. We must love not just the ones that are easy to love, but the ones that are different from us – different in race, different in religion, and different in ideology. We must sacrifice our readiness to condemn for the sake of cohesion.
Each of us can influence our neighbor by example. That’s why an act of kindness is an act of patriotism.
Church was the same. Sometimes I went to the Chinese Protestant church. When the service ended, everybody left the church like they were getting on a bus. I saw a frail woman roughly treated in the rush to leave.
America is different, and there are probably many reasons for that. But one reason is a simple regard for strangers.
We are a nation of people who (mostly) show courtesy to one another. We let another car merge in front of us in traffic. We tell somebody if they have dropped something. We stop to render aid when someone is in trouble. At least, we dial 9-1-1.
My experience in the world tells me it isn’t so everywhere. In some countries, the rule is that you watch out for yourself and your clan; to blazes with everybody else.
Even though people like Christopher Hitchens argue that religion is a malignant force in the world, I see America as a place where people look out for each other exactly in the degree that Judeo-Christianity has a solid influence. Maybe it sometimes gets downed out in the competing narratives of contemporary fiction and current cinema, but the Bible still informs our conduct. The tale of the good Samaritan is one we admire, even if we don’t always follow it. Almost every child knows the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". And somewhere in our consciousness we find the amazing and sometimes-impossible-seeming demand to "Love your enemies".
We must never forget to cherish those sentiments.
This is true because we live in a complex society. 300 million people more-or-less thrive together. When I try to comprehend this number and reflect on all of these strangers taking care of their daily business and somehow successfully contributing to a country that works, I am amazed. And I know it wouldn’t be possible without a fundamental decency, a core cooperation.
In a country like China, control exists by brute force. Executions are common. One Chinese university I taught at was near a prison and a medical school. The prison fed the medical school a steady stream of cadavers. The medical students learned on these cadavers, but the value to the medical students of each cadaver was reduced by the severe brain trauma from a bullet that had entered the rear of the skull.
I think of China and I think of America, and I fret when I see evidence of everyday indifference to the well-being of others. I worry when I see a loss of courtesy and respect. I dread divisions among us. At stake, ultimately, is a society that works together.
These words are on the United States Seal: "E pluribus unum." It means, "Out of many, one." These words must not become, "E pluribus pluribus." If they do, America is diminished.
Even the Chinese know the desirability of Christian values. I was alone in a sleeper car on a train in China. A beautiful young Chinese woman walked in. She had a ticket to share the sleeper car with me. When she saw me, a young foreigner, her face showed disgust, and she jetted up to her upper bunk across from my lower bunk and proceeded to ignore me. This reaction wasn’t universal, but it wasn’t uncommon. I chose not to be bothered by it, and I calmly opened my Bible and read, sitting on the edge of my bunk.
At some point she must have peered over the edge of her bunk and recognized that I was reading a Bible by the distinctive two-column printing of the pages. I infer this because suddenly she was eager to know me. She broadly hinted that she would welcome a later meet-up. (It never happened; I soon left China.) The point is that she, a non-Christian, added value to me because I was a Christian.
The world wants what we have. The world knows that it’s good. We must not let it slip away.
So if we love our country, we must love our neighbor. We must love not just the ones that are easy to love, but the ones that are different from us – different in race, different in religion, and different in ideology. We must sacrifice our readiness to condemn for the sake of cohesion.
Each of us can influence our neighbor by example. That’s why an act of kindness is an act of patriotism.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sean Hannity Died for Your Sins
Actually, he didn’t.
That’s the point.
Because I see Hannity’s point of view more prominent than that of Jesus.
I never understood the expression, "You are what you eat." But I truly believe that you are what you behold. If you spend your time watching God, godliness arises in you. Paul always looked to the author of his salvation. And he could say that Christ lived in him. (Galatians 2:20.) He could say that the spirit of God lives in us; if the spirit of Christ does not live in us, we do not belong to him. (Romans 8:9)
But America today is not Paul. We Americans collectively spend more time beholding Hannity than beholding Jesus. Our thoughts are not Christ’s. Our thoughts are Hannity’s. Our priorities are not Christ’s. Our priorities are Hannity’s.
So the question is: on the last day, will we know Jesus? Or will we know Hannity?
I see America becoming false. In my professional life, I deal with liars like never before. And in public life, I see lies, lies, lies. I wonder what started this flight from godliness.
I see a willfulness. I see politicians willing to ruin the country and bring suffering to its people, for political gain. This is a new thing. There are no rules. There are only winners and losers. Patriotism exists in name only, especially among those who appeal most loudly to patriotism.
And the reason is that Christianity is being eclipsed by politics.
People regard Hannity because they are convinced that his message is important for today. Because the immediate enemy is not the devil; it is the Democrats. Like a clanging cymbal, Hannity proclaims the evil of Democratic influence. The prospect of Obama having two terms looms as a greater crisis than the prospect of eternal damnation.
People regard liberal media stars, too. But I talk about conservative stars, because they are more likely to be the darlings of the religious. If any liberal reads this and thinks my message is only for conservatives, they misread me.
As for Jesus? Beating back socialism will take work, but salvation is easy. It’s taken care of. It’s a done deal. No worries.
As if confirmation were needed – we go to church. We approve when Glenn Beck speaks admiringly of Christian martyr Dietrich Bohnoeffer. We hate Muslims – that’s the same as loving God, right? We disapprove of secular humanism – isn’t that Christ within us? We believe in the Bible word for word – isn’t that faith?
No. And if your burning heart doesn’t tell you that, this short essay won’t either. If the decline in American morals doesn’t frighten you, these words won’t. But I remember what we were 30 years ago, and I see what we are now. And I'm afraid. Because I see in the soiling of America proof of God’s withdrawal from us.
There is a popular saying that goes, "Don’t let the best be the enemy of the good." In other words, don’t be so determined to bring about the best solution that you forsake a good solution and instead get nothing.
But religion is the opposite of that. To love your brothers and sisters, spouse and children, and father and mother is a very good thing. But Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26 (NIV).) That is, to Christ, the good is the enemy of the best.
Think of whether the "good" or your news outlet, the "good" of your political party, crowds out the "best" of salvation.
Think of whether any other "good" thing crowds out God.
I’m thinking that it does.
I’m thinking that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a long trip through harsh conditions. And to make it safely to the end, you have to leave everything behind that will hinder you. I remember reading about pioneers. Often, at the beginning of their journey, they would take everything that was dear to them, only to leave their once-precious cargo along the way, when sheer survival compelled them to know the difference between luxuries and necessities. Cut loose the unnecessary early; it holds you back.
I speak what I do not do – I have my heroes, although they are liberal, not conservative. But I think I speak the truth. And I think I’m wiser for doubting my salvation than those who are sure of their place in Heaven.
That’s the point.
Because I see Hannity’s point of view more prominent than that of Jesus.
I never understood the expression, "You are what you eat." But I truly believe that you are what you behold. If you spend your time watching God, godliness arises in you. Paul always looked to the author of his salvation. And he could say that Christ lived in him. (Galatians 2:20.) He could say that the spirit of God lives in us; if the spirit of Christ does not live in us, we do not belong to him. (Romans 8:9)
But America today is not Paul. We Americans collectively spend more time beholding Hannity than beholding Jesus. Our thoughts are not Christ’s. Our thoughts are Hannity’s. Our priorities are not Christ’s. Our priorities are Hannity’s.
So the question is: on the last day, will we know Jesus? Or will we know Hannity?
I see America becoming false. In my professional life, I deal with liars like never before. And in public life, I see lies, lies, lies. I wonder what started this flight from godliness.
I see a willfulness. I see politicians willing to ruin the country and bring suffering to its people, for political gain. This is a new thing. There are no rules. There are only winners and losers. Patriotism exists in name only, especially among those who appeal most loudly to patriotism.
And the reason is that Christianity is being eclipsed by politics.
People regard Hannity because they are convinced that his message is important for today. Because the immediate enemy is not the devil; it is the Democrats. Like a clanging cymbal, Hannity proclaims the evil of Democratic influence. The prospect of Obama having two terms looms as a greater crisis than the prospect of eternal damnation.
People regard liberal media stars, too. But I talk about conservative stars, because they are more likely to be the darlings of the religious. If any liberal reads this and thinks my message is only for conservatives, they misread me.
As for Jesus? Beating back socialism will take work, but salvation is easy. It’s taken care of. It’s a done deal. No worries.
As if confirmation were needed – we go to church. We approve when Glenn Beck speaks admiringly of Christian martyr Dietrich Bohnoeffer. We hate Muslims – that’s the same as loving God, right? We disapprove of secular humanism – isn’t that Christ within us? We believe in the Bible word for word – isn’t that faith?
No. And if your burning heart doesn’t tell you that, this short essay won’t either. If the decline in American morals doesn’t frighten you, these words won’t. But I remember what we were 30 years ago, and I see what we are now. And I'm afraid. Because I see in the soiling of America proof of God’s withdrawal from us.
There is a popular saying that goes, "Don’t let the best be the enemy of the good." In other words, don’t be so determined to bring about the best solution that you forsake a good solution and instead get nothing.
But religion is the opposite of that. To love your brothers and sisters, spouse and children, and father and mother is a very good thing. But Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26 (NIV).) That is, to Christ, the good is the enemy of the best.
Think of whether the "good" or your news outlet, the "good" of your political party, crowds out the "best" of salvation.
Think of whether any other "good" thing crowds out God.
I’m thinking that it does.
I’m thinking that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a long trip through harsh conditions. And to make it safely to the end, you have to leave everything behind that will hinder you. I remember reading about pioneers. Often, at the beginning of their journey, they would take everything that was dear to them, only to leave their once-precious cargo along the way, when sheer survival compelled them to know the difference between luxuries and necessities. Cut loose the unnecessary early; it holds you back.
I speak what I do not do – I have my heroes, although they are liberal, not conservative. But I think I speak the truth. And I think I’m wiser for doubting my salvation than those who are sure of their place in Heaven.
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