Oh no, what are we going to do?
Our dog has a case of perpetual puppyhood. She is bred for companionship and playfulness. See thinks of guests as having one purpose. After greeting them in an appropriate way (we keep working on this), she scampers to her box of toys, grabs one, returns to the newcomer, drops it at their feet, and sits in anticipation, her eyes looking to them.
She responds to our tone of voice. When my wife queries, “Where is your bear?”, she wags her tail, pauses for a moment, then bolts off in search for her favorite stuffed toy. Sometimes she gets the zoomies. It appears to us she is in a panic. So, we excitedly ask, “Oh no, Marley, what are we going to do?”
I think if she could understand podcasts and cable news – or if she could read the daily hysteria of the right and the left – she would get the hyper zoomies. “What are we going to do?” is the only response that seems to fit.
It's an election year (assuming a year is about 24 months). Once again, the pundits are telling me the future of our nation hangs in the balance. Candidates are stirring up their bases. They appeal to our fears, anger, and patriotism. What are we going to do? What am I going to do? How will I vote and how will I determine who to vote for?
This is not new. The choices before me in the last few elections have reminded me of the commencement address given by a celebrated comedian. He called the graduates to be good citizens, reminded them of the significance of their decisions. He said something like this: “We stand at a crossroads of history. On the one hand lies nuclear annihilation, on the other environmental disaster. We must make a wise choice.”
The end is near. Everything is eschatological. Indeed, many assert that Western Civilization is on the verge of collapse, and this may be our last chance to rescue it. Both candidates insist they are the one to preserve our nation and Constitution. How do I assess the rhetoric? Are they correct? How do I, as a believer in Jesus the King, respond?
For most of the last 10 years, once our nest was empty and I had some time, I have read and listened widely. I have engaged in many conversations about politics, history, Western civilization, culture, and the state of the American church. My participation in Braver Angels has been very helpful for this. During these years, I have also spent more than 6 months on the ground in relationships with people in another country, from a different heritage. They have shown me how many assumptions I make that are uniquely American and not at all Christian.
I have reached some conclusions. I am ready to write some summaries of my reflections. The benefit will be for myself, to get all this bric-a-brac of material out of my head and onto paper, hopefully with some order. I have little hopes of changing anyone’s mind. Political convictions are visceral, assumed, unproven and irrefutable. Humans are not open to reason. People do not want to be confused by facts.
My life has been a commitment to learn, change, and to modify my positions1. That does not mean I am open to reason. It takes immense work to dig down to my assumptions and to test them. I have tried. Many times, I have asked myself, “Where did I get that idea?” Or, “Where did they get that idea? Why is it so important to them?”
Help has come from surprising places. Secular writers have sometimes been more insightful (and more honest) than Christian ones. Reading people who see differently is necessary. What good is an untested conclusion?
In recent years, thinking clearly comes at a price. I have appreciated the courage of folks who have risked their careers, hired security for their own safety, and put their lives on the line for the sake of being true to what they see. Cowardice will ruin us all.
I have been surprised at the depths of anger or zeal that surrounds these topics. This has intensified. Anger, passion, zeal are indicators of what I worship. What many, secular and Christian, worship is a false god. It is not that I cannot be emotionally engaged. The question is whether my passions are ordered according to God’s word and glory or perverted by sin. When churches divide over politics, they have an idolatry problem.
In recent years, I have been surprised at how many of my evangelical cousins think that God’s wars can be fought with the devils character and weapons – and the outcome can still be holy.
What can I tell you as an intro? My perspective has widened. My theology has shaped me more than before. I have become more fully persuaded of principles I formerly held by habit. My calling as a citizen is clearer.
Heads up: I am more convinced than ever that the error of a “Christian” America has obscured the purity of the Gospel and poisoned the American church. That I will explain. If we were to repent and be Christ’s holy people, citizens under his redemptive rule, we might find the Gospel really is God’s power to save.
I am not sure how quickly I will write these. Summer in Arizona is usually a slower time, but I have more to do this year than most. FYI: I will blur details so you may not guess at who I am referring to when I speak of certain conversations.
Finally, I am writing for all my brothers and sisters in the USA and other countries where I have friends in Christ. One of the simplest truth-tests I know is that if something is true, it is true everywhere. If what I say is something that only makes sense to Christians in the USA, then it is likely not a universal truth. But if it is truth, it will serve my friends in other nations.
For those who are evangelicals, and want to know: I have changed from being a dispensational, premill, pretrib Baptist to being a Reformed, amill, Presbyterian.
Thank you, Mark. Every four years, Christians seem to lose their collective minds and their eternal perspectives.