The past two
presidential elections (especially the most recent one) have really highlighted
some things for me in the current state of the "American" Christian
Church. Not that everyone that identifies as Christian fits the mold of what I
am saying in this little rant, but it seems much of the Church does. To be
totally fair, I was part of this and still fight it frequently.
As my wife will tell
you, I love to argue. Real arguments (not fighting) are just outright fun for
me. So, politics and politically heated times can be very tempting to me. When
I fall into the trap of political wrangling I often forget my real foundation
though. I forget that I am, or I claim to be a Christ follower. So, I enter
into an argument where my political logic and philosophies rule my outlook and
discussion. I try to convince those who disagree with me of why my view of the
best way forward for this great country is better than theirs. I get passionate
about this, and these "conversations" can become quite heated. Still,
these types of disconnected conversations (keeping my Christian faith somewhat
out of it, relying solely on logic/economics) are fun.
The problem comes
when issues that demand the tight linkage to my faith are in the crosshairs.
What happens when the primary point of value of life (abortion/death
penalty/war), taking care of the poor, or family values (gay rights, protection
of marriage, etc.) become the topic of choice? I, and I am thinking most
Christians, tend to take a totally different approach in this argument. It is no
longer an argument based on logic, but turns to an argument based on our own
Christian values. Then we try to turn that back to a logical argument to win
over the person/group with which we disagree. If you read that and think,
"isn't that how a Christian should approach things," you are asking
the same thing I have over and over again. I REALLY want to say, "yes, of
course it is." As I think about it more and evaluate my answer against the
Bible I begin to think differently though.
The real question is
this, what has your heart and mind? Does Jesus hold your heart and mind, or
does the United States of America hold your heart and mind? If you place
priority on Jesus as Lord over your heart/mind, then the argument over
"values based" issues should take a very different form. The biggest
reason for this is your desired outcome is TOTALLY different. The outcome you
want when you put Jesus first is for other hearts and minds to become more like
Christ while you do the exact same thing. Arguing whether or not abortion
should be a protected right or 100% banned is no longer a conversation worth
having when you approach it from a truly Christian heart. Ok, catch your
breath, push your jaw back to a closed position, and follow me a bit longer. It
isn't that I am saying abortion isn't important or that God doesn't care if
abortions happen. What I am saying is arguing the legality of abortion is
worthless if the other side (your "opponent") does not share the same
view of the value of human life. And, if they don't share your belief in the
value of human life, why don't they? I would posit an opinion holding a limited
value of life indicates at best a dangerous view of Christian values. This
could, and likely does end up being flat out anti-Christian. Don't like talking
about abortion, then take the death penalty or war. Same approach there; war
can be justified easily when it's about legal/nation views, but talk about
value of human life and now we are talking about faith/belief.
Again, the crux of
this is simply recognizing the desired outcome of our conversations/debates
with others on sensitive matters. Asking the WHY is crucial. Why do I want to
engage in this debate? If I answer "in hopes that this person votes for my
desired candidate," then I clearly show my heart/head make politics/nation
more important than Christ. However, if I answer, "to grow or make a
brother/sister in Christ," I show my devotion to my Lord. If I have that
right (correct, not politically right) then instead of engaging in political
jargon, I will, with grace and love discuss with my fellow creation of God how
to be more aligned to the teaching of Jesus in ALL of these issues.
If we, as the Church
do this consistently maybe we find that our country starts to move back towards
being a Christian-focused nation at the core. My belief is that the Church in
the USA over the last 100 years (maybe longer) has traded her passion for reaching
lost souls for Christ to passing laws to protect "Christian Rights."
We must get back to being as bold in speaking to others about Jesus as we have
been about professing our belief in which candidate/party should lead a
country. If the Church gets back to making disciples who truly follow Christ,
the votes will take care of themselves. And, if they don't Christian's just
keep being Christians in whatever circumstance we find ourselves, even if it's
like it was for the first Christians under the harsh Roman Empire.
I guess I can boil it all down to this: I want to be, and want the Church to be more passionate about being Christ-like and saving the lost than we are about our political wishes.
