Picking up from yesterday:
One of the standard lines hurled against those who reference genuine faith and Scripture when it comes to political affairs or business practices is that you’re trying to put words in God’s mouth and/or tell Him what to do.
Which, putting it politely, is a sad sack of steer manure.
The honest believer knows not only is this not true, but why it isn’t true and why they know it isn’t true. The reason behind this certainty? They know who and what they are. They know that at the same time they are fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image and nothing stands between them and an eternity spent in torment as just punishment for their sins except the blood of Jesus Christ shed on their behalf. They know as best imperfect man can know perfect God the power behind Christ’s words:
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other (Jn. 15:13-17).”
From this the honest believer knows love and humility. Those who say they believe yet act and speak not with these things are in dire need of correction, for if they truly knew the God they claim to serve they would neither act nor speak in this fashion.
The honest believer knows their weakness and poverty. They know better than to think they are some kind of super-sanctified conduit channeling 100% pure living truth straight from heaven itself any time they open their mouth, thus anything they conjure in the name of the Lord comes from the Lord. Those who don’t know better spend their time first slapping their personal peccadilloes and prejudices on top of the Gospel, then claiming their garbage is part and parcel of the Good News. For an example of this reference Jeremiah Wright. Those who do know better know to quickly move as far away as possible from those who in this manner pervert the Word by prostituting it for their own devices. Oh, they might not know better at first since these unfunny jokes are usually quite skilled at saying what the choir and congregation want to hear. But over time as one grows more knowledgeable of the Bible you become better equipped to know what is and isn’t Scriptural. As you do so, as a matter of self-preservation you move away from the flakes and freaks. The world already has more than enough weapons with which to try and pollute your soul. Why invite more?
The honest believer’s backbone comes not from confidence in self but rather confidence that the Word is the, well, Word. They harbor no delusions of wide acceptance, for as Christ said:
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason (Jn. 15:18-25).’”
At their core, the honest believer knows love. They know love is not the mindset left over from the ’60s, a sloppy goo of universal peace and brotherhood embracing deliberate blindness to the truth that humanity is not inherently ‘all that’ and cannot reach a state of godliness in and of itself. They know government handouts with the barely unspoken underlying statement to those receiving same that personal responsibility is of no consequence and of course you can blow off repaying what you owe on that home loan are a most unfunny parody of genuine charity. They know personal responsibility is not something to be dismissed based on economic considerations, this also providing the reason for direct opposition to corporate greed and individual inside the corporate framework greed.
The honest believer filters everything through the Word. This is why they stand their ground regardless. Not all who do so see things the same way, once again demonstrating how imperfect humanity attempting to know exactly the mind of perfect God is going to be a tad helter skelter in scoring a bullseye. That said, it can come a whole lot closer than for which it is often given credit. And those who play the screeching harpy about this confidence being closed-mind arrogance… exactly what is it they do when they endlessly recycle liberal talking points as though they were gospel? Do they not believe their own parroted words to be truth? If not, they would not utter them over and over again.
You cannot have it both ways. You cannot on one hand call the honest believer in Christ who speaks their mind on political matters and views said matters through the eyes of faith someone attempting to put words in God’s mouth, yet at the same time say whatever you wish and label it truth. Nor can you call the honest believer willfully ignorant of the facts. The honest believe does not disregard facts. They embrace them, starting with the facts of Christ crucified and risen. The honest believer leans toward the political philosophy most closely mirroring their beliefs, beliefs such as the inescapable need for Christ, personal responsibility, and the call for direct charity to others.
You tell me which set of candidates’ policies and history hews closest to these beliefs. You tell me who has stood for financial responsibility for years; pay no attention to the lies and slander currently being promulgated by his political opponents and their unpaid PR flacks otherwise known as traditional news media. You tell me who has endlessly sought to cut vanity government spending. You tell me who tried to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac three years ago in an attempt to prevent the present financial meltdown but was thwarted by Democrats too busy striking a Jesus Christ pose as givers to the unfortunate with no regard for how the whole rotten mess of handing out house loans like Halloween candy would shortly become the cornerstone of a hundreds of billion dollar lesson in how bad things happen when you don’t pay for what you buy. You tell me who manned up in a fashion unimaginable to most by choosing a path leading to years of torture and degradation rather than use his father’s military rank as an early pass out of a POW camp. As to his running mate, you tell me who fought corruption in her own party no matter what. You tell me who when faced with the knowledge her unborn son would be handicapped said life is sacred and he deserves to be born regardless of the personal cost to me. You tell me who when her teenage daughter made a mistake forgave her rather than attempting to hide her from the world or force her to have a quiet abortion so as to not interfere with her own political career. You tell me who has had more political and personal acid thrown in her face by those who hate her for being everything they’ve said for years was a myth, namely a loving wife and mother of a large family who has a successful career outside the home without abandoning or neglecting her family. Tell me even though I already know who. As do you no matter how inconvenient the truth may be.
I have no interest whatsoever in striking a pose as God’s oracle or putting words in His mouth. I have all the interest imaginable in following Him. It is this action plan leading me to believe and act and speak as I do on political matters. If I’m wrong in my political views, show me. Bring your evidence — by the way, talking points are not evidence — and state your case. I’ll listen. But the fundamental truths of Jesus and the Word? Don’t waste your time. Jesus is Who He says He is. The Word is the Word. Truth is truth.
Yes, I am preaching the Word as it applies to politics. Without putting words in God’s mouth or believing I am God.
Deal.
