A Mind At Play

My recent post “Thoughts on Starting a New (Christian) Life” has generated a lot of good comments and discussion. A couple of commenters have shared some thoughts and asked some questions that I think deserve a longer and more thoughtful response than a reply to a comment would allow, so I’ll be addressing those comments in posts over the next couple of days.

Clark Beasley asks:

How do you square Christianity, (even emergent, post-modern, the Bible is a metaphysical poem, let’s make up doctrine as we go brand of Christianity,) with Obama’s horrific and infanticidal opposition to the Born Alive Protection Act?

A fair question, and one I’ve been asked many times. I have a two-part answer.

First, I don’t necessarily agree with every position that Obama takes. I thought that of the two candidates Obama would make the better president, as his concerns and priorities aligned more closely with mine. A candidate’s stand on a single issue does not make or break that candidate for me. Some Christians use a candidate’s stand on abortion as a litmus test. I fully support their right to choose a candidate based on whatever criteria they think appropriate. It’s a problem, though, when such people believe that anyone who doesn’t agree with them is a bad Christian or not a Christian at all.

Second, I don’t think that abortion is a political issue; it’s a spiritual issue. If abortion were outlawed tomorrow, the number of abortions performed would drop maybe a few percentage points. Illegal abortions would always be available in the U.S., and a person seeking a lawful abortion could take a short trip to a country (Canada) where abortions were still legal. No prohibition law has ever worked. As long as you have demand for a service, there will be a supply. The only way to end abortion (or drug abuse or prostitution or any other such problem) is through eliminating demand. The only way to eliminate demand is through a change of heart. The only way to truly change a heart is the Gospel.

Or, as John MacArthur put it in his excellent sermon “The Christian’s Responsibility in a Pagan Society” (Part 1 & Part 2)

I hear a lot of talk today about the church impacting culture. Coming back from Atlanta where I went to the Christian Booksellers Convention this week I read a couple of books on the plane, both of them had to do with confronting our culture, effecting and impacting our culture. But frankly, folks, that’s not our goal. That is not our goal. It sounds like a noble goal and I’m sure there are people who can see certain noble aspects of it and there may be some. But our goal is not to impact our culture by changing their moral values. Our goal is not to impact our culture by creating traditional values, family values through legislation or judicial process. Our goal is not to make sure that the United States of America adheres to a national policy that equates to biblical morality. That is not our goal. We are not involved in altering social morality. We are not involved in upgrading cultural conduct. We are interested in people becoming saved. That is our only agenda. If we’re going to change our culture we’re going to change it from the inside out.

(Full disclosure: Clarke Beasely and I kind of grew up together, and we both attended Pensacola Christian School. I left after 8th grade, while Clarke went on to graduate from Pensacola Christian College. Since Clarke drank the PCS Kool-Aid longer than I did, it’ll probably take a few more years for him to get his head screwed back on straight. )

I was preparing to write a post on my thoughts about the passage of the health care reform bill, and then I read John Scalzi’s excellent post on the same topic. He said everything I’d wanted to say and more, and said it better than I could have. No use reinventing the wheel. He provides an intelligent analysis of the political maneuvering that led to the passage of the bill and the possible political fallout come this November. Well worth reading.

I’m for it. My ideal would be for us to have a system like Sweden’s, but a Swiss style system would be nearly as good. The bill before congress gets us close to a Swiss system. Hopefully congress will go all the way and provide mandated coverage for everyone one of these days.

Paul Krugman sums up my feelings about the pending health care legislation in this op-ed. Here’s his conclusion:

So what’s the reality of the proposed reform? Compared with the Platonic ideal of reform, Obamacare comes up short. If the votes were there, I would much prefer to see Medicare for all.

For a real piece of passable legislation, however, it looks very good. It wouldn’t transform our health care system; in fact, Americans whose jobs come with health coverage would see little effect. But it would make a huge difference to the less fortunate among us, even as it would do more to control costs than anything we’ve done before.

This is a reasonable, responsible plan. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Here’s a list of links I’ve collected to articles on the healthcare reform debate.

One of the most important things I’ve learned over the past few years is that while it is impossible to remove most sources of stress in my life, I have the power to choose how I will react to those stressors. I’ve been getting better at stepping back, taking a deep breath, and responding instead of reacting.

I didn’t do so well, though, when I read about the comments Glenn Beck made re churches who talk about social and economic justice. I stewed about it for a couple of days, and then I had an epiphany:

Getting mad at Glenn Beck (or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Michael Moore or Keith Olberman) for saying something inane makes as much sense as getting mad at a monkey for flinging crap. It’s just the way the beast communicates.

New tool in the anti-stress toolkit. That’s one less source of stress to worry about.

On the Evangel Blog at First Things, John Mark Reynolds discusses what he’s learned from the Bible about Civil government. He asked readers to share what they’ve learned. Here’s my response:

1) Obey our rulers.

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, (Titus 3.1 ESV)

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. (Romans 13.1–2 ESV)

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. (1Peter 2.13–14 ESV)

There is no exception for bad rulers or rulers whose policies we don’t agree with. There are no exceptions unless a ruler commands us to do something God forbids or forbids us to do something God commands. When that happens, Daniel provides the example of how we are to disobey: with quiet humility and respect.

2) Pay our taxes.

Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed (Romans 13.7 ESV)

“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22.21 ESV)

3) To behave in a humble and Christlike manner, even (especially?) when we disagree with our leaders.

to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. (Titus 3.2 ESV)

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4.30–32 ESV)

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3.12–13 ESV)

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, (2Timothy 2.24–25 ESV)

(We lose Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michael Moore, Keith Olberman, and most of the tea party movement on that last one).