Politics – Mostly From Memory

On Learning of the Death of Charlie Kirk

I was reminded of the scripture where the angels heralded the birth of Jesus Christ.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:13-14

No one else in history received an angelic concert like this at birth, because no one else had ever brought peace and good will. After all these years, there was peace on earth and good will toward men. Only because the Prince of Peace came to earth was there ever a chance of peace. It was a manifestation of God’s good will towards us: the Word made flesh. Without Jesus there is no peace and there is no good will. Alas, we rejected peace and good will, and we crucified the Lord of Glory.

And here we are today, with the same hate and venom we had then spewing out of our mouths and onto each other and everything around us. No peace. No good will. We think we know what we’re mad about, but we only know what we’d like to be mad about. Deep down in the essence of our being we know what it really is, but we don’t like to talk about it.

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:21

We can get mad-not just mad, but cutthroat vicious-about politics and try to make the issue conservative against liberal, but that is not the issue, so no political solution will ever work. We can get parade marching angry about gun rights, but that isn’t the issue either. We can push the limits on free speech, arguing ourselves into circles and corners high on hate, but the issue isn’t about free speech. We can get fist-fighting furious about racism and social inequality; trying to blame the world’s problems on white people, or rich people, or rich white people like they are trying to teach me in college. But if there were never any white people, the issue would remain. These are all just saplings growing out of an ancient root: Sin.

I have not studied world religions because I think there is another way, I am persuaded that Jesus is the way, but I have studied them because I am interested in humanity. Understanding someone’s religious beliefs will help you understand the way that person thinks. Outside of what we can call Abrahamic religions, there is no religion with a doctrine of sinning against a deity. Hinduism, a broad, amorphous, non-codified religion is practiced in many different ways and has a concept of not following your dharma or personal destiny, but this is not sin against God. Buddhism and Jainism, both offshoots of Hinduism also do not preach sin. Many Eastern religions involve ancestor worship, and while one can bring shame upon themselves and their families, there is nothing about Sin.

We don’t like to be told that something we are doing is something that displeases God. We don’t even like to be told that there is a God. As Paul wrote in Romans 1, we do not like to retain God in our knowledge. It is no wonder when the Apostles preached repentance that they were often stoned to death. Sin is still the issue. Many of us like our sin, and we want everyone else to like it too.

Because of Sin, we live in a broken world. But thank God, where there is sin, there is so much more Grace.

…But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound… Romans 5:20

Marriage

It is significant that Jesus began his ministry at a wedding.

I recently had someone ask me some honest questions about marriage. There were several questions, but this one carried the essence of them all:

“What is in it for me?”

In the current hedonistic, godless culture that Hollywood has been so successful in helping to create, this question does not seem irrational. There are tax benefits in some instances for not being married. The 20th century Feminist movement that challenged gender roles has now ushered in the gender identity crisis which has further convoluted the very idea of marriage. To ask “What is in marriage for me?” today, as selfish as it sounds, is a sincere question; and it needs an answer.

In order to answer this question properly, we have to define what marriage is. Marriage is the God ordained union between one man and one woman. The marriage contract precedes all human government and even the church. You could say that marriage is the only thing that survived the fall of man: a remnant of paradise.

Marriage comes with the great responsibility and commission from God to be fruitful and multiply. It is God’s intent for marriage, and especially the role of women, to sustain human life on Earth.

Marriage is also a metaphor for God’s relationship with the church. The Old Testament book Song of Solomon, or Song of Songs, is dedicated entirely to this purpose. In the New Testament the church is portrayed as the Bride of Christ.

It is significant that Jesus began his ministry at a wedding.

What is in marriage for me also depends on your values. Do you value trust, commitment, and companionship? If these things are more important to you than tax breaks then you are starting to understand marriage. Do you value life? Do you value your children having a stable home, or are you ok with someone else raising your children? Do you value the other person? If you truly value a significant other there is no higher degree of commitment and love than marriage.

The Bible has an interesting term for misplaced value: unnatural affection. People who are inhibited by unnatural affection will not see any value in marriage.

Lastly, we must address the selfish nature of the question, What is in it for me? Marriage is one of the most selfless commitments that someone can take. I would argue that selfishness is the root cause of many marriage failures.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25-27

Marriage requires so much more than many are willing to pay. How expensive is giving yourself?

The same question that was asked by my friend in regard to marriage also applies to The Church. There is only one church, that’s the one that Jesus gave himself for. That church is holy and without blemish. Just like the many contracts that fall short of marriage-open marriages, friends with benefits, partnerships, and such like-there are a myriad of places that try to offer some sort of perverted substitute relationship with God that do not meet the high standard God places for His Church.

My relationship with God and my relationship with my wife are the two most important things in my life. These relationships provide the context for dealing with every other thing in the cosmos. My answer to the question what is in it (marriage) for me? Everything.

Politics & Religion

How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove? ‭‭Job‬ ‭6:25‬ ‭

“You know they say we ain’t supposed to talk about politics and religion?” My coworker said this to me a few weeks ago as we were having a conversation that was rapidly approaching politics and religion.

“Who is they?” I asked. He couldn’t really tell me offhand, but I knew what he was talking about. Because I’ve heard this most of my life-although not from my parents- but from well meaning magazine articles, teachers, and etiquette experts. “Don’t talk about politics and religion.” And “Go along to get along.”

“The problem with what we’ve been told,” I explained to him, “Is that politics and religion are very important topics that need to be talked about.”

Unfortunately, many times if people get the courage to talk about politics and religion, they take their cues from the TV news people, who instead of speaking with a civil tongue, spit venom all over one another. Many people have allowed some talking head to speak for them while being told they aren’t allowed to speak for themselves. Social media doesn’t help either because it allows people to say harsh things without having to come face to face with their audience.

How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?
‭‭Job‬ ‭6:25‬ ‭

My politics-along with everything else in my life-are informed by my religion. In fact you could just say that my politics and religion are one and the same. I am part of the eternal Kingdom of God.

For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭33:22‬

I’m not concerned about American politics. Or even World politics. Because God is not concerned about them.

All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:17‬ ‭

I try to pray about America, but I usually can’t make it past “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know that I am more than willing to talk about politics and religion to anyone that is interested in a Bible Study.

On Government

It was with high ideals that I first learned about our government. Having read about it in our hoard of books at home, and with my father’s voice guiding me through each page, I held the founding fathers and the men who fought for us in the American Revolution in high regard. These weren’t mere men, a foreign concept to many in today’s society, but they were great men. Men with conviction. Men who lost fortunes for freedom.

Learning about government in school was quite a different experience. I was always puzzled by the role of the legislative branch. Why did we need new laws? Did people not understand right from wrong? It became apparent to me as a child that not everyone in my class, and maybe even a couple of teachers, had not grown up with a set of Encyclopedias and bookcase in every room of their home. In classes like civics, and government, I heard some the most bizarre ideas articulated and espoused that I am still more than a little concerned to know that those people are now voting.

I was chosen by our faculty to attend Alabama Boy’s State during the summer before my senior year of High School. Boys State was founded in the 1930’s to combat the Hitler Youth programs. Each year, schools all over the country send a select group of boys to a week long camp where they will create a miniature model of their state government. This mock government is complete with Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Judges, and all of the various commissioners and elected offices that make up the bureaucracy of their given State. At the end of the camp, two representatives, usually the elected governor and lieutenant governor, are chosen to attend Boys Nation, were a model of the Federal Government is created, and delegates get to meet the President of the United States. The boy that was elected governor of Alabama the year prior to my attendance was elected President of Boys Nation. Judge Pete Johnson, the Director of Alabama Boy’s State, had been a Boy’s Nation delegate and had met President Kennedy. While Everything I had learned about the government so far had been theory, Boy’s State was practice in every sense of the word.

I arrived at the University of Montevallo and upon registering was assigned a “City”, or Dorm. Each City was named for former Boy’s State Director. For that week, I lived in the City of Fann, which was the second floor girl’s dorm. We were also assigned one of two parties, Nationalist or Federalist.
I was a Nationalist.

In our first party meeting. We were tasked with establishing a party platform, and choosing candidates. As most of the large crowds I have been a part of had been at church, it was unnerving to be in such a starkly divided crowd trying, or not trying in many cases, to find common ground. The issues that we could not agree on, much like today, were Abortion, Gay Rights, and the Lottery. We argued for so long, that fearing we would run out of time, some adults intervened. They advised us to ignore these hot topic issues. We followed this terrible recommendation and developed one of the weakest party platforms in history, only rivaled in shallowness by that of the opposing Federalist party.

Looking back on the process we used to elect candidates that we did not know is quite comical, until I realize that it is also how it is done in real life. Anyone who felt so inclined was given two minutes and a microphone to convince the party why he should represent all of us. There were some vulgar remarks, quite a bit of silliness, and a hand stand by a snooty soccer player. In the end, we were able to narrow it down to the popular kids in each city, at which point there was another round of convincing with slightly extended microphone time and an admonishment to not pound the podium, the adult supervision not having ever heard a Pentecostal Preacher. At last we, brimming with patriotism, elected a boy from England to run for “Lufftenant” governor. Ultimately, he won the election and when it was discovered that he was a noncitizen, Judge Pete Johnson, being a member of some kind of naturalization or immigration board, pulled some strings and the boy was naturalized in front of the whole delegation at general assembly. It was quite moving and he cried a little bit. I’m not even sure why he was there if he wasn’t a citizen, but I’m also not sure why I was chosen, and I was born here.

Throughout the week we heard a few special speakers. They were mostly politicians who rambled about growing up poor, or growing up rich. One evening before one of these speeches, three boys played their electric guitars in front of the whole delegation. They played Sweet Home Alabama, probably the purest performance of anyone we had heard all week. The speaker was the honorable mayor of Fairfield and future 30th Mayor of Birmingham, Larry Langford. It was immediately apparent that he was the sharpest dressed man in the building. He walked to the podium and called the three guitar slingers back up on stage. “It takes a lot of courage to get up in front of a crowd of this size and give an outstanding performance. Y’all impressed me so much that I’m going to give each of you, out of my personal money,” here he paused to reach into his front pants pocket and pull out a handful of cash, “each of you a hundred dollars.” From the giant roll of money, he peeled off three crisp one hundred dollar bills. He did it with great ceremony and it made quite an impression on the boys in attendance. I recalled this incident when I began to read about Mr. Langford in the Birmingham News for running up a near six figure tab at Gus Mayer. The incident was again recalled when he was indicted and ultimately convicted for bribery.

Although there were many interesting things that happened at Boy’s State, probably the most important thing for me was realizing how the State government actually worked. As a result of a weeks immersion in the workings of the political system, I became disillusioned with government in general. After working in County and State Government for nearly my entire adult career, my views on government have repeatedly been confirmed. It is not the honorable, nor the noble that are elected, but the popular. It is not the faithful men of character that allow their name to run for public office, but the self promoters. Righteous laws are not passed, but popular laws.

Given the world’s current political situation, it would appear that with such a dim view of government I must be a miserable pessimist, or a political extremist. I am neither. Think me not unpatriotic. I am proud to be an American. Proud not in the haughty, raised up sense, but in the unashamed sense, proud. I cast my vote with a feeling of grave responsibility. I believe that our form of government is the best that man can do. After all, it is founded on biblical principles.

“For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.” – Isaiah 33:22

The problem is not what form of government to which you subscribe, they all work in theory, but once you add people, the key ingredient, the whole thing runs amuck in time.

“…that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” -Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.” Isaiah 40:7

In conclusion, I find it hard to get worked up about something that God gives so little thought.

“All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.” Isaiah 40:17