Christians in America, Good vs Evil vs Bad
In response to my previous post on this topic, one of the commenters said this:
“I say, your faith must govern your politics, or you can’t really call yourself a “Christian”. If your politics cause you to do something that Christ would not do…you have violated those limits.”
This is the perfect lead-in to the next leg of this conversation. The rub with mixing faith and politics is not in the idea that a person’s faith should determine political positions. I don’t think any person of faith has a beef with that. The rub is that people who share the same Savior can differ drastically on how to apply their faith to societal issues as Jesus might. For instance, in November, 2008, I had many passionately committed Christian friends who were sincerely trying to discern how to vote in the presidential election. Although they all would agree, almost categorically, on important spiritual issues, they came out on both sides of the vote. I think it’s a good assumption that we could translate this reality across the entire country: followers of Jesus agree that their their faith should determine their political stance, but they can’t agree on what is good and what is bad when it comes to our country’s approach to governing. If government policy was left totally in the hands of Jesus’ followers, we would still have conflict and disagreement.
This tension goes way back, but it didn’t always exist. Originally, in the Garden of Eden, humans were content to know God and to allow Him to determine what was good for them. It was a paradise where, as far as our first ancestors knew, it was “all good.” They didn’t even have a definition of good because they had no knowledge of it or its opposite. They were just immersed in God’s goodness like a goldfish in water. But Adam and Eve were coaxed into believing that life would be better if their eyes could be opened, making them like God, knowing good and evil. With the first bite of that tempting fruit, mankind went on a compulsive binge to place everything into one of two categories: good or evil. It made us binary thinkers. Since that moment, the power of discerning good from evil has given us the sensation of being God-like and has made our individual interpretations of good and evil sacred and superior in our own eyes. Now, when I, with great conviction, determine something is evil, and you, with equally great conviction, determine it as good, there is a great crash of wills that often results in conflict. That conflict has a tendency to lead us to being judgmental toward those who don’t see it our way. And judgment can lead to all kinds of evil. That is the essence of the Fall of Man, and that is the tension we feel deeply in every aspect of life.
If you read the Story laid out in the scriptures, it doesn’t take long to get the idea that God was frustrated and challenged by our inability to avoid this tension. One of the first accounts of a human relationship sees Cain killing his brother, Abel, over conflict resulting from Cain misinterpreting what was right. And it seems to go downhill from there. Later in Genesis, God, in his disappointment over Man’s tendency to see evil as good, destroys everyone but Noah and his family, hoping for a pure re-do. Then He reaches out to Abraham to offer a new promise of life where relationship-with-God once again is to override Man’s obsession with good and bad.
Man still doesn’t get it, but now that God made a promise, He is determined to keep it. So He helps Moses deliver His people from slavery in Egypt and sends them packing for the Promised Land. One of His first orders of business is to give in to His people’s lust for definition of good-and-bad in a way that still maintains His plan and will. Laws are born! Through the Ten Commandments, God shares with Man a glimpse of good and bad from His perspective. He also provides a constant reminder, through the Law, that we can’t earn Heavenly royalty and relationship through the Law. The Law becomes (and continues to be) a guide to inject Godly good into society, and soon godly judges are called to help people responsibly live out the law in the way God intended. The Judicial System is born! It was meant to direct Man toward good as God conceived it.
And then, because God’s people still don’t get it, they demand that the judges, by way of Samuel, give them a king (1 Sam 10:19). I have a feeling that God is seeing a trend here, again, and gives the people their way while still trying to use the situation to steer them toward His view of what is good. When Samuel sees Saul for the first time, God tells him “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.” And the first example of the Executive Branch of government is born! Saul is anointed with the task of representing God’s character in the ongoing tension of right and wrong that will inevitably bring conflict among God’s people.
All of that history points out that, while He preferred a different existence for us, God has establish different elements of government in order to lead us to awareness and expression of His goodness in our world. Scripture speaks to this many times. Government is not inherently an enemy, but is meant as one way through which God can be revealed to many people who have different ideas on good, and evil. Government mediates the conflict that was brought on by The Fall.
In this framework we see why politics is inevitable and vital. As long as massive groups of people are setting up governments and determining good and bad for themselves and others, balance is needed. Politics is the societal process of finding the proper balance within the governments God has allowed to exist. While there are many interpretations of good and bad, the idea that we can pursue a proper balance assumes that the picture of God’s brand of goodness is the goal for society. This is where our heavenly Kingdom and our nation overlap. Followers of Jesus are called to influence the American framework of government to reflect the goodness that God intended for all people and for all of His creation. We are to be agents of balance, where balance reflects Kingdom values.
In a pluralistic government such as ours, the government wasn’t established to force a particular balance. It was crafted so that anyone is free to influence that balance. Followers of Jesus, followers of L. Ron Hubbard and followers of No One are equally invited to participate in the process of finding balance within government at all levels. Our country is beautifully open to the influence of its citizens, no matter what their background or philosophy of life is. Christians are part of this equation, but are not given any more weight or authority than any other group in the mix. It is up to us to create that weight and authority by actively engaging in the process. We can bring the proper balance by representing the goodness of God and His Kingdom and by refusing to resort to any actions or means that do not reflect God’s goodness.
In order to be a influence for the common good, as God sees it, we first of all need to know God and His character. We need to have a good feel for citizenship in His Kingdom and a sense for how to respond when the borders of His Kingdom and this fallen one don’t line up. God’s goodness has to be such a part of us that we act out of it, and lean toward it, no matter what else opposes us or tempts us.
We also need to know the difference between bad and evil. An outcome of the Fall is that even we Jesus-followers disagree on which political policies and approaches are good ones and which are bad ones. We have been given the freedom to interpret a political philosophy or method as bad, but too often we judge those who embrace the “bad” political stances to be evil. When it comes to politics, bad does not always equal evil, yet we are quick to villainize those who disagree with us politically, even if they share citizenship in the Kingdom. A Kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Because of The Fall we followers of Jesus may choose different approaches to influence our world for the common good, but we cannot fall to the temptation to judge as evil those believers who don’t share our political approach.
A more useful way for Christians to influence our nation will come out of a better understanding of rights and liberty, as God sees them. Just as government attempts to mediate differing views of good and evil, an understanding of true freedom and rights should mediate poitical differences among those who are called to represent Jesus in this nation. We will get to that in the next two posts. Stay tuned. In the meantime I invite your comments and conversations.
Tags: Abel, Abraham, Adam, Cain, Christ, Christian, Egypt, Eve, Executive Branch, Garden of Eden, God, Jesus, Laws, Man, Moses, Noah, Sam, Samuel, Saul