Finding the Way Through
These are troubling times for Americans, no less so for Christians. Both the United States and the American Church seem to in decline. Some might say that both are suffering from the economic situation, but it’s more complicated. The people have lost their bearings in so many ways. Prosperity has not led to happiness or to peace. Relationships at every level are contentious and adversarial; individuals are selfish, hedonistic, and narcissistic. Many no longer worship God, but they do worship celebrities, who literally give them nothing in return. Technology provides so much, but it cannot make a better human; some might even argue it’s making for an inferior kind of person. Coarseness and vulgarity seem ever more the norm, and sex without much constraint is prevalent.
According to Jesus himself, believers are citizens of two realms—one that is God’s, another that is “Caesar’s.” God’s kingdom has priority; his is our first allegiance. Yet, he commands us to submit to the authority of the humans with power over us, even conquerors like the Romans. This proves to be more confusing, in some ways, under our republican democracy than under an emperor, whose power was near absolute. The dilemma is even more enigmatic as our nation struggles to determine what kind of government it will have (or allows it to become the kind of government its leaders make it).
Recently, I was reading two books at approximately the same time (I often have several in process to one degree or another). One sought to defend and advance the ideas of individual liberty and limited Constitutional government, particularly to young people, many of whom seem unfamiliar with it and, as a result, are being led to something else. The other book also addressed the opinions and questions of many younger Americans to make a case for authentic Christianity. One night, as I lay digesting what I’d been reading, I came back to this confusion of being citizens of both heaven and earth, of God’s kingdom and of the United States.
The U.S. was essentially founded by Christians, despite popular arguments to the contrary. They surely were not atheists, and even the most agnostic was pious by today’s standards; the documents, official and not, the monuments, and the historical record all confirm this. Individual liberty held the greatest value, not as a gift of government but as a natural, inherent human right, based on divine creation: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence). When Jefferson, not one of the Constitution's author's, promised a group of Baptists a “wall of separation,” he meant that the government could not interfere with the church, not the reverse (Would he not be surprised, today? Actually, given his prescient wisdom, he likely would be sad but not surprised).
With considerable effort, unsupported by history, which is omitted or altered, despite the plain intent of both Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, likewise ignored or twisted, and against the desires of most citizens, voiced or not, we now live under a different set of values. Schools, government, media, and entertainment industries all promote this new, although arguably more ancient, way of thinking and governing, while still mouthing some of the original words of our heritage. Today, people argue for bigger government, more help from the federal government, and seem to rely less on themselves in a free society.
Evolutionary faith has replaced God, and life has ceased to have the value that came with Christian belief (Babies were once expendable if not desired, the injured and sick were simply allowed to die, and the inferior—women, children, slaves, or opposing tribe—were disposable). Equality of person and opportunity has morphed into equality of outcome, giving government power to impose its vision of sameness. Private property ownership, as the basis of opportunity, is less protected as government sees itself as the instrument of “equality” and arbiter of when property may be taken; the list of justifications for taking private property and money seems to grow almost daily.
The founders plainly regarded Christian character as essential to preserve the republic and its freedoms; they feared both unscrupulous leaders and uneducated or poorly educated voters, who might easily be led to give up their rights for promised gain—promised though not necessarily delivered, just as we observe today. Certain protections against unprincipled, dishonest leaders, spelled out in the Bill of Rights—free speech, a free media, a free faith, and the freedom to protect oneself—have been altered or ignored, replaced by political correctness, a grossly biased media, disenfranchised religious faith, and restrictions on the tools of self-preservation.
What is a Christian to do? What should he or she say? Can nothing be done? Most of us, I suspect, want only to restore what we have lost. Well before 1776, our forefathers had experienced the dangers of government-led sectarian persecution and warfare, a combination of religious belief twisted by power; the actions of radical Muslims speak of the same danger. However, the miracle of this remarkable nation was liberty, including and especially religious liberty. This was the beginning of true tolerance, rooted in faith, not in secular power. Atheism in charge is sectarian government, not neutral government. Leaders without a moral compass are typically poor leaders, serving themselves, sometimes trying to survey and then satisfy an equally self-serving citizenry. Without a moral anchor, prosperity has evolved into hyper-materialism; rugged individualism and a Protestant work ethic have turned into entitlement and narcissism. A can-do philosophy has given way to a victim mentality that looks to government for help rather than helping oneself. Restoration may not be possible! Perhaps going forward offers a better option, but where we are now is frightening. Abuse of power is why colonists came to America, and modern despots are no less abusive. Concentration of power encourages corruption, a growing problem as the federal government seeks and gains greater power and money.
Yet, what can a Christian do? Some would say the task is evangelism; leave politics to others. However, both the Bible and history suggest that to be the wrong choice; indeed, there need be no choice. Believers may and should do both, fulfill their divine mandate to reach out with the message of grace and freedom and express their divinely provided wisdom as citizens. I do observe a few who seem to believe their Christian obligation is to establish a theocracy; I am always profoundly impressed that our founders never moved in that direction. They had not forgotten the civil strife between Catholics and Protestants and discovered a better path. Most Christians handle power almost as poorly as non-Christians; the temptations are just too great.
Anti-christian folk would prefer we keep our faith to ourselves; they object to the influences of divinely inspired values (rejecting of course the very idea of divine inspiration). I believe those values are desperately needed today. For example, how can a nation survive if it is losing the sense of life’s value, as the United States seems to be doing? Abortion is only emblematic of a deeper abandonment. Our high regard for human rights rests on the value of each human life; those rights will not survive for long without valuing individual life itself. These arguments do not depend solely on the Bible or faith, although those are my own anchors. I am willing to make such arguments outside the pages of Scripture, but I insist that my freedom to do so be preserved. Those aligned against our beliefs—pro-life, pro-family, pro-traditional marriage, and pro-faith—are already working diligently to silence us and deny us that right to freedom of religion and free speech. In place of free speech, they offer political correctness, which is intolerant in the name of tolerance.
Such efforts are a threat to everyone. This is the path to oppression. History has already proven what happens when one group loses its liberty; it becomes merely the first to do so. The Soviet Union began, supposedly, as a workers’ revolt, and those who were wealthy landowners and businessmen were the first to suffer; I don’t see much evidence that the workers ever prospered. Oppressors use whatever philosophical, rhetorical, or religious ideas they may to gain power, but once they hold power, their promises are typically worthless. Already politicians in the United States make numerous empty promises to various interest groups, but it’s easy to find their failures to follow through. Even the relatively sincere tend to overlook the unforeseen consequences their actions bring. Escalating costs for everything arise from more than greed; many are caused by impositions of government law, regulation and ballooning bureaucracy, producing increasingly oppressive interference with living freely. Could gargantuan government do anything else?
So I listen, read, think, talk, and write with these concerns in mind. I wish to see a restoration of freedom and respect for human life that goes with it. I still regard the Constitution and Bill of Rights to express the most brilliant approach to national governance ever conceived, apart from the rule of God himself. Kings, dictators, emperors, and oligarchs, whether by inheritance or violent overthrow, all share a desire for centralized power. Monarchy and Marxism, in the end, are not that different, except for the justifications. Pure democracy is too vulnerable to manipulation of the uneducated or willfully disinterested masses. Republican democracy with power vested ultimate in the people by natural right worked well for he first two centuries; restored, it will work again. I believe simple capitalism is the best economic system and itself a preserver of individual liberty, but big government and crony capitalism destroy the principles of genuine capitalism.
I have my doubts that a basis for ethical character can be found without God. Please don’t misunderstand; even with God, sin remains humanity’s most serious problem. I am a Christian because Jesus taught grace, love, peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and he died to make them possible. Many of the best things about Western civilization came through the actions and influence of Christians guided by God and these ethical values. Even the idea of freedom is ultimately a Biblical concept, a healthy concept of liberty that is not selfish self-indulgence.
Nevertheless, I would not vote for a “Christian” government, though I am comfortable voting for a Christian to lead under out Constitutional government. I recognize that Christians can and have abused power, whether from good intentions gone awry or from simply using God as justification for evil. Separation and balance of power in our American system protects us regardless of where the problems arise.
Having said all that, I frankly find myself still caught on the horns of a dilemma. Capitalism is the economic side of freedom; by this I mean the rights of individuals to use their own money and property to create, sell, trade, provide service, or invest to make a living and even to acquire wealth. As a Christian, I know that the “love of money” is “the root of all (kinds of) evil,” (I Timothy 6:10) such as I have alluded to above; but I do not regard money, per se, as evil. Jesus taught that we could not serve two masters, both God and mammon; but he also taught that we should make wise use of “mammon.” (Luke 16) I believe he intends for us to live well from the fruit of our labor, as he blesses. I also believe he intends that we should serve others by using well both the freedom that prosperity provides and the money we have earned. Hospitals, orphanages, counseling centers, schools, youth centers, and churches, along with a host of other facilities, enable us to help those in need and provide the means for them to make better lives for themselves.
Yet, there is “the love of money” or what we simply call materialism. Invention, technology, commerce, and advertising have taken our culture beyond prosperity into something else. For the secularist, the desire may be “heaven on earth,” but believers should never forget where heaven really is. For all that some fear the influence of the Church on government and culture—though I think they are wrong—I have as great a suspicion that our secularized culture has damaged the Western Church. Tractors, refrigerators, and washing machines freed us from the tyranny of hard labor, but commerce and advertising are enslaving us to a new tyranny—consumerism and technological dependence, if not addiction.
I could write a great deal about this problem, but others already have. As with other ills, Pandora’s box is already open, and what is done cannot be undone. Sometimes it seems that cell phones, texting, tweeting, gaming, and various computer-related technologies are leading us back into mindless ignorance, where the masses must, of necessity, depend on others to care for them. Social networking is not the same as having a relationship or living in a community. At one extreme, people don’t even know their “friends.” Trust cannot exist where people are not tangibly involved except for sex, and loneliness rules our “connected” age. On the other extreme, leaders without ethics or honesty invite us to believe their promises supported by sympathetic, even sycophantic, news media; they use technology to create their images, and one wonders how similar they may be to the stalkers who prey via the same methods and technology.
In the past, ordinary people were too busy just surviving to fight off oppressors; now they seem preoccupied with enjoying the freedoms to realize they are slowly disappearing. Aldus Huxley used the ancient idea of “bread and circuses” to explain how people are conditioned not to care or even notice as their freedom slips away; he wondered about drugs, but addiction to Facebook and tweeting may serve just as well. Those freedoms rely on an educated and engaged citizenry, not one preoccupied with posting moment-by-moment updates of the inanities of daily existence.
Likewise, the Church thrives or fails as its faithful express the life of Christ within them, which is much more and far greater than mere passivity. The combination of spiritual and political freedom combined with the powerful technologies now available offer the possibility of amazing growth, individually and collectively. However, this must occur in addition to the Biblical norms of family, brotherhood, community, and fellowship, not in place of them. Somehow, we must combine high tech with high touch. I find the possibilities exciting, if we canhas overcome the enticements of technology and material wealth.
I believe an committed American Christian has a great obligation to both the Church and the nation to advance both faith and freedom, and we powerful tools to help us, if we use them as such without becoming consumed by them. For example, email, Facebook, texting, and the like can enable us to connect in ways never before possible, but we must use them in addition to the ages old face-to-face methods of conversation and hospitality. We cells phones, social networks, and Skype people can communicate when they are worlds apart, as long as they spend real “face time” together when they're not. We can gain and share information, bypassing biased manipulators of news, as long as we show the wisdom to verify what we learn before we pass it on. These technologies offer individual freedom unlike anything before; however, we dare not lose ourselves in them so much that we ignore the dangers around us, the attempts by some to dominate these tools, or the irresponsible spending and waste that could so devastate our economy that we could no longer support, enjoy, or even afford our freedoms or technology.
I tend to be optimistic, although it's not easy, these days. I accept that one day humans may make such a mess of things that God will finally initiate the next age, but I am not inclined to doomsday scenarios, including those coming from extreme Left and Right and evangelical. I regard the threat of Islamic terrorism and the threat of Marxist domination with equal dismay. Yet I see the answers to both in faith and freedom, and I urge you, reader, to set yourself to pursue both for the sake of our nation and its people, our world, and our Savior.
According to Jesus himself, believers are citizens of two realms—one that is God’s, another that is “Caesar’s.” God’s kingdom has priority; his is our first allegiance. Yet, he commands us to submit to the authority of the humans with power over us, even conquerors like the Romans. This proves to be more confusing, in some ways, under our republican democracy than under an emperor, whose power was near absolute. The dilemma is even more enigmatic as our nation struggles to determine what kind of government it will have (or allows it to become the kind of government its leaders make it).
Recently, I was reading two books at approximately the same time (I often have several in process to one degree or another). One sought to defend and advance the ideas of individual liberty and limited Constitutional government, particularly to young people, many of whom seem unfamiliar with it and, as a result, are being led to something else. The other book also addressed the opinions and questions of many younger Americans to make a case for authentic Christianity. One night, as I lay digesting what I’d been reading, I came back to this confusion of being citizens of both heaven and earth, of God’s kingdom and of the United States.
The U.S. was essentially founded by Christians, despite popular arguments to the contrary. They surely were not atheists, and even the most agnostic was pious by today’s standards; the documents, official and not, the monuments, and the historical record all confirm this. Individual liberty held the greatest value, not as a gift of government but as a natural, inherent human right, based on divine creation: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence). When Jefferson, not one of the Constitution's author's, promised a group of Baptists a “wall of separation,” he meant that the government could not interfere with the church, not the reverse (Would he not be surprised, today? Actually, given his prescient wisdom, he likely would be sad but not surprised).
With considerable effort, unsupported by history, which is omitted or altered, despite the plain intent of both Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, likewise ignored or twisted, and against the desires of most citizens, voiced or not, we now live under a different set of values. Schools, government, media, and entertainment industries all promote this new, although arguably more ancient, way of thinking and governing, while still mouthing some of the original words of our heritage. Today, people argue for bigger government, more help from the federal government, and seem to rely less on themselves in a free society.
Evolutionary faith has replaced God, and life has ceased to have the value that came with Christian belief (Babies were once expendable if not desired, the injured and sick were simply allowed to die, and the inferior—women, children, slaves, or opposing tribe—were disposable). Equality of person and opportunity has morphed into equality of outcome, giving government power to impose its vision of sameness. Private property ownership, as the basis of opportunity, is less protected as government sees itself as the instrument of “equality” and arbiter of when property may be taken; the list of justifications for taking private property and money seems to grow almost daily.
The founders plainly regarded Christian character as essential to preserve the republic and its freedoms; they feared both unscrupulous leaders and uneducated or poorly educated voters, who might easily be led to give up their rights for promised gain—promised though not necessarily delivered, just as we observe today. Certain protections against unprincipled, dishonest leaders, spelled out in the Bill of Rights—free speech, a free media, a free faith, and the freedom to protect oneself—have been altered or ignored, replaced by political correctness, a grossly biased media, disenfranchised religious faith, and restrictions on the tools of self-preservation.
What is a Christian to do? What should he or she say? Can nothing be done? Most of us, I suspect, want only to restore what we have lost. Well before 1776, our forefathers had experienced the dangers of government-led sectarian persecution and warfare, a combination of religious belief twisted by power; the actions of radical Muslims speak of the same danger. However, the miracle of this remarkable nation was liberty, including and especially religious liberty. This was the beginning of true tolerance, rooted in faith, not in secular power. Atheism in charge is sectarian government, not neutral government. Leaders without a moral compass are typically poor leaders, serving themselves, sometimes trying to survey and then satisfy an equally self-serving citizenry. Without a moral anchor, prosperity has evolved into hyper-materialism; rugged individualism and a Protestant work ethic have turned into entitlement and narcissism. A can-do philosophy has given way to a victim mentality that looks to government for help rather than helping oneself. Restoration may not be possible! Perhaps going forward offers a better option, but where we are now is frightening. Abuse of power is why colonists came to America, and modern despots are no less abusive. Concentration of power encourages corruption, a growing problem as the federal government seeks and gains greater power and money.
Yet, what can a Christian do? Some would say the task is evangelism; leave politics to others. However, both the Bible and history suggest that to be the wrong choice; indeed, there need be no choice. Believers may and should do both, fulfill their divine mandate to reach out with the message of grace and freedom and express their divinely provided wisdom as citizens. I do observe a few who seem to believe their Christian obligation is to establish a theocracy; I am always profoundly impressed that our founders never moved in that direction. They had not forgotten the civil strife between Catholics and Protestants and discovered a better path. Most Christians handle power almost as poorly as non-Christians; the temptations are just too great.
Anti-christian folk would prefer we keep our faith to ourselves; they object to the influences of divinely inspired values (rejecting of course the very idea of divine inspiration). I believe those values are desperately needed today. For example, how can a nation survive if it is losing the sense of life’s value, as the United States seems to be doing? Abortion is only emblematic of a deeper abandonment. Our high regard for human rights rests on the value of each human life; those rights will not survive for long without valuing individual life itself. These arguments do not depend solely on the Bible or faith, although those are my own anchors. I am willing to make such arguments outside the pages of Scripture, but I insist that my freedom to do so be preserved. Those aligned against our beliefs—pro-life, pro-family, pro-traditional marriage, and pro-faith—are already working diligently to silence us and deny us that right to freedom of religion and free speech. In place of free speech, they offer political correctness, which is intolerant in the name of tolerance.
Such efforts are a threat to everyone. This is the path to oppression. History has already proven what happens when one group loses its liberty; it becomes merely the first to do so. The Soviet Union began, supposedly, as a workers’ revolt, and those who were wealthy landowners and businessmen were the first to suffer; I don’t see much evidence that the workers ever prospered. Oppressors use whatever philosophical, rhetorical, or religious ideas they may to gain power, but once they hold power, their promises are typically worthless. Already politicians in the United States make numerous empty promises to various interest groups, but it’s easy to find their failures to follow through. Even the relatively sincere tend to overlook the unforeseen consequences their actions bring. Escalating costs for everything arise from more than greed; many are caused by impositions of government law, regulation and ballooning bureaucracy, producing increasingly oppressive interference with living freely. Could gargantuan government do anything else?
So I listen, read, think, talk, and write with these concerns in mind. I wish to see a restoration of freedom and respect for human life that goes with it. I still regard the Constitution and Bill of Rights to express the most brilliant approach to national governance ever conceived, apart from the rule of God himself. Kings, dictators, emperors, and oligarchs, whether by inheritance or violent overthrow, all share a desire for centralized power. Monarchy and Marxism, in the end, are not that different, except for the justifications. Pure democracy is too vulnerable to manipulation of the uneducated or willfully disinterested masses. Republican democracy with power vested ultimate in the people by natural right worked well for he first two centuries; restored, it will work again. I believe simple capitalism is the best economic system and itself a preserver of individual liberty, but big government and crony capitalism destroy the principles of genuine capitalism.
I have my doubts that a basis for ethical character can be found without God. Please don’t misunderstand; even with God, sin remains humanity’s most serious problem. I am a Christian because Jesus taught grace, love, peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and he died to make them possible. Many of the best things about Western civilization came through the actions and influence of Christians guided by God and these ethical values. Even the idea of freedom is ultimately a Biblical concept, a healthy concept of liberty that is not selfish self-indulgence.
Nevertheless, I would not vote for a “Christian” government, though I am comfortable voting for a Christian to lead under out Constitutional government. I recognize that Christians can and have abused power, whether from good intentions gone awry or from simply using God as justification for evil. Separation and balance of power in our American system protects us regardless of where the problems arise.
Having said all that, I frankly find myself still caught on the horns of a dilemma. Capitalism is the economic side of freedom; by this I mean the rights of individuals to use their own money and property to create, sell, trade, provide service, or invest to make a living and even to acquire wealth. As a Christian, I know that the “love of money” is “the root of all (kinds of) evil,” (I Timothy 6:10) such as I have alluded to above; but I do not regard money, per se, as evil. Jesus taught that we could not serve two masters, both God and mammon; but he also taught that we should make wise use of “mammon.” (Luke 16) I believe he intends for us to live well from the fruit of our labor, as he blesses. I also believe he intends that we should serve others by using well both the freedom that prosperity provides and the money we have earned. Hospitals, orphanages, counseling centers, schools, youth centers, and churches, along with a host of other facilities, enable us to help those in need and provide the means for them to make better lives for themselves.
Yet, there is “the love of money” or what we simply call materialism. Invention, technology, commerce, and advertising have taken our culture beyond prosperity into something else. For the secularist, the desire may be “heaven on earth,” but believers should never forget where heaven really is. For all that some fear the influence of the Church on government and culture—though I think they are wrong—I have as great a suspicion that our secularized culture has damaged the Western Church. Tractors, refrigerators, and washing machines freed us from the tyranny of hard labor, but commerce and advertising are enslaving us to a new tyranny—consumerism and technological dependence, if not addiction.
I could write a great deal about this problem, but others already have. As with other ills, Pandora’s box is already open, and what is done cannot be undone. Sometimes it seems that cell phones, texting, tweeting, gaming, and various computer-related technologies are leading us back into mindless ignorance, where the masses must, of necessity, depend on others to care for them. Social networking is not the same as having a relationship or living in a community. At one extreme, people don’t even know their “friends.” Trust cannot exist where people are not tangibly involved except for sex, and loneliness rules our “connected” age. On the other extreme, leaders without ethics or honesty invite us to believe their promises supported by sympathetic, even sycophantic, news media; they use technology to create their images, and one wonders how similar they may be to the stalkers who prey via the same methods and technology.
In the past, ordinary people were too busy just surviving to fight off oppressors; now they seem preoccupied with enjoying the freedoms to realize they are slowly disappearing. Aldus Huxley used the ancient idea of “bread and circuses” to explain how people are conditioned not to care or even notice as their freedom slips away; he wondered about drugs, but addiction to Facebook and tweeting may serve just as well. Those freedoms rely on an educated and engaged citizenry, not one preoccupied with posting moment-by-moment updates of the inanities of daily existence.
Likewise, the Church thrives or fails as its faithful express the life of Christ within them, which is much more and far greater than mere passivity. The combination of spiritual and political freedom combined with the powerful technologies now available offer the possibility of amazing growth, individually and collectively. However, this must occur in addition to the Biblical norms of family, brotherhood, community, and fellowship, not in place of them. Somehow, we must combine high tech with high touch. I find the possibilities exciting, if we canhas overcome the enticements of technology and material wealth.
I believe an committed American Christian has a great obligation to both the Church and the nation to advance both faith and freedom, and we powerful tools to help us, if we use them as such without becoming consumed by them. For example, email, Facebook, texting, and the like can enable us to connect in ways never before possible, but we must use them in addition to the ages old face-to-face methods of conversation and hospitality. We cells phones, social networks, and Skype people can communicate when they are worlds apart, as long as they spend real “face time” together when they're not. We can gain and share information, bypassing biased manipulators of news, as long as we show the wisdom to verify what we learn before we pass it on. These technologies offer individual freedom unlike anything before; however, we dare not lose ourselves in them so much that we ignore the dangers around us, the attempts by some to dominate these tools, or the irresponsible spending and waste that could so devastate our economy that we could no longer support, enjoy, or even afford our freedoms or technology.
I tend to be optimistic, although it's not easy, these days. I accept that one day humans may make such a mess of things that God will finally initiate the next age, but I am not inclined to doomsday scenarios, including those coming from extreme Left and Right and evangelical. I regard the threat of Islamic terrorism and the threat of Marxist domination with equal dismay. Yet I see the answers to both in faith and freedom, and I urge you, reader, to set yourself to pursue both for the sake of our nation and its people, our world, and our Savior.
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