If you inhabit any sort of social media site these days, you’re likely pretty sick of all the kamikaze political posts blowing up into full-on verbal warfare. Heck, even the posts that don’t get replies are probably only devoid of comments just because everyone is so sick of typing paragraph after paragraph that, in the end, will never change the position of the original poster. So we sigh. We post quotes or jokes about being sick of the whole mess… or being glad that we now have the NFL to fight about…and we anxiously await Election Day so that the whole mess will finally be over.
But it won’t be over.
Regardless of the outcome in November, the winning party will go on raving about the righteousness of their causes leading them to victory…about how they have the pulse of the American people and will justify the faith of the voters by jumping into action. The losing party will talk about how far the nation has fallen to vote such corruption into the White House…and that’s only if they don’t flat out make accusations of voter fraud. It will NEVER be over. Not so long as we hold onto the US vs. THEM attitude so prevalent in our once great nation.
As a Christian, I find it particularly disheartening how many of my fellow believers equate their party (Republicans for the Evangelicals, typically, and the Democrats for the Non-Evangelical branches of the faith) or their candidate with the Gospel. It would be hilarious if not so tragic.
The Gospel is not a partisan message. By the very nature of God and what His Son came to accomplish, the Gospel is as nonpartisan as you get. It’s Good News for EVERYONE and it’s free of charge.
The world that we live in is constantly selling us a lie…and it’s a lie our sinfulness has hardwired us to want to receive as truth: that what “I” think (believe, feel comfortable with, benefits me and mine) matters—and not only matters, but matters to the exclusion of everyone else. What “I” think is right, so what “you” think must be wrong. Who “I” vote for is the one who can make things better, so who “you” vote for will make things worse.
Christians can complicate things further by trying to make God their dog in the fight. Some people firmly believe that God wouldn’t have them vote for a Democrat solely because of the abortion issue…or the gay marriage issue…or any other issue their corrupted news source has told them they should be concerned with. Some people firmly believe that God wouldn’t have them vote for a Republican because people are dying on the streets while the rich keep getting richer…or because God’s message of love for all is, to them, the ultimate hippie mantra and we should all stop worrying about godliness and just focus on love and peace and giving to the poor…you know, like their corrupted news source told them. Both sides can point to scriptures to “prove” their point and both sides can argue against the other side’s interpretations of those scriptures. Both sides demonize each other’s inability to “rightly” distinguish what truly matters from what doesn’t. It’s become an endless cycle of disharmony and silliness.
I’m addressing this mainly to other members of my faith because…well, because so much of what I see online—the way we deal with each other as well as those outside our faith when it comes to politics—is bordering on horrific. I’ve seen
Christian musicians that I greatly admire mocking those “silly evangelicals” and their unenlightened view of Christ’s message of love for all mankind. I’ve seen believers accusing fellow brothers and sisters in faith of being “led astray” and even spewing profanity about Democrats. It isn’t just Christians, of course. Not long ago, I read a comment by an ardent atheist suggesting that a law should be passed to ban all religions so that they can just imprison or execute “the types of Neanderthals that still cling to those fairy tales.” That’s extreme. Yes. And scary. But that man (I assume it was a man, though the screen name didn’t make it a certainty.) did not claim to be a follower of Christ or an emissary of the Gospel and his extremism had even the other atheists calling him on it.
Some of you, as you read this, are already trying to dismantle what you think I will say. Well, I won’t make it easy on you. I don’t fit easily into many preconceived notions. I don’t believe Jesus was a hippy whose message of love dismisses our call to lead holy lives and confront sin where we find it. I also don’t believe Jesus would ever say some of the hateful things I’ve seen some evangelicals say about fellow human beings regardless of what sin needed to be confronted. I’m not going to try and sell you the notion that either viewpoint is correct. All I’m saying is that the US vs. THEM approach is a lousy way to represent the kingdom of God and the work of Christ.
Imagine for a moment that you have a dear friend who feels a strong call to missions. She tells you all about the country where she will minister and the problems she will encounter there. Her passion is extraordinary and you’re genuinely excited for her new adventure. A member of your home group is doing some work at a soup kitchen where nearly 200 homeless are fed every night. He tells you all about what a blessing it’s been to become involved in that ministry and engage with those folks so many in the world turn a blind eye to. Your passion, though, has been to serve the community through your role as a teacher, bringing light and hope to some children who may not have that at home. The idea that your role in the lives of your students might see them through to graduation and on into their lives thrills you and you pray that God will use that service for His glory.
Now what if your missionary friend decided that, if you were serious about your faith, you’d be joining her in Sudan? What if the guy from home group believes that your lack of involvement with the homeless means that you don’t really have the servant’s heart that God expects you to have? What if everything they pursued for the faith suddenly looked “less than” in the light of your service to your students? But that wouldn’t happen, right? I mean, we know God may have called that woman to the mission fields, but that in no way conflicts with the passion He’s birthed in your heart for educating and inspiring your students. Your firm belief that God has called you to minister grace to children whose home lives may be in chaos doesn’t cheapen the call of the man who serves a meat and three vegetables to those living on the street.
So why can we not seem to see that God may have given people different passions about the issues that matter to Him? Maybe He WANTS people on both sides of the aisle to keep the important issues on the surface. Maybe if all Christians were Republicans, we would deal with the abortion issue but let the impoverished slip through the cracks. Maybe if all Christians were Democrats, we’d have greater social justice but believers would stop pursuing holiness or exposing sin. Maybe both are important. Maybe both really matter and neither side is fully focused on all that NEEDS to be in focus.
If a believer is passionate about voting for the pro-life candidate, she should. If another believer is passionate about healthcare for those that can’t afford it…or about holding corrupt corporations accountable for their misdeeds, he should vote for the candidate he thinks will serve that need. Neither is wrong. Neither is more or less godly. Scripture talks about the church being a body with many parts. We tend to whip those verses out when we want to get out of serving in an area we don’t feel comfortable in. But when it comes to politics, everyone thinks they know how to drive the car to get us where we need to go. The foot is convinced that the steering wheel is evil and we just need to step on the gas while the hands are sure that the foot is going to wreck the car by moving too fast and we should just let them steer us where we need to go. Neither stops to think that perhaps God has moved the feet of the body to do what they do with the gas and the hands to operate the steering wheel because *gasp* it will take both to get us to the finish line. It’s such a simple concept, but that US vs. THEM mentality is built into our sinful nature.
US vs. THEM is dangerous because that mindset has to come from some innate sense of “rightness” about ourselves or “wrongness” about others that goes totally against what the gospel spells out for us. If we were walking in truth, we’d understand that no one is better or worse than anyone else when it comes to righteousness. We all fall short of what God has called us to. That person online that you’ve argued with so fiercely about the evils of Obama or the smugness of Romney is no less loved by God and desired by Him than you are. You are no more worthy in His sight than them. Get over yourself.
Our sinful combative nature urges us to “win” at all costs…to put our intellectual or philosophical opponents to shame but, if we could ever just grasp the humility to see that there is no right or wrong in the works of men (for all men are sinful and even the godliest man will fail more often than succeed) and that all of us are just acting on our beliefs (or unbelief) in the hope of making the world a better place then perhaps we would find the compassion we’re so often lacking every four years. Even the platforms and policies that offend me the most as a Christian can make a certain sense if I try and understand how someone could feel differently. It doesn’t make those platforms or policies right (or wrong), but it enables me to better understand those who feel differently and leave that stuff at the feet of the One who will ultimately have His way.
This November, I’ll step into a voting booth and vote the way I feel inclined, but I won’t fret about who wins or loses. I have a King who sits on a throne that will never be taken from Him, and He is as far above the presidents and kings of this age as I long to be from the US vs. THEM plague that seems to grip so many people I love.
In His Ineffable Grace,
Jeff
