Hubris
“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ ‘Neither’ he replied.” Joshua 5:13-14a
Back in the fall of 1994, some friends of mine and I had gathered to hang out one Tuesday evening. We interrupted our planned activities to check out how the mid-term congressional elections were going. I don’t think any of us was expecting anything significant to happen any more than we would expect the Yankees to get blown away by a little league team. The Democrats had controlled the Congress as long as any of us could remember and we all just assumed that this was the way things were.
We were all therefore quite surprised to see that not only were the Dems not walking away with the “big game” but that the Republicans had won the day. I’m not sure any of us conservative boys knew what to do once we found that “our team” was in power. We were happy to be sure. We really hoped that now the ridiculously large budgets could be cut and maybe some morality would be returned to politics. We hoped that America could now deal with some of the sins in our midst.
This is not to say that there were no words of caution. I overheard a conversation where a woman was gushing of the GOP’s victory and how God had blessed America with a new hope. To this her discussion partner simply replied that rather now instead of having godless Democrats running the show the country was in the hands of godless Republicans. Put this way it didn’t seem so rosy.
As we all well know this gloomy prediction was borne out in spades. After years of hearing loyalty to the Republican Party all be equated to faith in God, many of my erstwhile conservative friends have found themselves looking for something more. They looked in disgust at Christian leaders who publicly wondered if someone could be a Christian and not a Republican.
How, they asked, could pastors justify blaring conservative talk radio in their church offices? What kind of witness was it to hostile non-Christians when ministers littered their lawns with “Bush for President” placards? Seeing this genuine error my cohorts vowed to be different. With their “GOD IS NOT A REPUBLICAN! . . . or a democrat” bumper stickers firmly in place they sought never to live as though God could be contained within a single human political party.
They found their champion in the past few years in the person of Barack Obama. There was just something about him that told you he was a different sort of man. He spoke to the issues that they cared about and in a way that reached them deep in their hearts. It was not so much the issues that he had championed but the very core of the man that told them “Here is a way for hope.”
With a wholehearted sense of enthusiasm they have filled his rosters for getting out the vote and voting themselves. Since he was so clearly the right man for the job they looked with astonishment at those of us who just didn’t seem to get it. Those who were against him were written off as trapped by the old way of thinking. Christians who still voted Republican were plainly stuck in the group-think mentality that associated GOD and GOP. The clear way for us to avoid being lemmings for the Right-Wing machine was all to go vote for the Democrats in 2008.
They wondered how someone could be a Christian and not vote for Obama. They passionately defended their right as public Christians to decorate their lawns with Obama placards. My fellow seminarians who would have rebuked anyone for having a “W” bumper sticker now wore t-shirts emblazoned with Obama’s image. Christian leaders wrote articles saying how this election was a sign that America was finally dealing with the sins in her midst. They now have hope that some of the wasteful budgets could be cut and some morality could return to politics.
Let us imagine for a moment that we were able to step into our Delorean and race it up to 88 mph. Jumping ahead into the future a few years what will we see? Will today’s free-thinkers be the ones cursed as blinkered? Will the younger siblings or children of today’s Obama fans sport “GOD IS NOT A DEMOCRAT! . . . or a republican” stickers? What will the young Christian voters in the 2018 mid-term election think of all the effusive praise heaped upon our new President? Will they note the irony of it all?
Man, Tim, this is a great post, ESPECIALLY with the intro verse. Well, well applied.
This is a pretty interesting place to hear a fair amount of relatively well thought Christians voting for / excited about Obama. While the man is our president and I pray for him, I would have never voted for him. The one reason is this. Abortion is a seminal topic for me where there is really no room for wavering, and overall, the democrats have not stood up against abortion or its spread. In fact, they have steadily supported it.
On top of this though, I am not so sure that Christians should ever get too associated with a particular political party. Though people might roll their eyes at this, our allegiance is to Christ and the kingdom of heaven, not some temporal power-grubbers. We should act as Christians in politics like Wilburforce, but we need to be careful that the means don’t become the end.
My two cents.
Thanks. Wilberforce is a hero of mine. We named our six week old William partly in honor of him. He is remembered for what he did and not what party he was a part of.
I agree with you about Christians and political parties. Check out CS Lewis’s article on the subject in (I think) God in the Dock. As so much else in life, Lewis here makes clear some very important things.
God certainly has an opinion about how we should act politically, but we should never mistake who’s side he is on.
I find it interesting that we who are Christ’s people first and Americans second put SO much thought and energy into American politics. Is it because we get a vote or are we secretly thinking or wishing that we can choose a god to rule over us?
Paul told the Roman church – that got no vote and got persecuted – to pray, pay your taxes and live peacably in an Empire that we way more godless than American politics.
God is our King. We have no allegiance above Him and His kingdom. America should be a distant second in our loyalty. I’m not saying ‘Don’t vote. Don’t be a good citizen – the exact opposite. I AM saying be SO much more loyal and verbal about your loyalty to God’s agenda and His rule.
And while we are thinking Christianly, let’s take some prayerful interest in the politics of other nations where we have millions of brothers and sisters. Shouldn’t we also pray for the leaders of Cuba, China, Iran, India, Russian, UK and everywhere else? (We don’t have to pay taxes there but it is important to the reign of Christ!)
It seems to me that believers ought to be some of the most savvy political pray-ers no matter in what nation we live.
Great post. I think it is when we give our allegiance to anyone other than Christ that we get into trouble. It is as if we let the fight between political parties become a personal fight between “us and them.” Almost anytime that we think that “they” cannot possibly be a Christian then I believe that we deny the power and love of Christ.
We are in a unique situation in this country to help shape our government. As Christians we should be submitting ourselves to the authority placed over us, but we should never let our politics interfere with our mission to spread the Gospel of Christ.
I wonder what “great reform” obama will introduce next?