The World is trying an experiment of attempting to form a civilized
but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very
patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time; so that the
faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us: to renew and
rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide.
- TS Eliot
I empathize with those
Christians who see darkness descending upon our nation and, then, take up their
political light sabers. The challenge here, however, is our choice of sabers.
Do we combat ideologies with opposing ideologies or with faith, love, and
transcendent Truth? Let me phrase this question in another way: Are we defined
by the Left, or the Right, or by our faith? Before answering these questions, I
encourage you to not tell me what you “believe” but, rather, look back on the
last years of political activism and tell me what your words and behaviors are
communicating.
As Christians, we should be
all about the Kingdom of God and against all that is anti-God and anti-human,
whether it is found on the Right or the Left. I’m not suggesting we should not
be involved in politics or not care about the welfare of our nation and fellow
Americans. What I am saying is that we should be involved as Christians. Whatever it is we chose to do, we must reject the
horizontal plane of polarization (Right v Left) that is ripping society to
pieces, so that we can engage in the vertical relationship of God with human
persons. (Russell Kirk. I think.) Only then will people hear caring (and
hopefully intelligent) Christians, rather than the carping of political
partisans and the screeching of parrots.
The reality is that the
major issue confronting society today is neither political nor economic,
although it affects both. The issue I am referring to is that of Sin and
Redemption. So many Christians who should know this, however, spend the
majority of their energies arguing about politics and almost zip about the
underlying spiritual and moral causes of and remedies for what ails American
society. I am particularly baffled by those Christians who identify as being on
the Right who accuse those on the Left of wanting the state to be god and then
speaking as if the state ordered by the “right” kind of action by the “right”
politician will save us and society. Newsflash: the state is
not our savior.
I think it is long past time
that we remember that our warfare is not against flesh and blood (Ephesians
6.12.) No: ours is a spiritual battle for souls. Yes, we should earnestly and
zealously do what we can toward seeking a rightly ordered society. However, if
souls are not rightly ordered, no matter what actions we take as a nation, we
will still keep descending into the darkness.
Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2016
