Let me get this out of the way first: ideally, I'm a pacifist. I've never been in a fist fight. I've never been in an offensive military vehicle. I was in the Air Force for four years as a plane mechanic and I got out because I had a hard time being a part of an organization whose job it was to cause death and injury. It's not easy to live with that.
Having said all that now, I have to say that I think a government military is very necessary. We live in a fallen world where fallen people come to power in fallen countries and make dangerous decisions that affect the lives of hundreds, thousands, and millions of people.
Sometimes diplomacy just does not work. A good example of that is WWII. Countries tried to work with Hitler's Germany, compromise with him, and he just did what he wanted because he could. The only recourse was a military response to his military aggression.
I can't say that I really agree with the fiasco that led us into the war with Iraq after 9/11. But, one of the things that comforts me is that we know there was massive oppression and even genocide going on in the North. This war helped to stop that.
Now, about Christians and war. Several things: "Just War Theory" is not in the Bible. It comes from Augustine. There are no guidelines in the Bible for going to war (except for against Canaanites). But there are a few important verses to help our understanding here.
Rom 13--God has given government "the sword," which is technically and literally the sword of execution, but I think this could easily be expanded to national defense. The government has the God-given right to defend its citizens.
Luke 3:14--when John the Baptist was asked by a soldier what to do to live a righteous life, John's answer (which was probably the right one) was that he should not oppress and be content with his wages. Nothing about killing people? Hmmm.....
The bottom line is this: war is horrible and vile and evil. But oppression, genocide, and injustice are also horrible and vile and evil and sinful. I cannot sit by and just "pray for them."
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
"Christian" Economy
While I alluded to this in my last post, I wanted to deal a little more fully with politics and economics from a Christian perspective. First point: God did not invent the free-market political system. It's not in the Bible, and there seem to be several things against this in the Bible.
BUT--while the Bible seems to advocate a form of socialism, we must remember that it had God as its beginning, middle, and end. In modern forms of socialism, religion is viewed as unnecessary and even harmful to the process. In short, socialism does not work with the separation of church and state.
Further, if you look at the Old Testament, the ideal was a loose confederation of tribes, all following God, and the evil was a more and more concentrated form of monarchy--i.e., bigger government, with Solomon the chief offender putting his subjects to forced labor and high taxes.
I think it just has to come down to preference. There is a time and place for everything, and God is still even in control of the worst and most oppressive governments. Their times will end, and God will emerge victorious.
As to the Free Market, I personally like it. I like choosing between Wal-Mart and small businesses. I personally like Reagan's policies of cutting taxes and government and letting people do their best, and be rewarded, not punished (more heavily taxed), for success. It seemed to work great in the 80's by turning the nation's highest unemployment and interest rates into the nation's greatest and longest time of prosperity during peacetime. History speaks for itself.
Reagardless of which president takes office next January, God is still in control. It's a comfort (though small) to know that in Jesus' time the tax rate was around 80%. Roman government had an enormous welfare program. Early Christians faced a horrendously unfair court system. We have it pretty good here. God will still love us and be with us, just like He was with us during the Carter and Clinton years. We seriously do not deserve the prosperity we have enjoyed over the years. It's a blessing--not a right.
Plus, it's kind of hard to ask God for wealth. Jesus didn't, and he didn't teach us to do that. He taught us to ask for what we need to get by.
That being said, I'm still not gonna vote for someone to kill the free market with higher taxes and insane amounts of government spending.
George Bush may be stupid, but I'm paying a lot less taxes now than I was before Clinton left office, not to mention sizable rebate checks two different times...just something to think about.
Coming next, Christians, government, and military.
BUT--while the Bible seems to advocate a form of socialism, we must remember that it had God as its beginning, middle, and end. In modern forms of socialism, religion is viewed as unnecessary and even harmful to the process. In short, socialism does not work with the separation of church and state.
Further, if you look at the Old Testament, the ideal was a loose confederation of tribes, all following God, and the evil was a more and more concentrated form of monarchy--i.e., bigger government, with Solomon the chief offender putting his subjects to forced labor and high taxes.
I think it just has to come down to preference. There is a time and place for everything, and God is still even in control of the worst and most oppressive governments. Their times will end, and God will emerge victorious.
As to the Free Market, I personally like it. I like choosing between Wal-Mart and small businesses. I personally like Reagan's policies of cutting taxes and government and letting people do their best, and be rewarded, not punished (more heavily taxed), for success. It seemed to work great in the 80's by turning the nation's highest unemployment and interest rates into the nation's greatest and longest time of prosperity during peacetime. History speaks for itself.
Reagardless of which president takes office next January, God is still in control. It's a comfort (though small) to know that in Jesus' time the tax rate was around 80%. Roman government had an enormous welfare program. Early Christians faced a horrendously unfair court system. We have it pretty good here. God will still love us and be with us, just like He was with us during the Carter and Clinton years. We seriously do not deserve the prosperity we have enjoyed over the years. It's a blessing--not a right.
Plus, it's kind of hard to ask God for wealth. Jesus didn't, and he didn't teach us to do that. He taught us to ask for what we need to get by.
That being said, I'm still not gonna vote for someone to kill the free market with higher taxes and insane amounts of government spending.
George Bush may be stupid, but I'm paying a lot less taxes now than I was before Clinton left office, not to mention sizable rebate checks two different times...just something to think about.
Coming next, Christians, government, and military.
Politics and Life
As we're coming to the close of this oppressively long political season, I've been struggling to reconcile my religious views with my political ones. Certain religious thinkers, especially lately, have been espousing the idea that the purpose of Christianity is bring about God's Kingdom on earth, politically, environmentally, relationally, and so on.
The problem is that Jesus didn't really espouse a political system in the sermon on the mount. Some of the teachings sound close to communist system (toward which many democratic politicians lean): that is, giving to the poor whenever they ask, non-retaliation/peace, and an aversion to power and greed. This makes the republican party and their rich "cronies" look anti-Christian.
However, before we vote to crush the free-market, we must seriously examine a few things. In the Bible, God is the one who exalts the humble and humbles the powerful--in socialism, the government takes that job away from God, and in essence, becomes the god of its citizenry, by ensuring the health, prosperity, defense, unity, and personhood of its subjects.
Personhood? Yup. My biggest fear of the democratic party comes from their assault against the sanctity of human life: abortion, euthanasia, eugenics, cloning, stem cell harvesting, etc. We're very close to going down the same path as 20th century Germany in claiming that certain modes of life are not worth living. When we start getting rid of the old and weak, we are but one step away from mandatory abortions for special needs children (some health care plans already do this!!), mandatory assisted suicides for terminal diseases, and then comes genocide.
Alright, call me alarmist and crazy.
The thing that endears me most to Gov. Sarah Palin (you becha!) is her fierce insistence on treating all human life as worthy of dignity and respect. Early Christianity had a strong reputation for this, as well, most notably in rescuing discarded babies from trash piles, which was the ancient form of abortion.
While I can't wholeheartedly endorse every Republican candidate, this issue is a serious deal-breaker for me. It's not about devaluing women in any way, it's about the government protecting every citizen's right to life, even--especially even--when that citizen cannot speak for his/herself.
The problem is that Jesus didn't really espouse a political system in the sermon on the mount. Some of the teachings sound close to communist system (toward which many democratic politicians lean): that is, giving to the poor whenever they ask, non-retaliation/peace, and an aversion to power and greed. This makes the republican party and their rich "cronies" look anti-Christian.
However, before we vote to crush the free-market, we must seriously examine a few things. In the Bible, God is the one who exalts the humble and humbles the powerful--in socialism, the government takes that job away from God, and in essence, becomes the god of its citizenry, by ensuring the health, prosperity, defense, unity, and personhood of its subjects.
Personhood? Yup. My biggest fear of the democratic party comes from their assault against the sanctity of human life: abortion, euthanasia, eugenics, cloning, stem cell harvesting, etc. We're very close to going down the same path as 20th century Germany in claiming that certain modes of life are not worth living. When we start getting rid of the old and weak, we are but one step away from mandatory abortions for special needs children (some health care plans already do this!!), mandatory assisted suicides for terminal diseases, and then comes genocide.
Alright, call me alarmist and crazy.
The thing that endears me most to Gov. Sarah Palin (you becha!) is her fierce insistence on treating all human life as worthy of dignity and respect. Early Christianity had a strong reputation for this, as well, most notably in rescuing discarded babies from trash piles, which was the ancient form of abortion.
While I can't wholeheartedly endorse every Republican candidate, this issue is a serious deal-breaker for me. It's not about devaluing women in any way, it's about the government protecting every citizen's right to life, even--especially even--when that citizen cannot speak for his/herself.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Waiting on the World to Change
Go ahead and call me dumb, but John Mayer's Waiting on the World to Change (I kinda like this churchified video) keeps playing in my head, over and over and over. I'm not really a fan of his, but I definitely identify with the sentiment. Is this really the best we can do as a state, as a country, as a world, as a church??
My basic life goal is to make a measurable difference for the better. Thus far, I haven't been put in a position to change things. It's frustrating. I wonder sometimes that if I am put in a position to change things, by the time will I have lost all the naive enthusiasm and optimism that I now have? Is it possible that I might hinder a young idealist like me and turn him into just another old cynical curmudgeon?
But here's the thing: people all over the world have been "waiting on the world to change" since the beginning. Why can't humans get it right? Why can't we achieve that elusive Utopian society? Now that all the Hippies and Yuppies have each had their chance to rule America, are we any better off??
Romans 8:18-25 tells us that all creation is frustrated and groaning, waiting on Jesus to restore everything.
My generation is getting ready to step up to the plate and take our turn with the world. I'm pretty confident that by the time I'm 60-ish the young people will still be complaining about the same things that I'm tired of.
However, while we may not be able to change the world, we can definitely impact our families, our churches, our jobs, and our communities. One person can absolutely make a difference, and several people together can make a big difference. So let's get started making our little differences and trust that Jesus is still coming back to change the whole world into an actual Utopia. In this way, we are "Changing the World While We Wait" for Jesus. Maybe someone can make a catchy song out of that phrase.
My basic life goal is to make a measurable difference for the better. Thus far, I haven't been put in a position to change things. It's frustrating. I wonder sometimes that if I am put in a position to change things, by the time will I have lost all the naive enthusiasm and optimism that I now have? Is it possible that I might hinder a young idealist like me and turn him into just another old cynical curmudgeon?
But here's the thing: people all over the world have been "waiting on the world to change" since the beginning. Why can't humans get it right? Why can't we achieve that elusive Utopian society? Now that all the Hippies and Yuppies have each had their chance to rule America, are we any better off??
Romans 8:18-25 tells us that all creation is frustrated and groaning, waiting on Jesus to restore everything.
My generation is getting ready to step up to the plate and take our turn with the world. I'm pretty confident that by the time I'm 60-ish the young people will still be complaining about the same things that I'm tired of.
However, while we may not be able to change the world, we can definitely impact our families, our churches, our jobs, and our communities. One person can absolutely make a difference, and several people together can make a big difference. So let's get started making our little differences and trust that Jesus is still coming back to change the whole world into an actual Utopia. In this way, we are "Changing the World While We Wait" for Jesus. Maybe someone can make a catchy song out of that phrase.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Politics, Comedians, and Persecution
Last night I was watching Conan O'Brien after work, and one of his guests was Bill Maher, a political comedian with a show on HBO. As usual for political humor, his stuff was only funny to those with an intimate knowledge of current political events and the political process: so basically, four people in the US would find him funny.
Anyway, he said some of the harshest words against Christians I think I have ever heard in my life. He really made fun of Mike Huckabee for being a Christian and believing in "talking snakes" and not believing in evolution. Then he said that he couldn't understand how a person can be rational six days a week, go to a normal job, then put that aside for one day and go to a place to "drink the blood of a 2,000 year old space god." (the full episode should be available for viewing by monday or so from www.nbc.com/conan)
Maher claims that his hatred for Christianity (including the Mormonism of Mitt Romney) is purely rational, but his remarks are clearly an egregious overreaction. What on earth causes people to hate Christians so much? What on earth happened to tolerance? When a comedian says something horrible, it's considered edgy and covered by the first amendment. When a pastor says something horrible, it's intolerant and punishable by hate crime legislation. I think the phrase I'm looking for is "double standard," but I wish there were an uglier term I could use.
While my instinctive reaction is to make fun of him back, maybe I should turn the other cheek like Jesus said. Maybe more, I can rejoice that I am considered worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus (Acts 5:41), even though mine has all been emotional and never physical abuse. I think I'll choose to love my enemies and pray for those who persecute me, rather than responding with litigation or slander.
Anyway, he said some of the harshest words against Christians I think I have ever heard in my life. He really made fun of Mike Huckabee for being a Christian and believing in "talking snakes" and not believing in evolution. Then he said that he couldn't understand how a person can be rational six days a week, go to a normal job, then put that aside for one day and go to a place to "drink the blood of a 2,000 year old space god." (the full episode should be available for viewing by monday or so from www.nbc.com/conan)
Maher claims that his hatred for Christianity (including the Mormonism of Mitt Romney) is purely rational, but his remarks are clearly an egregious overreaction. What on earth causes people to hate Christians so much? What on earth happened to tolerance? When a comedian says something horrible, it's considered edgy and covered by the first amendment. When a pastor says something horrible, it's intolerant and punishable by hate crime legislation. I think the phrase I'm looking for is "double standard," but I wish there were an uglier term I could use.
While my instinctive reaction is to make fun of him back, maybe I should turn the other cheek like Jesus said. Maybe more, I can rejoice that I am considered worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus (Acts 5:41), even though mine has all been emotional and never physical abuse. I think I'll choose to love my enemies and pray for those who persecute me, rather than responding with litigation or slander.
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