After this week’s Supreme Court decision to uphold Obama’s healthcare law and the ensuing reaction on social media, I thought it might helpful to repost this article I wrote on March 22, 2010 just after the health care bill originally passed.
Like many Americans, I anxiously watched last night as Congress officially passed a bill that will overhaul the American health care system and cost an estimated $1 trillion dollars over the next ten years. As someone who is neither Republican nor Democrat, I found myself wrestling with a number of mixed feelings about this monumental event and naturally wondered what it might mean for my wife and I and our two girls in the future. I even wondered what it would mean for their kids someday.
I was unprepared, however, for the cyber onslaught that has since been unleashed by so many well intentioned, but justifiably angry republican Christians. I understand why many are upset. I share many of their concerns. But what struck me most was not their feelings of frustration or their disagreement with this huge decision that will directly affect most of our lives, but their use of spiritual and even Christian language to support and defend their political position.
The other night I curiously looked on as McCain and Obama slugged it out at the 2nd presidential
debate. Immediately following the debate, NBC hosted a
special in which they evaluated the performance of each candidate. The most shocking part of
the program came when they thoroughly assessed the accuracy of every historical statement
and number thrown out by the candidates in the course of the debate. More
shocking than the inaccuracy of many of the quotes presented by both candidates
was the speed in which those errors were pointed out.
The debate had concluded only minutes earlier and already the
candidates inaccuracies were pointed out and broadcast for the world to see. "Welcome
to the information age," I thought to myself.
Pastors are not exempt
from the added pressure that comes from living in a time when information is so
readily accessible. At any given time on any given Sunday any one of our
listeners can easily hop online with the push of a button and test the content
of our sermons. In very short time they can cross reference our words with
those of other pastors, bloggers, theologians, scholars and antagonists. And
just as quickly as they can find inconsistencies they can also publish them on
the www for everyone to see.
The dynamics of being pastor have changed drastically over
the last couple decades, so here are some suggestions to help us all navigate
the minefield:
Make sure you’re
smoking what you’re selling.
Your life is the
litmus test of your message. The most effective way to communicate your
message is to live it. The most effective way to lose your voice entirely is to
choose to do the alternative and get caught doing it. I have heard stories of
people making unwise decisions only for incriminating pictures to show up on
facebook, sometimes within minutes. Don’t be that guy. Please, don’t be that
guy.
Connection is more
important than content.
This one is counter intuitive. Our natural response might be to
feel the need to make sure that all the info we present is doggedly accurate. But
although it is important to make sure
we aren’t contradicting scripture, the reality is that men and women who devote
their entire lives to studying the Bible still disagree on all types of things
contained within it. It’s more important that we strive to make the scriptures
come alive for people, engaging them with God’s words, than striving to be the
next great theological mind. If people
don’t trust you, they won’t trust your message, even if you’re right.
Everyone knows that
you don’t know everything. Make sure you do too.
As teachers, our posture has got to be one of humility. We are seeking to minister to people that are
increasingly skeptical. If people sense that you’re not teachable, you can
lose credibility real fast. If they sense that you think you know everything,
it will just be a matter of time until they prove you wrong. That is not to say
that we can’t have conviction, but that we ought to seek to always err on the
side of humility.
Give credit where
credit is due or prepare to look like a jackass.
“Pray it and claim it”
doesn’t apply to someone else’s material. As more and more content is
uploaded onto the web and made freely available to all, rip offs are becoming
easier and easier to spot. Although it can sometimes be hard to find the
original source, identifying recycled material can be done in just seconds with
one swift Google. I am thankful for this. We have all seen too many celebrity
pastor rip-offs. Am I right? My hope is
that this development will force the next generation of leaders to respond with
a renewed sense of originality and creativity.
A new Barna study shows that if the election
were to be held today, 40% of all born again adults who are likely to
vote in November would choose a Democratic candidate and just 29%
would choose the Republican candidate. The remaining 28% are currently
not sure whom they would choose, preferring to make their selection on
the basis of the candidate than strictly on the basis of his or her
party affiliation.
This is quite a shift from what we’ve seen over the past two decades. As most are now painfully aware, the Christian community has traditionally favored Republican candidates over Democratic ones – never more blindingly than in Bush’s reelection in ’04. But now it seems that the tables have drastically turned.
Personally, I think the swing is more of a reaction to the work of George W and Co than a newfound loyalty to the Democratic party. Blue isn’t the new red – or if it is, it won’t be for long. (If a democrat is successfully voted to office, I suspect that the Christian community will again find themselves disappointed 4 to 8 years from now when the new order turns out to be not all that different than the old one.)
I do, however, think the shift is healthy, very healthy. I’m not republican or democrat, so I’m not advocating the church simply switch allegiances, but rather that the church get away from partisanship altogether. Lets be honest: American politics is a messy business. I’m not convinced that it can be successfully navigated without compromising one’s faith. This is as true on a personal (candidate) level as it is on a corporate (party) level. Sure, subscribing to biblical values might sound good or even honorable to say on the campaign trail – hell, it might even get you a few votes – but convictions quickly become problematic when they stand in the way of party (or voter) agendas.
Politicians (and the parties behind them) simply cannot be the revolutionaries that Jesus calls his followers to be. There’s too much power to be lost and too many votes to be gained. The interests themselves are mutually exclusive. Politics is a "power over" business that requires leaders to work the system to get to the top and stay there. The kingdom of God is a "power under" business that calls leaders to continually serve from the bottom – not to mention also subvert widely-held (or popular) values of the world.
As the system currently stands, I just don’t believe any party or politician can successfully win and hold office while espousing the nature and teachings of Christ. (For the record, I’d love to be proved wrong.)
Yesterday, nearly 100 students from Boulder High School walked out of class in protest to a school wide broadcast of the Pledge of Allegiance. This is the pledge they recited in place of the old one:
"I pledge allegiance to the flag and my constitutional rights with which it comes. And to the diversity in which our nation stands. One nation, part of one planet, with liberty, freedom, choice and justice for all."
Good for them. Although I tend to shy away from things that smell anything too close to what I consider to be an over-sensitivity to political correctness, in this case, I can’t help but hope that more schools follow suit. Although I can completely understand and appreciate the reasons for this group’s refusing to say the phrase "under God," (and in my personal opinion, is reason enough to do away with the reciting of the pledge altogether), my issue is really with a different part of the phrase.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands…"
As a follower of Jesus, I find few things more ridiculously skewed than Christians pledging allegiance to flag or country. Every time I hear a right wing radio personality using the "Christian" airwaves to manipulate the masses with nationalistic jargon it makes me want to throw up. (And every time I hear a friend or foe regurgitate those words as gospel it makes me want to cry…and then throw up.) It seems every time I stumble onto "Christian" talk radio they’ are talking politics. And they’re not just talking, they’re preaching, and it’s usually one of two messages: #1, God prefers America and so should you. Or #2, We Christians (aka Conservative Right-Wing Republicans) need to retake Washington before the God-hating liberals take over the country and brainwash our children. It is pretty ridiculous and I am pretty fed up with it. It is completely contradictory to the message of the scriptures and is effectively driving people further and further away from Jesus. And continuing to force students to state a pledge that they don’t really mean or believe in is only adding to the problem. If you ask me, the pledge needs to go. (And by the way, so does Christian radio, not because it’s unconstitutional but because it just plain sucks.)
For the sake of brevity, I’ll stop my rant for now, but if you want an excellent read on this subject, I highly recommend checking out Boyd’s, Myth of a Christian Nation. It is excellent.
