1-25-21<\/p>\n
Where do we go from here?<\/p>\n
This is a question many Christians are asking about current events, at the time of this writing; and very roughly calculated, about half the American population wonders the same. In fact the question is pertinent after many elections, momentous events, and ends of wars.<\/p>\n
The \u201cends\u201d of elections and events and wars often settle matters in a strict sense, but in a broader sense usually bring about new questions and challenges. Therefore members of the winning side may just as earnestly ask Where we go from here; just as aimlessly or with similar uncertainty.<\/p>\n
We often fool ourselves about matters of finality, most often because we yearn for finality. Wishing, of course, does not make things so. Fate does not wait upon our polling; God\u2019s will is exercised without regard to our opinions. An example is the meaning many people ascribe to \u201ccommencement exercises\u201d \u2013 as to mean \u201cOK! That\u2019s over!\u201d Patient families, and parents paying tuition bills, might see it as that. But \u201ccommencement\u201d means \u201cbeginning,\u201d not wrapping up. So the wheel turns.<\/p>\n
And so it is with elections. Campaigning ends; perhaps officeholders change desks; and often a new agenda is advanced. On paper, that\u2019s \u201cwhere we go from here.\u201d But the larger matter, especially now, is where a group of followers goes. Where is a movement headed? Do believers casually adjust their firmly held beliefs? Should they?<\/p>\n
My context, of course, is the recent election. And my honest concern is the status and direction of those Christians who experience a deep moral dilemma about the results and the implication of the results. I am one of these.<\/p>\n
As a student of history I am reminded, often in spite of myself, that very little is new; that crises are not as bad as they seem; that a long-range perspective commands our attention. \u201cNothing new under the sun,\u201d Solomon wrote. Yet logic dictates (and, yes, history too) that sometimes things are<\/em> as bad as they seem. Sometimes\u2026 worse. Being accepting, or phlegmatic, can have negative consequence, from self-delusion to social disaster.<\/p>\n Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train. Sometimes, contra<\/em> Dr Pangloss, this is not<\/em> the best of all worlds. Sometimes compromise is not the best solution \u2013 when, at times, compromise leads to more division and turmoil, counter-intuitively, than \u201cpeace.\u201d And peace is not synonymous with righteousness.<\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t we all just get along?\u201d<\/p>\n No, we can\u2019t.<\/p>\n Rodney King\u2019s lament spoke for a time in America, and struck a chord. Now we voice a lament for a generation; at an earlier time we faced choices about freedom vs Communism. Today the questions are asked of us about the basic assumptions and commitments of American society and Western civilization. This is not a crisis of flavors of the month.<\/p>\n By many standards we are no longer a Christian culture. \u201cPost-Christian\u201d is not a construct to be regarded abstractly, even against cultural shifts as consequential as Medievalism to the Renaissance, or Neoclassicism to the Romantic Era. It is the result of the seductive slide from Modernism to Post-Modernism to whatever our current state of intellectual and moral anarchy ought to be called. The West, and much of the world, has been moored and sustained by the tenets of Biblical morality and, especially, Christianity, for millennia.<\/p>\n Disruption was always threatened, and the defense of morals, ethics, law, art, and liberty not only resisted corruption but strengthened the ethos. Heresies, however, morphed into political poisons like Socialism and Communism. Doubt begat regression and relativism. Self-indulgence \u2013 as promised by history\u2019s inexorable cycles \u2013 brings self-destruction.<\/p>\n The nexus might be in these very days, the cultural equivalent of particle acceleration. Portions of society have been shedding traditional morality; capitalism has given way to the welfare mentality; things as basic as a person\u2019s sex and a family\u2019s security are not just questioned but demonized. People call wrong right, and right wrong\u2026 as the Bible predicted.<\/p>\n We know we are<\/em> at a rare moment in history when this cultural rot subsists not in isolated pockets of society, but in the platform, promises, and practices of a major political party (or, eventually, both of them). And dissenters who once were stewards of universal values are lectured about \u201cunity\u201d \u2013 which means uniformity. Once again, by history\u2019s example, lecturing quickly becomes coercion, then repression, then oppression. We already hear calls from the victors for \u201cre-education centers\u201d for those needing to be punished for having ideals and beliefs.<\/p>\n Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world<\/em>, we are told in Romans 12:2.<\/p>\n Every word is important: \u201cPattern\u201d reminds us that the evil that men do right now is not random, and is roaming about seeking whom to devour. The devil has a plan as surely as God does. And \u201cconform any longer\u201d illuminates what has happened to us, but encourages us to recognize the freedom we have to break that bondage of darkness and sin.<\/p>\n The next part of the verse makes sure we are not left wanting in this admonition: But be transformed by the renewing of your mind<\/em>.<\/p>\n This is our \u201cGet out of jail free\u201d card. In Christ we are new creations. We can render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar\u2019s\u2026 but those things do not include our souls.<\/p>\n Where do we go from here? We stop conforming \u2013 to the cultural rot all around us. We defend our faith, our families, our future \u2013 they are in the balance. We commit to deflect the slings and arrows \u2013 putting on the whole armor of God \u2013 and realize that our mortal enemies might be in our very neighborhoods and favorite entertainments.<\/p>\n Do not conform, but be transformed. Reject the pattern of this world; renew your mind! And test the spirits of \u201cunity\u201d \u2013 unify with abortionists, idolaters, and secularists? God forbid!<\/p>\n + + +<\/p>\n