Wisdom's Children in a Time of Confusion

Today's reading: 

• But wisdom is proved right by all her children. - Luke 7:35 NIV

Thoughts:

Is there room for diversity in the family of God? Jesus says there is. 

Not just diversity of race. Not just diversity of the sexes. Not just diversity of culture. Jesus says there is room for diversity of personality and lifestyles, behaviors and choices.

Jesus compared insults directed towards John the Baptist with insults directed towards himself. Because John rejected earthly comforts to such an extreme, he was accused of being demon-possessed. Because Jesus sometimes embraced earthly comforts (and probably even more because he sometimes enjoyed them with misfits), he was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard -- basically, a party animal and hedonist.

Both Jesus and the Baptist focused intensely on pointing people to God. And while those who didn’t really know God rejected and insulted them both, Jesus said that they were both children of Wisdom. Despite their differences.

Fast forward through history... to Trump.

Ever since Trump entered the Republican primaries, Christians have been divided about our response to his candidacy. I was a Never Trump-er. Obviously, many others disagreed with me, including people I cherish and respect. Donald Trump is now our President. And believers supported him strongly in the general election, despite his many and obvious character flaws.

From my perspective as a Never Trump-er, his presidency has gone both far better than I expected (some of his policies/results) AND just as badly as expected (his lies and methods and vitriol). I am still concerned -- daily -- about how President Trump’s flawed character will impact the earthly country I call my home.

But I am more concerned about Jesus’ bride, the church, the children of Wisdom. We seem to have forgotten that Wisdom is proved right by all of us, despite our diverse choices and perspectives. At least, within limits. The limits are what we’re debating.

In December 2019, Mark Galli of Christianity Today wrote an article entitled Trump Should Be Removed from Office. This sparked quite the backlash from Evangelicals who either supported President Trump or at least had doubts that his actions deserved impeachment. Galli took the position that Trump should be removed “by the Senate or by popular vote next election”. President Trump was not removed by the Senate. We have yet to see how the election turns out, but he’s doing well in the primaries.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw several articles circulating among my social media circles. First came an article by Andrew T. Walker, an Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS. Full disclosure: this is where I graduated with my M.Div. while joining the membership of a local Southern Baptist church, though Walker was not on the faculty while I was there). Walker’s article explored the various reasons why 81% of fellow religious conservatives voted for Trump in 2016. He had been in the Never Trump camp. But after the election Walker had come to understand (and pleaded with readers to understand) that it was overly simplistic to explain the strong evangelical support for President Trump by painting the religious conservatives who voted for him as racists, nativists, and nationalists. He expressed clearly that he could not defend any of the President’s immoral and sinful behaviors. In fact, he said that Christians who were doing so on cable news represented “the worst of religious conservatism”. He appealed to religious conservatives to maintain their integrity by holding President Trump accountable for lies and abuses, even if they voted for him again in 2020. I found myself appreciating Walker’s willingness to defend his evangelical family, even though he clearly has a hard time stomaching President Trump. I believe his article set a great example of what it looks like for Christians to recognize that wisdom is proved right by all her children. Though he had not voted for Trump, he could see reasons why other believers did. In fact, it sounded as though he might become a “Reluctant Trump” voter this time around.

In response to Walker’s article, Skye Jethani wrote an article challenging the notion that evangelicals--especially white evangelicals--voted for Trump reluctantly and had no other choice (again, full disclosure: Jethani is ordained by the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the denomination that supported my parents as missionaries in West Africa while I was growing up). I appreciated Jethani’s call to remember that believers are not trapped into voting for any earthly political party, even when major moral issues like the humanity of the unborn are part of one party’s platform but not another’s. I was encouraged by statistics he shared via David French that mark the decline of abortions to levels lower than at any time since Roe v. Wade. Jethani summarized and supported John Fea’s thesis that “white evangelicals did not pick Trump in spite of his character but because of it” (italics original to Jethani, I haven't had a chance to read Fea yet). He chided white evangelicals for this reasoning and, if he is correct, they deserve to be rebuked. He cited statistics from the Southern Baptist Convention’s research team at Lifeway that he believes support his position. Jethani pointed out that evangelicals could be making other choices even now, such as joining his former colleague Galli’s call to support Trump’s impeachment. And Jethani made a compelling argument that believers should not support candidates (in this case, Trump) who provide short-term wins at the cost of “systemic, institutional, and constitutional damage… which will have ramifications for decades”.

After reviewing the Lifeway statistics that Jethani cited, I believe that they actually support Walker’s position better than Jethani’s (if you care to know why, feel free to ask me). In other words, I'm not convinced that most white evangelicals picked Trump because of his character, which is Jethani's conviction.

But for now, that’s not the point. The point is that both Jethani and Walker are children of God displaying the wisdom of God, even though they seem to be at odds with each other. Both of them clearly call Christians to follow Jesus over any political party. Both of them clearly rebuke Christians who defend Trump’s corrupt speech and behavior (especially if those same Christians would have rebuked a Democrat for the behaviors they defend in Trump). They differ as to how catastrophic Trump’s presidency has been and will be, but want the same things out of Christians:

• Put Jesus first.
• Don't ignore inconvenient truths, and definitely don't whitewash them.
• Walk with integrity.
• Hold fellow believers accountable.
• If you're going to hold politicians accountable to high moral standards, then do so even when they're on your political team.

Walker was willing to give white evangelicals more benefit of the doubt than Jethani. But this same wisdom was flowing from both brothers. Both were issuing a warning in line with God’s word to Isaiah, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isa. 5:20).

So if wisdom is proved right by all God’s children, does that mean anything goes for believers?

No.

Another article I read shared news of a more alarming public dispute. According to Bonnie Christian, a small (but powerful and vocal) group of Southern Baptist leaders is trying to have Russell Moore removed from being president of their Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). For what? For criticizing President Trump. I do not know Russell Moore personally, but when I attended SBTS it became clear that he is the kind of man who is in the habit of being as faithful to Jesus and to the Bible as he knows how to be.

Let's go back to the concept we started with: Wisdom is proved right by all her children.

That’s harder to see here. If Bonnie Christian’s article is correct, a small group of Southern Baptist pastors and leaders is attacking Russell Moore for being faithful. If she’s correct, they’re calling Trump’s visibly and audibly horrible character (Luke 6:45) good, and they’re calling Moore’s visibly and audibly good character evil. For what? For daring to comment on their chosen politician’s flaws, even as he prays for the good of our President and our country. For doing exactly what they should be doing.

When we cross the line and start confusing good and evil, calling good ‘evil’ and evil ‘good’, we have stepped outside the bounds of wisdom. We may still be God’s children, thanks to the outlandish grace we receive through Jesus. And we may still display God’s wisdom in other areas of our lives. But in whatever areas we call good ‘evil’ and evil ‘good’, we display folly. Not wisdom.

So to the extent that these spiritual leaders continue to promote Jesus as the one true God and hope in people’s lives, they are acting in wisdom. To the extent that they gloss over our President’s public disrespect for humans made in God’s image, they are not acting in wisdom. To the extent that they challenge Jesus’ people to seek God’s guidance in their voting and to trust Jesus with the results, they are acting in wisdom. To the extent that they oppose and persecute brothers and sisters whose faithfulness to truth threatens their own access to political power, they are not acting in wisdom. To the extent that they humbly confess their sins and seek God’s grace, they are acting in wisdom.

I hope and pray that Bonnie Christian is mistaken. But if she is right, we need to pray for these men the same thing we pray for ourselves. May we all call evil ‘evil’. May we call good ‘good’. May we know the difference because we have been redeemed by Jesus and have received his Spirit. May we be charitable towards one another as followers of Jesus, trusting that wisdom can be proved right both through brothers and sisters who voted for Trump and through brothers and sisters who voted against him. May we trust that Jesus can redeem both Republicans and Democrats. May we trust that God will do good through people who aren’t good, and may we trust that Jesus will do good through fellow believers even if we disagree with them.

Politics - Joe Biden

I have never really researched politicians and the issues for which they stand... until now. I hope to investigate all of the presidential hopefuls, both Democratic and Republican, in the order in which they are listed on msnbc.com. And I am beginning with Joe Biden.

Senator Biden was born in 1942, making him about 65 years old. He looks lively enough. He seems to care about family. He is a Democrat. The issues addressed on his website are Iraq; Afghanistan and Darfur; Energy; Jobs; Health Care; Access to Higher Education; Preparing for College; Homeland Security; Crime; and Climate Change.

With regard to Iraq, Senator Biden believes that Iraq should be federalized. By this he means that the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds should be bound together in matters of common Iraqi interest, such as border security and the distribution of oil revenues. But the Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis should be given "breathing room" in their own regions. It sounds as though he wants to create some kind of sub-states within the country in which each group is free to govern itself for the most part. He wants to continue financial support and leave enough troops behind to keep the different groups "honest" with each other, and he wants the financial support to be tied to expectations such as fairness toward minority groups.

Senator Biden wants to increase our troop levels in Afghanistan and Darfur to help squelch the increase in genocide, Taliban, Al Qaeda, warlords and drug traffickers. He wants international agreement and cooperation in putting things to right in this rapidly deteriorating region.

With regard to energy, Senator Biden sees it as key to our foreign and economic policies. So long as we are dependent on either hostile or unstable nations for our energy, we will be funding activists with whom we disagree and weakened in our own ability to produce goods. His goal is to increase fuel efficiency and the use of live fuels/renewable energy, and also to invest heavily in research that would help us to do even better in energy production and efficiency.

Senator Biden hopes to spur job growth through both energy security (described above) and health reform, which is currently costing our greatest companies as much as they make in profits (or will be by 2008, according to his website, joebiden.com).

What he wants to do with health care is to contain its growing costs and provide health care access to the 47 million Americans who do not have health insurance. To contain the costs, he wants to modernize the system, simplify the system, and reduce errors. To provide access to uninsured Americans, he wants to expand insurance for children, relieve families and businesses of the expenses of catastrophic cases, and use data from states that have been pursuing innovative possibilities to help the nation determine the best course of action.

As to education, Senator Biden is eager to help all Americans have access to higher education in colleges. He wants to increase tax deductions for tuition payments, expand Pell grants to cover the average tuition costs of public colleges for low-income students, and provide public service jobs designed to help high school students begin working toward and saving for school. He also wants to invest in making the school years prior to college more profitable for students.

Senator Biden believes homeland security needs aggressive restructuring, and to do that, needs significant finances. To get those finances, he wants to "take back" one year's worth of tax cuts for people who make $1 million or more per year, then put those funds in a trust fund to provide the necessary finances.

In dealing with crime, Biden's main goal is to restore the $2 billion worth of funding that has been cut from state and local law enforcement.

In dealing with climate control, Senator Biden wants the United States to take significant steps toward being the world leader in resolving global warming. He also wants us to seek a treaty with developing nations, after setting an example for them, that will encourage them to downgrade their emissions, too.

Senator Biden's website does not mention his views on such issues as abortion and stem cells, but I was able to find some of his thoughts at http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Joe_Biden.htm. He is against publicly funding it, supports the partial-birth abortion ban but not undoing Roe, believes that life begins at conception, there is a constitutional right to privacy, voted to expand research to more stem-cell lines, voted not to notify parents of MINORS who got out of state abortions, voted to reduce teen pregnancy by educations and CONTRACEPTIVES, thought it was not a crime to harm a fetus while conducting other crimes, said there should be no ban on military base abortions, voted to ban partial birth abortions, and voted against banning human cloning.

It looks to me as though Senator Biden's website has some good thoughts to consider, including his thoughts on Iraq (though I hope he would be wise enough to establish a good system for evaluating when it is actually safe for Iraq for the USA to withdraw troops-his desire to send troops to Afghanistan indicates that he is willing to send troops where they are needed). However, the issues that are most clearly moral are not readily addressed, and I wish they were. After researching his views on abortion and stem cells, he makes me nervous. Some good thoughts, and I will have to think more about his various opinions after comparing them to what other politicians think.