Difficult topic in this election cycle

 

Abortion is a topic that brings out strong emotions with many people. It is a significant factor that many Christians consider when going to the polls. With the election 2 weeks away, it is helpful to understand the issues and since this is such a major issue, it should be discussed.

The Holy Post Podcast (Phil Visher from Veggie Tales and Skye Jethani) posted an informational video about abortion (see link below). Jethani correctly describes the history of abortion in the US, the downward trend in abortions in the US regardless of the party of the sitting president, and what the results would be if the unlikely, Roe vs Wade being overturned, would occur (spoiler alert: abortion would not be illegal in the US but become a state issue). Since most pro-life voters point to using fighting abortion, pro-life judges, and ultimately overturning RvW as their motivation in voting, Visher and Jethani’s video was created to show how that does not help in reducing abortions in America and thus, should not be the primary criteria for voting. In fact, some of the Democratic policies (universal health care and support for the poor) have shown a greater impact in reducing the number of abortions than the president.

As a response to this video, Andrew Walker, a professor that came to SBTS after my time there, wrote an article taking issue with some of the conclusions that were implied through the video (See link below). In pushing back, Walker sees abortion as a moral evil much like slavery is. Substituted the slavery into the logic used in the video, we would not be co willing to say that reducing slavery is acceptable when it is a moral evil. He goes on to say that Christians should fight with all we have to rid America of this morally repugnant practice. Fighting to reduce the number is great but making it illegal should be the ultimate goal.

Both of these posts help further the discussion on this contentious issue and I appreciate their civil discourse. These two perspectives also show the divide in our country’s believers and most fall into one or the other camp. To me, neither side is fully compelling. I agree with Visher and Jethani that using abortion as the only criteria is short-sighted and ignores many other important issues of the day. However, I reject that the sole goal in voting pro-life is to overturn RvW and even so, many would welcome the issue becoming a state by state fight instead of a national one. On the other side, I agree that abortion is a moral evil and should be fought but I find it troublesome to treat it as a “win at all costs” issue. This leads us to compromise on other principles just to possibly win eventually on this one. For example, voting third party is considered wrong because that takes votes away from the main candidate, which may cause a pro-choice candidate to win and that is unacceptable. I reject this approach as well.

So how do we fight abortion without compromising other biblical principles? I join others and take a middle ground approach. It rests on the idea that being pro-life is necessary but not sufficient to earn my vote. Abortion is a moral evil that needs to be made illegal as well as reducing the numbers. So being pro-life is required for me to support a candidate. However, it is not the only issue out there. There are many other issues that need to be discussed including character, racism, immigration, et al. Thus, a candidate must have other qualities for me to support them other than just being pro-life and if the main candidates do not have the qualities I am looking for in a candidate, voting for a third party is a viable solution, one that I have used and will use in the future.

Video by Holy Post

Andrew Walker's Response

Are we Prepared?

The other day, I was reminded of the story when Jesus cast a demon from a child as told in Mark’s Gospel. One of my favorite quotes that I have used as a prayer many times is the child’s father saying, “I believe. Help my unbelief.” That part that stuck in my head this time was Jesus’ answer to why his disciples could not drive it out, “This kind can come out only by prayer” and the fact that Mark does not record Jesus praying. The obvious conclusion is that Jesus had already spent time in prayer and because of that, was ready for what the day had in store.

A friend of mine wrote an article about taking time to “observe” and that we do not do that enough. I am not sure why that article reminded me of this statement from Jesus. Maybe because football has started and to be prepared, players need to watch game film and observe their opponents tendencies.

What struck me hard was that this is not my natural way of living. My whole life, I struggled with creating things on my own. I played sports growing up and I was always better at defense where you would react to what the offence did rather than create a play yourself. Even as a project manager, I was reacting to the task I was assigned. Since the possibilities of what could happen are endless, it is easier and more practical to react than to prepare for multiple situations.

With that in mind, one would think that if praying is all we need to do to prepare for what God will bring our way, that I would jump at the chance. Sadly, I have struggled with my prayer life my entire Christian life. When things are going well, I would forget to pray. When things were going bad, I would feel guilty for only praying when things are bad. Even when I did pray, it seemed like I spent more time with my checklist of prayer requests than on anything else. I saw very few answers to prayer and I had to convince myself of those.

What if we combined these two ideas: observe and pray?

What if our time with God each day was spent with “observing” God in the Bible, “observing” God’s face in praise, and then praying to God with thanksgiving and our requests?

Lord, help me to see you better in the Bible, in the world around me, and in my life so that I can praise you and pray to you more. Prepare me for what you have in store for me.

James: God’s call for Godly Living

Our men’s Bible Study looked at the book of James this week. The most common comment was that it was a “hard book”. Through the discussion, it did not seem that too many people liked it and they will be happy to move on from it. Personally, James has always resonated with me and I have enjoyed it over the years. While it has caused some controversy in the past, I see it as a clarion call for all believers today to be different from the world in our actions.

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

(James 1:19-22)

The book of James in the New Testament is one that stirs up different emotions as one reads it. As a practical book, it talks about the actions that believers take and how important they are to their faith and salvation. One the one hand, it seems to directly contradict the message that is given in Paul’s letters: people are saved through faith not by works (Eph 2:8-9). This causes confusion and even doubt about the message of not only this book but about the Bible in general. On the other hand, it calls followers of Christ to a much higher standard than most American Christians want. It literally says that when someone read the Bible, they are to “do what is says.” It even goes so far as saying that if someone is not showing their faith by what they do, they may not be saved.

The famous Reformer, Martin Luther, struggled with James because of the important that the author puts on works. At the time of Luther, the Church had many practices that over emphasized works of the believer to ensure their salvation. This was troubling for Luther when he taught on the letters of Paul. Luther saw the clear message of the Gospel saturating all of Paul’s writings. Grace comes freely from God and it is through this grace and through their faith that believers receive salvation. Good deeds have no part of the work of salvation. So when Luther read James and it says, “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not be faith alone.”, it is understandable that he would react strongly[1].

The key to understanding both James and Paul is in acknowledging the differences in their audiences. For Paul, he was writing to groups of believers that included both Jews and Gentiles. He also was pushing back on the prevalent thought that even Gentile believers needed to follow the Jewish laws and customs in order to show a changed heart. To combat that idea, Paul was emphasizing the fact that salvation is a work of God only and that humans only receive it by faith and not by anything we do. He would go further and say that since believers are saved through grace and not under the law, there is no requirement to follow the Jewish law. He was pushing against a works-based religion and proved that works according to the law were not needed.

James, on the other hand, was written to believing Jews. They had just come out of this works-based religion and were free of the requirements that had been part of their lives since birth. For them, this newly found freedom through Christ’s sacrifice was attractive. They knew that they were saved apart from the law and so what they did had no effect on their eternal destiny. This freedom, evidently by the words of James, caused them to neglect the parts of the law that showed God’s character and were universal in nature and not tied to the practices of the Jewish religion. Because of this background, James highlights that believers need to live out their faith in their actions. To him, a person that believes the Gospel (sin is bad, Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of the world, believers then respond by following Jesus) will live differently than the rest of the world and will show God’s character in how they treat others. Believers, then have a high expectations for their lives like the Jews did but the reason is different. It is not leading to salvation but it is as a result of salvation.

Looking at our Christian culture today, I see more similarities with the culture James was addressing rather than Paul.  There is always a danger of becoming legalistic that needs to be avoided. However, the world is not puling believers in a legalistic direction as they were with the Judaizers that Paul was confronting. Instead, there is constant temptation to slide into compromise and to not stand out as a Christian. One only needs to look at the string of Christian leaders whose actions show the lack of care in living differently for Christ. That is why being different for Christ is so critical today.

My father lived this out. His life was a testament to striving to apply one’s faith to one’s actions. He was not afraid to stand up for what was right and he suffered the consequences for the stances that he took multiple times. Seeing that example has inspired me to watch what I do. His often quoted this definition to me: “The fear of the Lord is the continual awareness that God is watching and weighing all of our thoughts, words, actions, and attitudes.” Because of his guidance and example, Biblical ethics has become a passion of mine as well and why James speaks to me so much. James is a harsh reality check that reminds us that God is telling believers that our lives are important and what we do does matter. It is almost like James read Paul’s letter to the Corinthians when he said “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”(I Corinthians 10:31) Today’s culture needs believers who are willing and able to show their faith in God through their actions.

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[1] While Luther struggles with James, he never suggests that it should be ignored nor removed from scripture.

Political Viewpoint _ Long Read

As with most people, my social media circles has people from various stages in my life. Because of that, I have people from very different places on the political spectrum. In the past few years, I have disagreed with both people on the left and on the right. Ironically, both sides assumed that I was opposite of them on everything simply because I disagreed with them on an issue or a few issues. During this time, I have posted articles that I mostly agreed with and “stalked” other people’s posts and only commented when I felt they went too far. My default is to react to others rather than be proactive (that is why I was much better at defense in sports than offense). Since I have some time on my hands, I wanted to express my opinion more completely and on my own terms rather than just reacting to others posts. I feel like the chorus from the song “Stuck in the Middle with You”: “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, Here I am stuck in the middle with you.” I guess I am just a jester/fool in the middle, neither a clown nor a joker. I would rather be called a fool and stand by my convictions than be thought wise and compromise.

Problems with the Right:

My position has been and always will be that character matters when it comes to our leaders. That was a lesson that I learned from both my father and my father-in-law: treat others with respect, help others regardless if they “deserve it” or not (because they deserve it as much as or more than we do), and work hard in everything you do. While there are many other character qualities that are important, there is a basic line that needs to be obtained in these basic qualities in order for one to be considered for leadership. In my lifetime, there have been three Presidents that in my eyes have failed this test: Nixon (not that I remember much from then), Clinton, and Trump.

Unfortunately, many of my evangelical friends have tossed out the character issue for a more pragmatic approach to political debate. While many in the ’90s said (and ironically still say it) that character matters, it does not matter enough to make a stand when it would hurt politically.. I have heard that “we are in a war for our nation”, “leadership is a character trait”, “look at all he has done”, “he has endured so many attacks from the other side and still has done so much”, “we are not voting for a pastor but a president”, “We do not like his character either but...”, and others. Every one of those reasons are based upon the same premise: the character of our leader does not matter as much as their ability to accomplish what we want them to. In other words, the “character” test that was applied to Clinton can be ignored when it comes to our political allies.

As a Christian, this saddens me greatly to see so many abandon basic decency for pragmatic “short-term” wins in the political arena. Not only that, but I am hearing more and more that people who stood on their convictions before are setting them aside for political expediency in the upcoming election. This last week, the president of the seminary I attended just came out saying he was going to vote for Trump in November due to the policy stance and behavior of the democrats and he felt that voting a third party is wasting his vote. While I respect him and his stance on many issues, this was vastly disappointing. In 2016, he said “When it comes to Donald Trump, evangelicals are going to have to ask the huge question, ‘Is it worth destroying our moral credibility to support someone who is beneath the baseline level of human decency for anyone who should deserve our vote?’” He went on to say this:

“Can we put up with someone and can we offer them our vote and support when we know that person not only sounds like what he presumes and presents as a playboy, but as a sexual predator? This is so far over the line that I think we have to recognize we wouldn’t want this person as our next door neighbor, much less as the inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And long term I’m afraid people are going to remember evangelicals in this election for supporting the unsupportable and defending the absolutely indefensible.”

It is hard to see anything in President Trump’s actions in the last 4 years that would change one’s perspective on this matter regardless of what his opposition has done. I have not heard that he has addressed these comments in light of his previously recorded statements about the president.

Most of the criticism of the president comes from those on the political left and so they attack his policies. I am a conservative and my perspective is a bit different. As far as what he has done for the religious right, he has done many things that I agree with from a political perspective: His appointments for judges have been consistent with a constructionist legal perspective and supporting pro-life arguments; his undoing of many of the Executive Orders that President Obama used to bypass the legislature and enact some of his agenda; and wanting Congress to change current immigration laws to be more workable are just some examples of positive actions he has done. On the other hand, he is not a conservative and so his expansive budget, his used of tariffs, his method of enforcing immigration laws, and his consistent inability to speak the truth when his ego is involved are just some examples of actions that the Republicans have typically been against in the past but support because their man, Trump, is in charge.

My one question to those that support him is this: Do we need to take all that baggage that he brings to achieve these victories? Absolutely not. Besides, the methods that he uses to achieve these wins is childish, mean, arrogant and insulting. His managing style would never be used as a positive example in any reputable business school and the way he treats those under him swings from flowing hyperbolic flattery to ugly attacks and personal insults. It is no wonder that turnover is so high in his administration. This behavior is not acceptable in the normal business world and it should not be accepted in our political leaders either.

Problems with the Left:

While there are serious problems on the political right, the left has its fair share as well. Because I am a conservative, I will not address the political differences that I have with those on the political left. That list is quite large. Instead, I will highlight a few areas where those on the left have bent over backwards to turn actions other presidents have done into attacks on the current president.

Quite a few years before my dad passed away, he had a conversation with someone talking about Journalism schools. At the time, a dean of a prominent school said that over 90% of all the professors of Journalism schools were democrats. A truth a few years ago has blossomed into the mainstream media (MSM) loosing all credibility because of their bias against the political right and President Trump. The latest example is the way the MSM is treating the (more) credible accusations against Biden compared to the accusations against Judge Kavanaugh. Someone did a comparison of CNN’s coverage of the stories. The day the accusations against Kavanaugh came out, CNN did multiple stories and in three weeks, they had done 700. Compare that to the fact that three weeks after the accusations against Biden came out, CNN had not done a single article and it is clear the statement they are trying to make. The NYT editor even justified their bias reporting and even changing a headline because the Biden campaign asked them to. He said that they want to give all the information so that their readers can make their own decisions except for when they [The New York Times] need to make a judgment. In other words, they will report the news as long as it agrees with their perspective. Then, they cannot be relied to give the basic facts. While the MSM is counted on to ask difficult questions, their antagonism for anything the president does or says taints any questions they ask and articles they produce because of their own bias and agenda.

The Democrats in Congress are also showing themselves unable to keep from distorting facts and spinning quotes intending to inflict political harm on the president. While the presidents actions are childish, they never rose to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors” and required him to be thrown out of office. The manner the House hearings were held was pathetically partisan and unfair and the rhetoric that has come against the president at times is ludicrous.

Stuck in the Middle:

If anyone has read this far, I am pretty sure I have offended everyone by something I have said. I know that I am in a VERY small minority that does not support President Trump but agrees that he should not have been impeached. I believe that we should enforce immigration laws and work to make them more viable but I also feel that some path can be carved out for those currently here to be treated humanely without destroying their families. I also believe, to paraphrase Lord Acton, Power corrupts, but political power corrupts absolutely. Our political landscape has turned from fighting for what is best for America into fighting to regain/retain political power even to the point of compromising on the basic tenets of the ideology each side claims to represent. I would love to see a third party of Common Sense arise. The current two party system is broken and the parties are drifting farther and farther apart: the Democrats are going more left and the Republicans are going like they are “three sheets to the wind” (my favorite idiom); not knowing what their foundation should be.

Thankfully, my hope is not in the political system. my hope is in the person of Jesus Christ. Thus, while I understand we are to fight to bring God’s truths to bear here on earth, I feel it is a poor trade to vote on the basis of achieving your agenda for making a stand and preserving your witness. Political gains are fleeting and temporary. Your Christian witness is more significant and besides, we are commanded by God to pay attention to it.