I had the opportunity to visit a church in my new hometown. It was a wonderful service. And then.
At the end of the service the pastor decided to make a commentary on voting issues. "Which issues are the most important" he reported he had been asked. "Well, I think the most important issue is life. If you can't agree with me that LIFE is of the utmost importance, then we can't agree on anything." He then told us that because life was of the utmost importance, that the issue of abortion was the most important issue to him when voting. I agreed--that life is the utmost importance. This makes sense to me. And then.
The pastor proceeded to tell us that the second most important issue in this presidential campaign was the war against Islam. "America can not be safe with a president that would sit on his hands concerning the war against Islam!" Isn't it interesting that in the same moment that a person tells us LIFE is of the utmost importance, he proceeds to tell us of his support for a war. I do not believe he was suggesting we should have a pacifist mind-set when approaching the war against Islam. I am wondering if this pastor values all life, or only the life of the unborn? What about the lives of the women and children and other innocents in the countries where this war will take place? Goodness, what about the lives of the militant Islamists--those who would be our enemies--the very person Jesus told us to love?!!
We as Christians need to be different from the rest of the world. The world will do what it will do, but Christians should offer an alternative, aggressively pursue that alternative and teach others how to live in that alternative. How can we be an example to the world when we are living in it and behaving as it behaves. We are to come out from among them and be separate--not join them!
I also find it interesting that this pastor used fear rhetoric to persuade his congregation: "America can not be safe"--who ever said that Christianity was safe? But we need not fear this, or walk in fear because of this. Instead, we need to walk in love--we need to recognize the call of Jesus to love our enemies--love casts out all fear, after all. We are safe in a spiritual sense, and certainly we can be assured that God will ultimately take care of us. But we can not be guaranteed safety when we resort to fleshly means to secure and maintain that safety. This pastor aligned himself with the government of the United States in his statement, recognizing the desire of the citizens of the U.S. to be safe, rather than recognizing the call of Jesus to love our enemies.
I find it interesting that one week I write on this issue (see post below), and the next week it is placed in front of my face.
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2 comments:
Bethany,
I wish I could say that I am shocked by the stance from the pulpit, but I am not. My own church speaks about abortion and the sanctity of life, while supporting the war. But I would take this sanctity of life issue beyond the war to a deeper cause--- I feel the root is poverty.
The Bible references poverty issues 2000 times, yet we have become a society of consumers driven to succeed based upon monetary gain as sanctity of life. I see poverty, or the fear of, as a foundational issue for abortion.
With success comes status. People respond to situation by justifying their decisions to choose abortion such as: a parent pays for his/her 17-year-old daughter’s abortion, it is out of fear of status reduction and the potential for their daughter to not have a chance at life—one they worked so hard to obtain for her—college, career and the perfect picket-fence marriage, thus choosing an existing life and its potential over another not yet realized.
Or take the young woman who is just entering adulthood and finds herself in a “delicate” situation, and the father chooses to silently opt out. Understandably she chooses the path of least financial impact, barely able to pay her bills as it is—how can she possibly be expected to feed a child.
Both situations use rationalization to “stay the course.” Thank the Lord that Jesus rocked the boat… more specifically got out of the boat, and preached of the true root of life. We can’t walk on water, but we can change the course and steer toward a better understanding of today’s issues and their outward growth from a poverty base.
I se the campaign “Choose Life,” as an invitation to fight poverty!
As Tony Campolo outlined for us today in forum, it is a matter of The American Way vs. The Kingdom of God. We have work to do.
Thanks for starting this conversation.
Audra
Your connection of poverty with my posting on war (in the church) makes a lot of sense. Gandhi said that poverty is the worst kind of violence. You should read Walter Brueggeman's Peace. In chapter five he talks about the have's and the have-nots in the biblical idea of shalom. You might find it helpful to your interest in poverty.
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