Hi, my name is Roger Buzby and I am a murderer. Not in the literal I-just-went-out-and-physically-killed-someone way but in the Matthew 5:21-26 sort of way. In other words, I have hate in my heart towards someone. A lot of someones actually. I find myself today in an epic struggle with not only my inner zombie, that is a daily struggle, but with God as well.
With the judgement handed down by the Supreme Court today on the Affordable Healthcare Act (aka Obamacare) the liberty of every American has been trampled into the dirt and our Constitution all but rendered of no consequence. To add insult to injury the Chief Justice himself, long thought by myself and many others to be a conservative, cast the deciding vote to uphold the law by declaring that the individual mandate was not, in fact, a mandate at all but could be considered a tax. This blatant attack on individual liberty has me almost literally foaming at the mouth. My zombie of course is happy with this and has been trying to get me to consider truly horrific ways to fight back. I am battling very hard within my mind not to dwell on these things, but it is hard.
I am reminded of another government that acted with blatant disregard for its citizens and ran roughshod over them first with taxes and then with martial law. The citizenry finally had enough and through a long and bloody struggle overthrew said government and established a new republic in it's place. The overthrown government was, as I'm sure you have figured out, the British Empire. Now we find our own government, the government designed to avoid this kind of tyranny, perpetrating the same injustices upon us and there is a part of me that longs for someone to sound the call and rally the troops to fight them. The question that is plaguing me now is, "Can I, as a Christian, partake in this kind of violent revolution when the cause seems so just?!".
My quandary lies in the fact that in longing for revolution I am holding hate in my heart towards those who are responsible for forcing this tyranny upon myself, my family and my fellow countrymen. According to Matthew 5:21-26 says that in doing this I am breaking the commandment not to kill because the intent of my heart is not in line with God's. My desire to see a revolution that will restore the liberties lost over the last 100+ years is in direct violation of God's command not to kill. Furthermore, Jesus goes even further in verse 38-42 of the same chapter in refuting the idea of an eye for an eye. He says not to resist an evil person but to turn the other cheek or go twice the distance commanded! There is a part of me that rails and this, that is outraged at the very notion of what seems to me to be being instructed to simply roll over and play dead. How can this be right?! How can this possibly be what God wants me to do when evil abounds and my rights and liberties are being trampled upon and stripped from me against my will?!!
Ultimately though God is in control. In Romans 9 Paul talks about the sovereignty of God. Romans 8:28 tells me that all things work for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. How do I know I love Him, I mean really love Him and not just say I do? Jesus said in John 14:15 that if we love him we will obey him. Wow, that's a hard teaching to follow. My zombie would have me ignore this and go right on looking for a way to take back my liberties, by force if necessary but I can't, not and truly be a Christian.
Does that mean I can't do anything? I don't think so. Our Founding Fathers put in place a system of government that gives us a way to exert control over our government in a non-violent way. The system has become corrupt and is severely broken but if enough people get involved and make their desires known via that system I believe we can turn this ship around. Of course God is ultimately in control. It is well within the realm of possibility that this is the beginning of the end and no amount of political involvement will be able to change this. In that case it is more important than ever that we obey the teachings of Jesus, even the ones that we don't like because ultimately that is how we will prove whether we genuinely love him.
"The system has become corrupt and is severely broken but if enough people get involved and make their desires known via that system I believe we can turn this ship around."
ReplyDeleteThat, right there, is the answer.
I adopted a cynical view of this for too long, and now I'm tired of that ridiculous defense via denial of our political system. It isn't a perfect system, but it is there and it has mechanisms in it for us to use.
How many angry people that you personally know have actually bothered to write their representatives or senators?
How many have had the potential or capability, but never bothered to work for government even at the local level?
It's easy to sit back and throw stones ... and ultimately do nothing. I ended up angering a slew of people by asking them simple questions: have you written your elected officials? Overwhelmingly the answer was typically "NO AND STOP TELLING ME TO WRITE!!!"
Uh... what? Again, I say WHAT?!
Here's the way it works:
1. We vote
2. Someone gets elected
3. If they aren't representing you, WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO PETITION, LOBBY, AND CORRESPOND! We have the RIGHT to go to their office in Washington and request a meeting. We have a RIGHT to request a meeting when they are local.
Here's how it doesn't work:
1. Complain
Yeah, there's no step 2 in that list.
But YOU know this. I know you do. I say this for anyone else reading this. I say this for you to copy/paste to respond to anyone who is a professional griper and a neophyte at corresponding with their elected officials.
Be angry! (In a good way.) Write your elected officials! Maybe you didn't vote for them, but that doesn't diminish your rights or ability to be heard.
Imagine the potential of a Church body united in a single message sent to their elected officials by email, telephone, and USPS mail... Whoa...
Conservatism has a face that no one recognizes any more.
ReplyDeleteI think by today's standards he did act "conservatively". No, not by the dictionary, nor by the way in which the Christian religious folk want "conservative" to be defined.
I believe he acted in a "conservative" fashion congruent with the interests of Big Companies. This decision ensures business for insurance companies. These companies help fund elections for, SURPRISE, Republican candidates.
The dotted-line is short and not too vague when you think about it that way.
It's not a great outcome. It's still far from socialism, but it's far from good.