The innermost lie

Each day I load up my Facebook homepage, and I see a growing cascade of frustration and anger roll down the page. My conservative friends and my liberal friends, seeing grave threats in the other, commenting harshly and posting links to their favorite bloggers/columnists/videos that impugn their target. Doom is spelled out, should the other win--and not simply because the other believes certain things, but because there is a moral imperative to victory, and an immorality to the other, to the point where anyone even speaking in defense of said other simply cannot have a conception of anything right, like someone who believes down is up and the moon is the center of the universe.

There have been a lot of concerned writings out there calling for a return to some sense of decorum, for people to return to a more civilized discourse; while I would certainly prefer that, that's not my point. My point here is to call the dichotomy we see in our world a lie: the man across the street with an opposing political sign in his yard, or who is attending a protest against what you want, or who is on TV running for office in opposition to your candidate, he is not your enemy. We look back on the past and scoff at how foolish people were, how they could endorse some of the hatreds humans held in the past, yet today we embrace all new hatreds and defend them with just as much fervor as before. We are able to consider each other evil, and therefore believe that other people are so below contempt that it would be better if they were dead. An exercise that might be helpful here is to consider the thoughts that pass through your head as you have conversations or read the news: who can you regard thusly? How are you able to justify in your mind speaking evil of other men, no matter how right you may consider yourself to be?

I contend that while humanity has discovered much of the wonders of the universe and amazing technologies that link our world together and let us do incredible things, the idea that humanity is somehow more advanced in its heart and mind than in centuries and millenia past is a conceit of the modern age, not true by any observable definition. Even the good things we do become excuses to embrace self-righteousness and attack others for not being as charitable as we are.

This manifests on a larger scale in the political battles going on, carried to a personal level through the reposting of articles, videos and images on social media that are designed to transform "the opponent" into "the enemy." The man who holds an opposing view is not to be contended with, to be engaged in reasoned debate. He is to be villainized and demeaned; find the worst, most awkward picture of him, put a snarky caption on it and your job is done: he is now beneath you. The question of what this does to one's heart raises, but being Right is more important.

Two passages always cross my mind when I see these things scroll by on my Facebook homepage no matter the political stripe. The first is perhaps the most obviously applicable, Ephesians 6:12: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." Paul is speaking to believers telling them to engage in life in the strength of the Lord and not their own strength. This verse, as is normal for the Bible, cuts two ways: it calls believers to rest in God knowing that He provides strength to engage the challenges we face. But just as much, it serves as a reminder that the men and women around us, no matter how belligerent, disagreeable or even dangerous, are not our enemies. The only thing separating us is grace, a grace which we are called to preach and walk in lovingly towards them.

And most important to remember, Paul was not writing to an audience of free Americans who can go or not go to a religious service of their choice. He lived, and died, in the Roman empire at a time when being a Christian didn't simply earn scornful Facebook remarks--it was likely to earn death. Paul is speaking to an audience of people who could have been arrested and murdered for their beliefs and telling them, "The man who comes to arrest you, the governor who sentences you, the executioner who picks up the axe or sword or opens the lion cage: pray for them, preach the Gospel to them, love them. All they can do is send you to Jesus, and there is no greater gain a man could ask for." And not one to live different from his preaching, Paul did the very same, as documented in Acts and his letters.

I have been blessed to be a part of a church that is not single-minded politically by any means, and having a campus in a college town like Denton and another in middle class Flower Mound helps that quite a bit. It brings a constant reminder that Jesus was not about political ends, nor did He come to endorse a platform for election. I think at all churches Christians need to remember this: your opponent is not your enemy. Your opponent is not who you are defeating, and no matter where you stand on an issue, no matter how close it is to your heart, your ultimate goal is to be able to speak the truth of the Gospel in love into his life.

The other passage is a little more complex as it relates to this, but I think it bears discussing:

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are being saved, both Jews and Greeks, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.--1 Corinthians 1:22-25

Paul sets up two camps, Jews--in a more global conception, religious types--and Greeks, Gentiles--those with a secular worldview. The religious root their wisdom in the idea of a deity who they are able to please, and therefore because they are able to perform the right acts and not perform the wrong ones, they feel justified. The Jews had the law and sought to live by it, though because our rebellious human nature is opposed to living in this way there was of course a system put in place to atone for sin, of which there was no end.

Those from the secular viewpoint seek to understand the world, believing that the power of man's mind and the understanding he can unlock of the world, there is an end to suffering and pain, a perfection that awaits all people arriving on the same page. Yet all attempts to reach this hit one huge roadblock: as broken people, we have no true conception of what such a thing looks like. Any system set up to try to enforce a particular image inevitably becomes tyrannical and murderous towards those who would point out its flaws, while systems like our own that seek to balance debate and allow people to pursue their own lives become targets for those who point out the injustice in letting the weak and helpless fall to their own fates.

And so, we arrive at Jesus, the power and wisdom of God. God gave the Jews their religious system, but laced throughout it was blatant images of what the Messiah would do when He came, how atonement would once and for all be wrought. But because Jesus came not as a conquering king but as a lamb led to slaughter, a man who was cursed and died accursed, he was a stumbling block for the religious, just as He is today. Whether 2000 years ago or in the present day, the religious demand a Messiah who will justify them as they are in their own righteousness, not call them to a deeper righteousness rooted in a faith that is itself a gift which cannot be earned.

And of course, the whole idea makes little sense to a man who is wholly earthly and irreligious in his views; the problem is error, the solution is correcting the error. But if the lens through which you look is broken, each correction simply leads to new error, ultimately leading to a state of being utterly and completely lost. It is only by the grace of God that a man who sees himself through that cracked lens is able to suddenly know the truth of the state of his heart: to see the sin piled up, the wrongs committed against others and against God, and yet in that moment to know that God reveals this for the purpose of calling him to Himself. That great love has cracked open so many hearts hardened by the world, puffed up by knowledge but not finding truth.

We look at each other, seeing the faults, knowing the wrongs and pointing to them, demanding correction while we excuse our own. We see the hypocrisy all around us, but try to hide our own. It is a part of the human condition; in John 21, even Peter reveals his willingness to run to this defense when speaking with Jesus:

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”--John 21:15-23

And again, in Galatians, Paul talks about how quickly Peter retreated into Jewish legalism for fear of how he was being seen by other Jews:

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”--Galatians 2:11-14

Each of us is called to be accountable to God for ourselves, for what he has given us as responsibility. We are not excused by the error of the world or of others, nor by our inability to perform up to par; indeed, it is that inability to live up to the standards of true righteousness that convicts us. However, we are justified by the Gospel, by the fact that Jesus died and absorbed the wrath of God for sin, and in believing and walking in that faith we are free to pursue God's call on us to the best of our ability. Our mistakes, our slips and struggles are not merely excused--they are covered up, and what is seen is the pure righteousness of Jesus Christ in our lives. We could ask for no better gift from God.

I close with a reminder that this is not a plea for a return to civility, for civility is nothing more than a covering of the lie within our hearts. This is a call to believe in the Gospel and be saved, to be truly free.