We Are Here For a Reason
I mean that both in the metaphysical way and in the sense that this national election portends. The Democrat majority in the congress and the Democrat presidency are the fruit of things that have been done, and not been done, by Conservatives while they held the reins of power.
There are many good things about Barack Obama: he’s an eloquent and charismatic speaker that captures the imagination of people, and he is the first African American to become president. That last fact is not a small one. So many protested that this campaign was not about race. It was very much about race, but in the best way possible. I think a black president does something very important, which is, it puts the nail in the coffin of ideas that blacks are not represented in this nation and the victim viewpoint of race politics. It won’t disappear overnight, but I think we’ve heard the death knell on that.
That said, those of us with life values, dignity values, freedom values, who want to see the nation strengthened, are in for it. Malkin said, “What do we do now? We do what we’ve always done.” That’s putting a brave face on things. I don’t think we will do what we have always done. I think we need to take account of the lay of the land, now. This election represents a very different set of challenges. No, I don’t think we will do as we’ve always done, because I don’t think we can- or should. We’ve been mighty ineffective over the last decade or so that we have had a conservative power base in the government. And the problem is us, not President Bush.
My hope is that Obama is as idealistic as he has seemed to be. There a sliver of hope in the idea that he really does want things to become better for the American people. In that hope, there is room for the possibility that he, himself, will change as the weight of the mantle of power settles upon his shoulders.
In the meantime, we need to understand our own reason for being. There is a mandate for us, in that.
4 Responses to “We Are Here For a Reason”
Leave a Reply
Search This
Bits N Pieces
Diamond Dust
Doing the Government Math
“Government, on the other hand, takes One Dollar, and redistributes something less than one dollar, as it must pay the costs to keep the bureaucracy running. In other words, one dollar investment results in less than a dollar’s worth of benefit.” - Ocean Guy Why government as a business is a losing proposition.
0Whatsoever is lovely, whatsoever is of good report...
“Do you look for mistakes, and get rid of them? Or do you look for good stuff to hold on to?” What I’ve come to understand in the years since, is that editing by fault-finding traps you into what you already know, so is an impediment to discovery and advancement.Which the Bible puts another way: 0
Yiddish Proverb
0Powered by Wordpress | Designed by ElegantThemes
I think we will need to learn what we should have known all along – that we cannot depend on government to do what the church is called to so.
Yes, we should try to pass laws which protect the innocent and promote justice. But while laws can constrain, they cannot transform. That is a job for the Gospel and we are the bearers of that good news.
Do you think God has had a deliberate hand in this? That we are being firmly directed to change our focus?
My personal opinion is that no, this is not a deliberate act of God. However, I also think we have no way of knowing what God permits versus what he causes. In the end, how we conduct ourselves should be the same regardless.
That said, I do believe that God uses all things – good and bad – to “change our focus”.
I wonder… – and this is a whole ‘nother discussion entirely – if you are Arminian can you reconcile God causing stuff to happen as part of his judgment? Stuff like determining outcomes of elections or having people fly into buildings. (and by “you” I don’t mean you specifically) This is kind of a hijack of the thread so please don’t feel a compulsion to respond. It’s just the kinds of things I wonder about.
I don’t seem to come in clearly on either side, Arminian or Calvinist- although it is clear that God clearly delineates freewill in man.
But whenever the discussion comes to this sort of point I see the strong forces of God’s grace as well as His instituted consequences. In this question “we are being firmly directed to change our focus?” is the idea that we have gone so far down a certain path that God intervenes to make the choices clear. He didn’t have to give quails in the desert… but He did. And there was an eternal lesson in that event.
I believe God can and does certainly cause things to happen. Yet, you bring two very different scenarios- I think determining an election of a leader (who chooses the leaders ultimately? God or us?) and 911 terrorist airplanes are two different things. In the second you are asking whether God causes men to do evil. I don’t believe that he does, or that He can, given His nature. He can allow it, but our belief that He is good maintains that we know that it is restricted in scope to only result in what is good.
The “problem of pain” idea: it hurts to be burnt, but it is for our good if we learn to keep our hand out of the fire.
“I also think we have no way of knowing what God permits versus what he causes”
Well, there is the Holy Spirit with us. we can know some things, we just can’t control access to knowing everything accurately.
But getting back to the idea… do you think that Christians, now, are more ready to use their own tools and mandates for a better fate for humanity? we have been very politically focused this past decade or more. Are we ready to share the gospel more fervently? Or is something else going on?