How lies are tearing us apart, and Ferguson is just a microcosm of why politics is not the answer.
Monty: We come now to the Big Deal section of the show, and before you are three liars. Each one lies at various rates and about various things, but each one is guaranteed to lie to about at least one thing. Remember, whichever one you choose will be in charge for the next four years, and you will have to suffer the penalty of whichever one you choose, so choose carefully. Got it?
Contestant: Yes, I got it!
Monty: So, here we go! Will it be Liar #1, Liar #2 or Liar #3?!
Contestant Liar #2, Monty!
Monty: Are you sure? Are you very sure?
Contestant: I’m sure, Monty! I’m sure! I choose Liar #2 to be in charge of my taxes, my privacy and sorts of other restrictions on my life for good or for bad for the next four years!
I haven’t said a whole lot about Ferguson, MO, and the violence, protests and acquittal of Office Darren Wilson. It’s not because it isn’t news — because it is. It isn’t because there isn’t racial discrimination — because there is. It isn’t because there isn’t disrespect of the law — because there is. The problem is: Which set of lies one is willing to believe?
It doesn’t help that it was preceded by the shooting of idiot John Crawford at an Ohio Walmart. The fact that there are people stupid enough to protest someone getting shot when they deserve it says it all. He waved a rifle around. I could care less if it were a water pistol. He pointed it at people and got shot. Justice was served.
People are no longer taught any respect, and respect of guns is paramount. Even as a ten year old, I understood that. I grew up with guns in the house, and they were never locked up. When I was really small, they were up high. When I was older, I was told to respect them, never point them at anyone unless I intended to use it, and never intend to use it unless it was to shoot to kill.
Crawford pointed a weapon at people, and he was killed. Justice was served. A threat to society was removed. End of story.
But, people are not taught respect any longer. People no longer respect respect even. I’ve been reading some back articles of Concretized Christianity lately, as it seems that the RSS feed has been kicking out some older articles on it lately. However, many of them have very similar themes to what I’ve been thinking about lately, but there is a common thread I want to draw out.
One article that kicked out was “Human Wheels“, which points out something I’ve personally witnessed in the Church:
I routinely see President Obama slammed by this group of people. Really?!? Have we forgotten that God says He puts leaders in their positions and that President Obama being there is the will of God, not the will of the American people (in case no one’s noticed, the American system of “election” is not based on the people’s votes, but on the states’ vote, so the people did not “elect” him, but God allowed the states to “elect” him)? So, in effect, when we criticize President Obama, we are criticizing God. I am routinely puzzled and chagrined that the body of so-called believers doesn’t seem to understand and remember this.
Seriously, the lack of respect, even within the Church, towards our leaders, but especially our President, is troubling. You don’t have to agree with him, and in fact I rarely can remember doing so myself. However, he is our leader, like it or not.
13 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
However, the lack of respect extends to all levels of our government from all levels of our society. In spite of that, some of us really want to respect our law enforcement agents. Some of us have the presence of mind to understand that if an officer of the law orders you to do something, you might be better off acting first and asking questions later. In fact, even in this day and age, some of us would question the sanity of anyone disobeying an officer without cause, let alone act or speak to one in a threatening way.
Still, while that might cause some to assume the officer is in the right, there are others who have unfortunately experienced a dark underbelly of law enforcement that does not go by the book or by the rules in any fashion and instead act as though their badge and their gun give them the rights of lordship over the citizenry. So, this other group assumes that the cop is automatically in the wrong.
So, it quickly degrades into “he said, she said”, and conflicting eyewitnesses are called out to give biased testimonies, and in the end it is just one set of lies pitted against the other set of lies. However, people still take sides because they assume various things and motives and think they are in the right when in fact they have absolutely no real clue.
In fact, anyone who says they know is lying to you and probably themselves. Without a dashcam, we will probably never really know, and all we are left with is speculation and lies.
It keeps bringing me back to the fact that now that midterm elections have passed and so has the subsequent Thanksgiving, a new presidential campaign will be underway before we know it. Now, many of us realize that we should not vote, but are we really secretly rooting for one side or the other? Do we still align ourselves more with one ideology over another? Because that is just as much a sin as voting.
I remember once that UCG ran an article that stated that most people vote for the lesser of two evils, but in so doing they are still voting for evil. That hasn’t changed, folks!
I read somewhere today, but I cannot now find it, that politics is much like a sports competition in this country where winning is all that matters. I really thought about that throughout the day, and it really explains a lot of things. Why do people who go into office seem to change? Perhaps they were just play acting in the first place, or perhaps it took them that long to buy into winning at all costs. Either way, they’ve “sold their soul”, metaphorically speaking, and they are hypocrites and liars.
Doesn’t that bother you? If you are rooting for one candidate over another, you have chosen to back Liar #2 over Liar #1, but you are still rooting for a liar.
The Concretized Christianity article went on to say:
Most of what I see from the body of so-called believers comes straight from Fox Opinion, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and that ilk of extremism. And it is disappointing, because I see people having bought lies hook, line, and sinker, and taking human opinions – Mark 7:6-13 – and making them their foundation of life and belief. I’ve always believed that if Christ had come today, He would be rejected by the very people who profess to follow Him and would be labelled (and I despise all human labels!) as a liberal. That’s exactly what the Pharisees said about Him. We diss the Pharisees on a regular basis and yet we cannot see ourselves in their reflections.
It’s sort of funny that I get blasted by the more conservatives for not being conservative enough and blasted by the more socialistic for not being socialist enough, but in the end, these are demonic ideologies of human beings who have failed to govern themselves for 6,000 years. Yet, even people in the Church have bought into this tripe to such a degree that makes me marvel at it.
I will say that Glenn Beck has said some things I’ve agreed with, but he has also said some pretty nutty things. I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh for a while, but he got so overboard on criticizing the Clintons on the smallest of matters that it annoyed me, in spite of the fact that President Bill Clinton did a lot to disgrace himself, his office and his country. It became downright senseless nitpicking, and that is even more disgraceful because it shows the small mind that is behind it.
And, what of the last crop of GOP candidates, anyhow? Weren’t they a bunch of real winners? I thought Jon Huntsman was an interesting candidate until he 1. Broke his promise to have a positive campaign, and 2. Blasted the GOP overall for being “anti-science” in relationship to evolution and climate change. Rick Santorum seemed a lot more promising, but he did seem a little erratic. However, when he became unhinged over a JFK speech (how long has he been dead, again?), his defeat seemed certain. Do we really need a president who is ready to throw up at a dissenting opinion, anyhow?
The point is that they were all fallible men and women. The next lot will all be fallible men and women. Oh, and if you believe they won’t be telling lies the whole time, I have a bridge to sell you.
In fact, therein lies the problem, no matter if it is dealing with class warfare or presidential campaigns, for the answer, the only answer this secular world can offer, is politics, which is inherently an act of competition and strife rather than cooperation for the common good. As long as that spirit of competition exists, there will be no justice and there will be no moving forward on long term social and economic goals for this society.
The competition and win at all costs mentality means lies will be told. Are we Christians supposed to put our faith in the lies of men or in the honesty of God?
Imagine a world without lies. There will still be problems, but by definition they will be honest ones. A murderer will accept the fate for his or her actions. A thief will be bound by an oath to repay what was stolen. An overbearing law enforcement officer will have to admit his bias and find better work. One who does not properly respect the law and its designated representatives can at least be dealt with justly. There will be no need to protest against an injustice because truth will come out and problems will be honestly dealt with. There will be no need to distrust the government for the same reasons.
Do we really understand how destructive lies are? Do we really understand how precious the truth really is? Do we really understand that the only answer and source of truth and justice is God’s Kingdom?
In short, you cannot have true justice without truth.
We have a two party system in the United States. We have the amoral vs the immoral. That is the real choice stripped of labels. One has no conscience and the other doesn’t care. Seriously, which of those would Christ back?