Conservatives or Liberals - Who are the Real Christians?

I just finished reading Anne Lamott's "Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace", which is a wonderful collection of essays about unexpected sightings of God's work in the world. But there was one thing that seemed less than gracious in this book on grace. Lamott is a liberal Democrat and she speaks often about the evil policies of conservatives, Republicans and Tea Parties. She takes the last four Republican Presidencies as personal affronts. This is because Republicans are warmongers who manufacture false evidence to start conflict for their own nefarious gain. Greedy Republicans steal food off the tables of the poor. Sure, Republicans call themselves "Christians" but that's to hide their hypocrisy.

On the other hand, I just read something quite different on the conservative website, Ricochet. Someone put up a post about making the social faux pas of admitting he was a Republican at a party where most everyone was a Democrat. He said he suddenly felt all eyes upon him as if he were a space alien. The post was fine, but the responses were something else. People asked why he would want to spend any time with liberals with Democrats, because such people are either stupid or evil or both. They support abortion which is another word for baby killing. Their policies have torn apart families, particularly in urban and minority communities. And liberals are leading a war on religion, trying to drive Christians back into the catacombs.

Reading Lamott's work, I'd think she really loves Jesus. And many conservatives I've known, who've lamented the evils of liberalism (another word for "secular humanism") claim to love Jesus as well.  But how can both Conservatives and Liberals be Christians, when apparently one or the other is quite evil?

Gay Marriage is the most obvious dividing line now between conservative "Christians" and liberal "Christians". Those who believe in Same Sex Marriage deny the clear teaching of teaching of Scripture and the tradition of the Church in a vain pursuit to be loved by the world. Those who oppose Same Sex Marriage are bigots who have no love or understanding for those who differ from themselves (especially those who are oppressed or marginalized).

It's all quite discouraging.

But I was encouraged by reading the Book of Philemon. It's only a chapter long, so if your time is so constrained that you must choose between reading this post or Paul's epistle, than go to Biblegateway.com now! Philemon deals with an issue that divided the church for most of its history. It was a particularly divisive issue in America in the 1800's. There were Christians who argued from Scripture for the abolition of slavery and Christians who argued for the institution of slavery from Scripture. I think it's fair to say that there is a consensus in the Church today that slavery is a very bad thing. It's an evil thing. So were the people who believed in slavery really Christians? Were they evil?

This is why I found Philemon very encouraging. The Apostle wrote this letter to a man named Philemon and Philemon was a slave owner. So was Philemon an evil man? How could he have possibly been a Christian? This is what Paul wrote to Philemon the slave owner: "I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus." And this: "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people."

Paul treats the slave owner Philemon with civility, grace, love and respect as he tries to persuade Philemon to free his slave, Onesimus. Paul doesn't command Philemon to free his slave ("but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary") but uses every other means at his disposal, including logic, Scripture, guilt trips and the calling in of favors ("not to mention that you owe me your very self").

In this short book, Paul took on one of the most divisive issues in the history of the Church and treated someone "on the other side" of the argument with kindness and humility.

The political issues that divide us are important. Issues of war and peace, family and freedom, life and death are at the core of our faith. When we get to heaven, we'll have God's heart on these issues. We all think we would have been the ones who saw slavery for the evil that it is. We would have been right then and we certainly are the ones with the true views on issues today. But even if we think we're Paul and the other person is Philemon, let's attempt to have the graciousness of the Apostle Paul. Philemon may be wrong, but he's our brother.

Sloth – Rest’s Deleterious Doppelganger

Proverbs 26: 13 – “There’s a lion in the road; a fierce lion roaming the streets!”

You won’t find the phrase “Knock, Knock…Who’s there?” in the Bible. Chickens are mentioned in the Book, but there doesn’t seem to be any interest in the reasons for their travels. Light bulbs were not yet invented. This doesn’t mean there are no jokes in the Bible.

The sluggard saying, “There’s a lion in the streets!” is funny even a few thousand years after it was written. Sure, the joke might have been told differently in another age. In the era of Carson’s Tonight Show it might have been:

“This guy is so lazy…”

“How lazy was he?”

“He was so lazy, he wouldn’t leave the house for fear of shark attacks! Not many Jaws II fans here tonight.”

Okay, maybe not comic gold, but still kinda funny. 

Why do Biblical writers use this kind of material? Because some behaviors deserve mockery. Laziness is one of those behaviors.

“Sluggard” is a great word. Sure, we’re talking English here rather than the original Hebrew; but the image of a slug captures perfectly the slow motion ineptitude of a lazy person. The image of a sloth works pretty good as well. The image here in Proverbs is a guy so lazy that he won’t leave his house, perhaps won’t leave his bed, because of the lamest of excuses. “I can’t go out because… um…because there’s a lion in the street! Yeah, that’s the ticket!”

If Proverbs were written today, the lion might become zombies or an alien invasion. Perhaps, the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man in Ghostbuster proportions. Any lame excuse not to go to work or school or any other effort requiring location.

These days, one might get the impression sloth is no longer an issue. You ask people, “How ya doing?” and often the response is, “I’m so busy! Work, family, all my obligations, I just don’t have any time to spare!” To which we respond ,”Me too!”

Though, perhaps, there seems to be no time to spare, we still spare it. Why else would USA Today always be writing about people binge watching a season of Downton Abbey, The Walking Dead or Banshee over a weekend? Someone is taking the time to read those 50 Shades books. And beds are still very popular locations for stretches exceeding eight hours. Much time in our lives is still lost to sloth.

It is interesting that the writer of Proverbs uses a lion, because many sloths look to lions as immobile role models. A lion can sleep up to twenty hours a day. Is a lion a sloth? (Don’t say Yes or you’ll flunk your biology quiz.)

A lion may well sleep twenty hours in a day, but only after its taken care of its responsibilities. Its responsibilities pretty much consist of finding enough food to eat. If it can do that in four hours or less, its obligations are fulfilled. Most of our obligations are a little more expansive. We need to not just care for ourselves, but for others.

Rest is a valuable part of life, neglecting rest is a dangerous course in life. An analogy can be made to eating. An anorexic endangers his or her own life. A person who neglects proper rest does the same. But being a glutton is not healthy any more than being a sloth. We need that balance in life only God's Spirit can fully provide.

Sure, This Is a Tad Cheesy, But...

The Apostle Peter wrote, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." 

So whether weak or superpowered, you are Incredible in His sight.

One More Stupid Common TV Show Trivia Game and Then I'll Quit for the Month

What show do "The Wild, Wild, West"'s Robert Conrad and "Night Court"'s John Larroquette have in common?

What show do "Boardwalk Empire"'s Shea Whigham and "Gilmore Girls"' Chad Michael Murray have in common?

What show do "Silicon Valley"'s Martin Starr and "Cougar Town"'s Busy Phillips have in common?

What show do "Barney Miller"'s Ron Glass and "Homeland"'s Morena Baccarin have in common?

More Stupid TV Trivia - Can you guess the common show without Googling?

What show does Timothy Olyphant of "Justified" have in common with Anna Gunn of "Breaking Bad"?

What show does Tony Danza of "Who's the Boss?" have in common with Danny Devito of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"?

What show does George Clooney of "ER" have in common with Cloris Leachman of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"?

Stupid TV Trivia...What Show Do They Have in Common? Can you guess without Google?

1) What show does James Sikking of "Hill Street Blues" have in common with Neil Patrick Harris of "How I Met Your Mother"?

I Already Posted This At Facebook, but...

ACTUAL DREAM: I'm at an amusement park and see Foghorn Leghorn. I say to him, "Boy, I say Boy!" as Foghorn says in the cartoons. The guy playing the Loony Toons chicken takes off his costume head and it turns out he's African American. He starts lecturing me on making racist remarks and asks me to apologize to all the children in the vicinity.