Screwtape on 2016 Election

Oh, so pertinent for the 2016 election cycle!   From The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (Imaginary letters from a senior demon - Screwtape -to a protege tempter - Wormwood)

The Measure

When a candidate becomes the measure of our values, rather than our values the measure of a candidate ...

We lose our witness.

       ~Jim Wright at  Plumbline Faith

2016: A Good Year to Read "City of God"

Last week I posted Augustine Still Matters quoting from 8 Things We Can Learn From St. Augustine by Gerald Bray, Here's another reason why that is true - Reading Augustine In An Election Year by Russell Moore

Election years tend to drive some Christians crazy. This year promises to be especially tumultuous.

The world seems not more sinful in 2016 but more obviously precarious. Many note that this year feels different, as though what faces us isn’t just the possibility of culture wars but of even existential collapse. The question isn’t just which vision for America is best but rather whether democratic self-government is still possible. Many American Christians foresee an election year in which what confronts us isn’t so much choosing the lesser of two evils as much as facing a political culture in which both sides have chosen evil. That’s why I would argue that this is a good year for American Christians to revisit Augustine’s City of God.

I say this not because I believe the American order is about to go the way of the Roman Empire. That’s certainly possible, of course. Still, despite the disorder and decadence around us, I retain more optimism about the resilience of American democratic institutions than do even many of my friends and allies. I think City of God is especially relevant now because it can remind us who we are, and where we’re going. 

To be sure, the book is not light reading, even in its abridged versions. It takes a panoramic view of all human history from the vantage point of both heaven and earth. That’s no small task. The complexity and ambition of the book could cause us to ignore it. But that would be a mistake.

Different Sort of Reign 

City of God is essentially a defense of Christianity from the prosperity gospel. Rome believed its piety—a cult of devotion to a pantheon of gods—protected its place in the world. Pagans could now say Rome’s fall was the result of Christianity. This strange new religion took the empire away from her traditional gods, and the result was calamity. The second implication, though, is one Christians could be tempted to believe. If Rome—the most powerful empire in world history—could fall, then how can we trust something that seems exponentially more fragile? In other words, what hope is there for the church?

Augustine attacks both pagan and Christian prosperity theologies with eschatology—a vision of the city of God as a pilgrim community formed by a distinct set of affections. Roman paganism didn’t protect the empire; it fueled the forces that ultimately tore it down. At the same time, Christianity couldn’t be responsible for the temporal overthrow of the order because the gospel points us to a different sort of reign. Exchanging pagan gods for a Christian one will not a conversion make, if the goals are the same: to achieve temporal prosperity and security.

How many times have we seen Christianity used in recent years in precisely the same way the polytheists of ancient Rome used their cultic devotion? Who can forget the television evangelists telling us, as the embers of the fallen Twin Towers still smoldered, that the September 11 attacks were God’s judgments on America for specific sins? How often do we hear the promises of God to his people in the Old Testament applied to America, as though Christian “revival” is the key to economic flourishing and military victory for the United States? And how often do we hear of the vanquishing of “judgmental” and “puritanical” religion as the key to getting America on the right side of history?
Augustine would have nothing of these cynical utopianisms, and neither should we.

Trillion-Year Perspective

At the same time, City of God calls the people of Christ toward confidence. We need what Augustine calls the “ordered harmony” of the temporal order. He doesn’t celebrate the rise of the barbarians, nor does he shrug off the instability and terror around him. The city of God, while she sojourns as a pilgrim band in this present age, is concerned with earthly peace and flourishing. But we have a longer view in mind—one that encompasses the entire cosmos in the joining of heaven to earth in the kingdom of Christ.

Election years tend to incite fevered reactions because it seems as though everything is at stake. There’s much at stake, to be sure, but we should put it in a trillion-year perspective that can allow us not to panic. No one and nothing will take our country away from us—if we define correctly what we mean ultimately when we say “country” and what we mean when we say “us.” Our temptation to fear and rage should remind us that we should be seeking to cultivate the sort of love that binds us to our ultimate tribe and calls us to our ultimate home.

This year will be tumultuous, perhaps more than any before in American history. Some will read Rules for Radicals to make sense of it. Others will read The Art of the Deal. As Christians, our library should be richer and wiser. Let’s revisit City of God.

Pray and Vote

To my American readers:

No matter what happens in today's elections, Jesus Christ will still be Lord, God will still be sovereign, and he will reign forever. The Kingdom of God is neither coming nor failing through whatever happens in this election. The gospel is the news that matters most, and it tells me Jesus will be Lord tomorrow, same as yesterday and ever after

Pray, and vote, and pray some more. Exercise your right to vote. Then, let God exercise His right to be God.

Billy Graham Statement on the 2012 Election

Hat Tip: Eric Metaxas

Thinking Christianly About Election Season

I have a set of considered and firm political convictions, and those who know me know what they are.  I prefer that one political party wins elections more than the other, because I believe their general policies are better for society. However, I hope that I will always put my allegiance to Christ ahead of my political beliefs and put my hope in Him more than my desired political outcomes. Therefore, I was challenged by these words from Brian Zahnd.

...every four years a kind of madness comes upon us in America—a political mania that is becoming increasingly acrimonious and bitter. All of this is damaging to the soul. So with this in mind I would like to share with you a Ten Point Christian Voters’ Guide. (No, not that kind…a much different kind.)

1. The political process, while necessary, has little to do with how God is saving the world.For more on this point go here: The Church as an Alternative Society 

2. The fate of the kingdom of God does not depend upon political contests.Don’t be swept away by apocalyptic political rhetoric. It is what it is. Another election cycle. Jesus is Lord no matter who wins the Big American Idol contest and gets their turn at playing Caesar.

3. Don’t be naïve, political parties are more interested in Christian votes than they are in Christianvalues.Do you doubt this? Thought Experiment: Imagine if Jesus went to Washington D.C. Imagine that he is invited to give a speech to a joint session of Congress. (He’s Jesus after all, and I’m sure the senators and congressmen would be delighted to hear a speech from the founder of the world’s largest religion—it would confer great dignity upon the institution.) Imagine that the speech Jesus gave was his most famous sermon—the Sermon on the Mount. Can you imagine that? Jesus is introduced. (Standing ovation.) He stands before Congress and begins to deliver his speech. “Blessed are the poor…the mourners…the meek.” “Love your enemies.” “Turn the other cheek.” After some perfunctory applause early on, I’m pretty sure there would be a lot of squirming senators and congressmen. The room would sink into a tense silence. And when Jesus concluded his speech with a prophecy of the inevitable fall of the house that would not act upon his words (Matthew 7:26–27), what would Congress do? Nothing. They could not act. To act on Jesus’ words would undo their system. In the end, the U.S. Congress would no more adopt the policies Jesus set out in the Sermon on the Mount than they were adopted by the Jewish Sanhedrin or the Roman Senate. The Jesus Way and the Politics of Power don’t mix.

4. The bottom line for political parties is power. The bottom line for a Christian is love. And therein lies the rub.The problem with our “change the world” rhetoric is that it is too often a thinly veiled grasp for power and a quest for dominance—things which are antithetical to the way Jesus calls his disciples to live. A politicized faith feeds on a narrative of perceived injury and lost entitlement leading us to blame, vilify and seek to in some way retaliate against those we imagine responsible for the loss in late modernity of a mythical past. It’s what Friedrich Nietzsche as a critic of Christianity identified as ressentiment and it drives much of the Christian quest for political power.

5. While in pursuit of the Ring of Power, you are not permitted to abandon the Sermon on the Mount.When the world is arranged as an axis of power enforced by violence, the pursuit of power trumps everything. But in the new world created at the cross (an axis of love expressed by forgiveness), love trumps everything. The Sermon on the Mount is our guide to this new kind of love. Among other things, this means you cannot deliberately portray your political opponents in the worst possible light. (Attack ads? Remember the Golden Rule?) Jesus also taught us that if you call someone you disagree with a “fool” you are liable to the “Gehenna of fire.” I might put it this way: When your political rage causes you to hurl epithets like “fool” and “idiot”—you are kindling the fires of hell in your own soul!

What Needs to be Said

I love (and agree with) this comment by Moe Lane at RedState.Com

What every Republican candidate or politician needs to say, and keep saying, from now on:

* Stop spending money that we don’t have.
* Stop using the courts to steal wins you can’t get at the voting booth.
* Stop pretending that you can make us all rich by making some of us poorer.
* Stop ignoring foreign affairs.
* Stop acting like you’re above us all.

And, finally:

* Stop calling us ‘un-American’ and ‘traitors’ when we disagree with you.

I certainly couldn't say it better!

Sarah Palin - What's Next?

So what’s up with Gov. Sarah Palin? Why did she decide to not only skip running for reelection as Alaska's governor but to also resign now? I do not know the answer, despite the speculation I am about to engage in. Her press conference announcing the decision was low on specifics, perhaps deliberately so. I expect more details to come out after she is actually a private citizen again.

And most certainly, the pundits and critics, many of whom have critiqued her mercilessly and wrongly since last September, do not know either. The political insiders, both Democrats and Republicans, do not understand her precisely because she is not one of them: she is one of us. She symbolizes and represents middle America, the “fly-over country,” the outside the beltway reality that denizens of the fantasy world of New York and DC do not comprehend and look down on.

So why did she do this? I can think of some possible reasons.

1. Perhaps she has decided to run for president in 2012, but to not cheat the taxpayers of Alaska by taking a gubernatorial salary while devoting most of her time to campaigning for higher office. Every four years, senators and governors run for president while neglecting the present duties for which they are supposedly being paid. Barack Obama started running for president full time after only serving two years of his senatorial term, and spent most of the next two years doing so all the while drawing his senatorial pay check. John McCain did the same thing. Kerry did it in 2004 and Bush did it in 2000 while he was governor of Texas. Maybe Sarah Palin so values the citizens and taxpayers of Alaska that she refuses to play that game. If so, good for her!

2. Maybe she has decided that the principles she believes in are more important than her own ego need for high office. Maybe she has decided to spend the next few years campaigning for conservative ideas and helping candidates who agree with those ideas. Maybe she thinks the country needs her ideas, even if she is not the one getting the credit. If so, how refreshing to see someone put principle ahead of their own career.

3. Maybe she just wants to fight back. Maybe she want to be able to defend her beliefs and her family without the restraints of public office. After what has been done to her and her family, I could certainly understand that desire. Her lawyer has already said that any media outlets publishing slander against her family can expect to face legal actions. David Letterman, are you listening?

4. Another possibility is a plan to follow the Reagan model. "Ronaldus Magnus" used his time between his governorship and election as president to study and develop his ideas and policy prescriptions. He wrote articles and books, did a radio commentary, building both his readiness and credibility. The elites always wrote him off as dumb and ignorant too. They were wrong then, and I think they are wrong now.

5. Maybe she is just tired of the attacks and pain her family has been through, and just wants to escape. Based on her past track record as a political fighter, and what she did say at her press conference, I do not think this is likely. However, it would certainly be understandable.

I do no know what her plans are, and neither do you. The truth may be some combination of the above options, or something else entirely. But I do know that she has been a voice for things I believe in, and has suffered greatly for standing firm for those convictions. I also know that she is a believer, and therefore my sister. I intend to pray for her to receive wisdom and guidance to do the right thing, and look forward to discovering what that right thing is. We have not seen the last of Sarah Palin.

License to Criticize

I went to vote Tuesday in a essentially meaningless local election. Three offices were on the ballot, and for each there was only one unopposed candidate. Everything was basically decided in the primary election a month ago.

It seemed like a wast of time to vote. However, I do feel that I have renewed my license to complain and criticize for another four years!

Of course, my civic duty has not been entirely fulfilled. As a Christian citizen, I now have to pray for these men and women. That duty never ends.

The Iraqi Election That is Not Being Covered By the Press

The Anchoress writes - Iraqis get the hang of voting!

I blame Bush! It's all Bush's fault!

(Hint: That is why this is not being covered in the national press)

A Post-Election Prayer

From Andrew Faris at "Christians in Context": A Post-Election Prayer

There have been a slew of good prayers for the election and I make no claim to have prayed the best prayer. But I figure of all the reactions that we could have about this (and any other) election, prayer is probably the best. So I here submit my own post-election prayer:

Jesus, King of All Creation, You are the King of the heavens and earth, King over all nations, and the King over America. No government rules of its own power, but only the power that you give it. May we recognize that above all, you are the only sovereign; that you are the only one we call "Lord."

As Christians, we are citizens first of heaven and the kingdom of God. Given the grand scales of the cosmos, of the whole earth, and most importantly, of eternity, this election matters little. Teach us to focus on glorifying your name as our number one civic duty. That is the only mission you have given your church, and that mission will go on no matter who the president is. Our only prayer is that whatever Barack Obama does as president, it will somehow be used by you to allow your church opportunities to do that. Show us our sin and your grace in the cross, Lord.

Teach us to preach the gospel to our culture, not to preach morality to it. Teach us to love the marginalized, not to neglect them in favor of seeking financial gain. Teach us to listen to your Spirit, not to the prevailing voices of our culture. Teach us to read your Word more carefully and passionately than the news. Teach us, your Church, to be a community of sacrificial, Jesus-centered love. These are what mark us as citizens of heaven.

We pray for President-elect Obama. Give him wisdom as he leads, the courage to stick to the convictions he should, and the humility to change views when he knows he is wrong. We pray especially that his tenure as president would lead to help for those most in need.

We praise you as the God to whom one day all kings and presidents will down, and we ask that these things be done by the power of the Holy Spirit, according to the overflowing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the glory of God the Father.
Amen.

A Prayer for God’s People and the Election

An election prayer from CHARISMATICA :

Our Heavenly Father, by the power of your Holy Spirit, encourage your people to vote today— and I ask that by your Spirit that you would ambush everyone of us as we go into the voting booth—that you would inspire us in the midst of the process of voting to make the best possible choices.

Lord, let the process be decisive, we come against the specter and threat of stolen elections with judges and lawyers ruling the day and overturning the voice of the people. Let the result be graciously accepted without riots in the aftermath either in celebration or in angry response.

May we praise your name for the opportunity we have in this country—and at the end of the day, let us all remember that no matter who wins, you are still on the throne and really in control. In Jesus name, Amen.

The Most Solemn Trust

As you go to vote today, think on this:

Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual--or at least that he ought not to do so; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.

-- Samuel Adams

Hat Tip: The Point: Something to remember when you vote tomorrow

What is At Stake

I agree with Jared at The Thinklings:

If Barrack Obama is elected America's next president tomorrow and keeps his promise to Planned Parenthood next year to sign the Freedom of Choice Act as his first point of business, I would like some of the evangelicals who voted for him to explain why this is okay.

A blog post will do. Just outline why it's all right for him to do this. It won't be a surprise. It's not just some minor part of the Obama package. He publicly promised it as his first order of business and is campaigning as a staunch protector of abortion rights. He's not just pro-choice, he's the most radical proponent of abortion rights ever to run for presidential office.

When he, with one stroke of a pen, wipes away all of these gains:

*
The Hyde Amendment, which restricts federal funding for abortions;
*
The federal law banning partial birth abortions, which was finally upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in April 2007;
*
The “Mexico City Policy,” which has barred the use of federal taxpayers’ money to pay for abortions in other countries;
*
Laws in 44 states that preserve a parental role when children under 18 seek abortions;
*
Laws in 40 states that restrict late-term abortions;
*
Laws in 46 states that protect the right of conscience for individual health care providers;
*
Laws in 27 states that protect the right of conscience for institutions;
*
Laws in 38 states that ban partial birth abortions;
*
Laws in 33 states that require counseling before having an abortion;
*
And laws in 16 states that provide for ultrasounds before an abortion.

. . . remind me how he's actually, in some weird feat of magic, reducing abortions and being "pro-life."

Explain, when this happens, Christians who claim to believe life begins at conception, why this is okay.

Lions and Tigers and Bears.....

I can't wait for this thing to be over!

An Election Prayer

A prayer by John A. Hardon, a Jesuit priest (HT: WDTPRS?):

“Lord Jesus Christ, You told us to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. Enlighten the minds of our people [in] America. May we choose a President of the United States, and other government officials, according to Your Divine Will. Give our citizens the courage to choose leaders of our nation who respect the sanctity of unborn human life, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of marital relations, the sanctity of the family, and the sanctity of the aging. Grant us the wisdom to give You, what belongs to You, our God. If we do this, as a nation, we are confident You will give us an abundance of Your blessings through our elected leaders. Amen.”

The Journeyman says Amen!

Hat Tip: The Daily Scroll

Trick or Treat

Hat Tip: RedState.com

Pro-life and Pro-Obama? - Not Possible

From Denny Burk's blog post Pro-life and Pro-Obama? Hardly quoting from George Weigel in Newsweek.

I have already referred readers to Robert George’s compelling essay arguing that Obama is the most pro-abortion candidate for president in history. But I would also like to bring to your attention George Weigel’s piece in a recent Newsweek column that decisively overturns each of the three points above.

‘Barack Obama has an unalloyed record of support for abortion on demand. Moreover, he seems to understand Roe vs. Wade and subsequent Supreme Court decisions as having defined abortion as a fundamental liberty right essential for women’s equality, meaning that government must guarantee access to abortion in law and by financial assistance—a moral judgment and a policy prescription the pro-life Catholic Obama boosters say they reject.

‘According to his own Web site, Obama supports the federal Freedom of Choice Act [FOCA], which would eliminate all state and federal regulation of abortion (such as informed consent and parental notification in the case of minors seeking an abortion); these regulations have demonstrably reduced the absolute number of abortions in the jurisdictions in which they are in effect. FOCA would also eliminate, by federal statute, state laws providing “conscience clause” protection for pro-life doctors who decline to provide abortions. Obama (along with the Democratic Party platform) supports federal funding for abortion, opposes the Hyde amendment (which restricts the use of taxpayer monies for abortion) and has pledged to repeal the “Mexico City policy” (initiated by Ronald Reagan and reinstated by George W. Bush, which bans federal foreign-aid funding for organizations that perform and promote abortion as a means of family planning). According to the pro-choice Web site RHRealityCheck.org, Obama also opposes continued federal funding for crisis pregnancy centers.

‘As Roe vs. Wade does indeed deny the protection of the laws to the unborn, no one can, with any moral or logical consistence, claim to support both Roe vs. Wade and the common good. It’s one or the other.’

Socialism Explained and Illustrated

Since every body's talking about whether Senator Obama's "Share the wealth" is socialism or not, I offer this clear example of what the term means.

Civics 101

Think you understand exactly how we elect our president. Check out your level of election knowledge at Civics 101: How the U.S.A. elects its President - WELT ONLINE

The most common false assumption about the President of the United States is that he is directly elected through a popular vote of the people. It’s easy to fall into this trap, given the appealing simplicity of such a democratic method.

In reality, the President is elected through a one-of-a-kind, indirect process, which places the emphasis on the individual state elections. The electoral system written in the Constitution of the United States was designed to preserve the autonomy and political power of the states, and this federal character of the country is preserved in the Electoral College system.

How does the Electoral College function?

American voters do not cast their ballot for President at the federal level. Rather, the votes are counted at the local level and then submitted to the electoral commissions of the states. Each state has a certain number of electors, equal to the number of U.S. representatives from that state, plus the two senators. The District of Columbia also has a number of electors equal to that of the smallest state, currently three, thanks to the Twenty-third Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1961 (before that, residents of the District could not vote for President). The state with the largest number of electors is California, which has 55. In total, there are currently 538
electors. A candidate needs to win 270 electoral votes to become President.

Hat Tip: Chailles.com