WHY CAN’T ADULTS ACT AND SPEAK LIKE ADULTS?

Discourse in our hyper polarized political environment has degenerated to a level more commonly found on an elementary school playground. Not just bullying, race baiting and name calling...but outrageously misleading sound bites that only serve to feed the cravings of supporters on the left and right fringes of our political landscape.

Any effort to legislate modest controls on acquisition or ownership of deadly firearms is met with “watch out, they’re going to take your guns.” Newsflashes: none of the rights in the Bill of Rights is absolute. And government cannot lawfully seize everyone’s firearms, even if they wanted to. There is always a balancing of competing interests, especially when it comes to public safety. That’s just responsible governance. Protesters marching to the steps of government buildings armed with loaded military style high capacity weapons is way over the top.

Similarly, efforts to update and reform our immigration laws, always contentious (since almost all of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants), are met with “they want open borders.” Even a fifth grader would see how asinine that response is. Immigrants have made our country stronger. Many of our industries rely on immigrant labor, much of it undocumented. Can’t anyone try to find sensible middle ground? No responsible citizen wants to have open borders. An open border is not a border at all. Securing national borders is a core responsibility of national government.

Here’s one of my favorites: government programs to provide assistance to citizens on the lower rungs of our economic and social ladders are labeled “socialism.” Well, in one sense that’s true. But we have NEVER had a capitalist system that was unfettered by government controls to protect our citizens. Our system has evolved as a hybrid system with a capitalist foundation over layered with socialist programs, safety nets and controls. All sectors of our society benefit from “socialist” programs, including banks that are bailed out, oil companies with special tax breaks, tax breaks for real estate investors like our President, social security, Medicare and Medicaid, public health care programs for Native Americans, military personnel and veterans, environmental protection programs, and the list could fill more space than I care to use to make my point. Calling someone or some government program “socialist” says more about the intelligence level of the speaker than the merits of the target.

Another of my favorites: Those in the church who oppose abortion under any circumstances question the genuineness of the Christian faith of their brothers and sisters who abhor abortion but seek ways to minimize its incidence by ministering to hurting young pregnant women instead of crusading to overrule Roe v. Wade and thus completely foreclose any legal abortions. I do not need my government to take my faith and make it a law that applies to everyone. Government embrace of any faith robs it of its power.

When will people who identify as evangelical Christians ever learn that Jesus did not command them to change their culture or use political power to underwrite their faith and apply it to everyone? Not only is it a fruitless task, but it is completely counterproductive to the fruit of the spirit that empowers followers of Jesus to live and love in ways that are truly attractive and winsome to people who are hurting.

Having lived over half a decade in the cultural equivalent of the first century (in former Soviet Central Asia), I see that American culture has fundamentally altered true Christianity. I prefer the real thing, even if it means giving up my rights and being an object of government persecution. The Apostle Paul had a lot to say about that, and so did Jesus.

The “real thing” compels us to find ways to help those least able to help themselves, to seek and do justice, to love those who hate us, and to honestly identify and strip off the cultural overlays that pervert Biblical principles for right living. Those include implicit racism, democratic church governance, personal autonomy and independence, and seeking personal comfort and success while at the same time looking the other way when it comes to people on the outside who are really hurting and needing more than just “I’ll pray for you.”