Apolitical, Amorites , Arbitrary Assertions
Today’s post is bought to you by the letter "A" for apolitical, the number "1" (as in 1 life to live, so take the important stuff serious, & let the unimportant "just slide") &; from what started off as a comment to be left over at the blog of our good friend Pistol Pete of Necessary Therapy (link to actual post after Para. 3).
From his comments regarding his views on the war and specifically politics, or rather lack of views on politics, I’ve come to find out that Pistol Pete and I are actually very similar. The exception in similarities being minimal: (he’s an older white Caucasian guy, I’m a 40-ish black guy (yeah I’m comfortable with referring to my skin pigmentation as "black" but for you squeamish "politically" correct types feel free to go with Negro), The Pistol is a married man with children. While I was a married man (I tried to get rid of the kids but the courts keep finding me), Yep!! Two regular Peas in a pod.
My apologies for the semi-comedic detour, I felt as though I needed some filler material before I dove right into today’s post, plus it sounds like a good excuse for stepping over to the not so serious side, if even only for a moment. As I was saying or rather pecking away at the keyboard before trailing off into "ADD" mode, today’s post is the result of inspiration derived from a comment left in response (duh!) to a post on the war, at Necessary Therapy. Basically it boils down to me in fact, having the same self-described view of engaging in political discussions,debates, theories etc; politics as The Pistol; that being of an apolitical nature. What developed however while authoring the comment was a longer than necessary entry which I simply decided to post here as commentary of my extended thoughts. Here’s a snippet of the inspiration from Pistol Pete’s post:
First, I need to confess my own quiet complicity in the current war. I’ve had misgivings since we first invaded Afghanistan, but I’ve kept them to myself. Here and there, I’ve pointed to some absurdities about war in general and this war in particular, but for me to now make judgments from higher moral ground would be just as absurd.
Maybe I should muster up the courage (now that my conscience is more keenly pricked) to jump in with some political rhetoric. But I just can’t bring myself to do it. It would only be contrived. It’s just not me. I find myself so thoroughly apolitical, that all I can do is nod in agreement, shake my head in disgust, or quietly walk away. None of these translate well to blogging.
I think that my own uneasiness concerning this "war" is as you’ve intentionally or not pointed to; is the feeling that it appears to be motivated by politics, with being just, moral or even rightly warranted as second hand notions/ideas used to dress it up for public consumption. Nothing new under the sun that many, more versed than I on the dealings of politics and policy haven’t already expressed.
My unease becomes compounded however when taking a look back at the warring that Old Testament Israel was involved in. With God’s Word serving as the lens to peep back through what… 3 or 4 thousand years of history? (lazy guess on my part) I view it as, being in or of God’s wisdom. There was a moral purpose behind the warring (surrounding nations were wrapped in sin, to it’s "full measure"; beyond the point of no return as I’ve come to understand from Bible reading and asking other, more Biblically knowledgeable folk). A justified war if you will, based on and by the standard of God. For the record, I don’t believe that the term "Holy War" is used in the Bible, I don’t believe, endorse, nor am I implying anything in this post under such premise. Here’s an explanation from the Pastor of my church if you care to take a look.
I say and understand that the wars/conflicts that the Israelites engaged in(as by God’s standard) were based on the fact that as the Israelites were God’s chosen people; God enabled them through their faithfulness to Him to defeat His/their enemies. Israel’s enemies were actually enemies to God firstly, due to the fact that they were so full of sin. It wasn’t only that the neighboring nations sinned, it was in fact that these nations entire character was completely engulfed in sin, they represented the epitome of wickedness and pure evil, spurned on by their lust for idols and pagan worship (Deuteronomy 7). One could look at it as saying that there became no redeeming qualities left in these God-less nations that warranted God looking upon them as part of His creation. The flip-side to this statement, is that whenever Israel disobeyed God, or flat-out turned away from Him, it seems likewise that Israel’s enemies were permitted by God to defeat them during times of conflict as well.
And then… there’s the current situation for America. The song that rings in my ears, the one coming from the Patriotic Christian camp; those folks that appear to be more enamored with living with the creed of Country & God vs God & Country is this: "God i
s on oUr Side". My heart says to me perhaps it is "US" that are marching down the road to becoming the modern day equivalent of the sinful nations such as the Amorites, Hittites, or the Gergashites; "full" of sin. Maybe it is US that is being allowed to simply fulfill, a part of the scriptures. Maybe God is allowing a god< nation to affect the disobedient nations/peoples to cause them to turn their hearts and minds back to God (Hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus 4:21, or Romans 9:18 come to mind).
Closing ideas on all of this? As Christians our loyalty, our hearts, minds and souls belong to Christ we ought not confuse ideas of patriotism or feelings & emotions associated with national pride as equating to faithfulness to the Lord.
Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles.
- George Jean Nathan
Returning now to apolitical mode.
Grace and peace be with you.