July 09, 2007
Worth Fighting For
On June 1st a story by Lynn Allen appeared in the La Junta Tribune Democrat. Her article reported on a third generation rancher whose family homesteaded in southeastern Colorado. The 74 year-old rancher and his wife are in danger of losing the family ranch to the US Army. “But it doesn’t matter. If they want it, we can’t stop them. The military I served will come and escort me off my land at gun point. I don’t think I’ll go.” If I’m reading his words correctly, the rancher is saying he’ll sacrifice his own life before letting the government take his land. Having grandparents who also homesteaded in the same area, I understand how this rancher feels about his beloved land. However, thinking about the situation from a Biblical perspective, is the land becoming an idol to the rancher?
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Gail;
-----The Bible acknowledges the individual ownership of property, as well as the propriety of government and law. Moreover, the Bible is a book of principles. The various aspects of the rancher’s situation need to be examined before one can determine if his decision to stand to the end is one of idolatry. He may be a man of principle who served his country in a military which defended his neighbors. That is loving your neighbor. But now, maybe he perceives that he is being faced down by a rogue military that has come to steal from his neighbors, and he will stand to the end in hopes of setting legal precedent and inspiring others to stand strong for what is right. Though it would appear, in such a case, that his actions are concerning his possessions, actually his defense of the principle would be the defense of his neighbors. And that is love. On the other hand, this old scutter may not give a heave about principle, neighbor, or anything else except what he owns. That would be idolatry.
-----I find it comforting that God does not make available all the necessary information for formulating such conclusions on matters that do not directly touch our own lives. It is sort of a “right to privacy” that He has granted each individual (His purposes in this would make a lengthy and interesting discussion of speculation.) But where there are nuances that may indirectly effect you, there are usually at least some clues for a discerning alertness.
-----I hate to be this way, but in American politics the divide has become so polarized that the terms “Democrat” and “Republican” almost automatically bring to mind for each a defined and accurate perspective in which an unspoken understanding may well be embedded. In this case, the anecdote is presented in a Democrat publication. I would expect the perspective of the story was at least subtly, “…military bad, rancher victim.” I also would be surprised to see indicated in it any similarities with various properties around the country rendered useless to their owners through operation of the Environmental Protection Agency. That is a Democrat cause. The Republican paper would operate the other way around. You would read the EPA story, but you would see no mention of the military story. There is the possibility that inside the military there is alignment being made to protect this country from the eventual effects of radical Islamic principles that are being pumped into American mosques and propagandized on American campuses. In that possibility, all the more power to the military. But you would not read that angle in the Democrat paper.
-----We are the Lord’s. That does not preclude us from owning property. And it certainly precludes us from being ambivalent towards principles. The main principle that our lives are to be guided by is the truth. It will not only bring us to Jesus Christ, Who is Love, but it will sort out properly one situation from another, and it will separate those situations which can not be sorted from those that can.
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