December 20, 2010
Receptive
I asked a dear friend if she were ready for Christmas she said, “Yes, I’ve been good this year, but I don’t know if you have.” Well now. Not quite what I expected in Sunday fellowship chit-chat. She then gave me a list of three political issues where she thought I was remiss in my decisions. Thankfully she was open-minded and let me give her additional information which included data, examples and a more complete picture. At one time or another we’ve all been tripped up by not having all the facts, even as it pertains to our Christian life. A good example for me is a Jew named Apollos. He was learned, had a thorough knowledge of the Scripture and he taught about Jesus accurately - and yet, he still had only partial understanding, “When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.” (Acts 18:26 NIV) Regardless of how mature I am in the Word, I must learn to be receptive to those who can explain the way of God more adequately.
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Gail;
-----One of our contemporary debates is over whether or not we are a Christian nation. Different ways of looking at the issue tend to conclude different answers for the question. Around seventy-five percent of our people claim to be Christian. And we are the most benevolent nation in history. But Christian principles seem absent in the entertainment choices we make, the lifestyles we tolerate, and the lack of sympathy we show for the rights of unborn children.
-----Yet our founding fathers ordered our political system after a very Christian principle. Political and social philosophy was undergoing major reconstruction at the time they fashioned our nation. Democracy was the new craze in place of royalty. But two very different, basic views of man’s nature and the tragedy of life developed diametrically opposed socio-economic political systems within these democratic boundaries. Unwittingly, your dear friend exemplified the system which has led to the political divide so frustrating us today.
-----That philosophy sees man as perfectible. Everyone can, and is obligated to rationally determine the moral basis of social affairs. Yet, not all people can reason as well as a few can, so those few must become moral guides for the rest. They must lead everyone on a trek towards perfection by governing with their more perfect ability to reason. This system gave our world the great countries of Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Red China, Cuba, Venezuela, etc. I totally do not mean your friend favors such as these, or even likes them, but that their political mentality is built upon the same “you should think as I think” principle.
-----This was not so with our founding fathers. They understood that no man was perfectible. In fact, all men were fatally flawed in their nature. Therefore, no one man or group of men should be given total power to lead the rest, lest their power should play into the hands of their self-serving, human nature. Moreover, nobody knows enough individually to solve social issues. Knowledge is a pool of everyone’s knowing only in part themselves. It approaches completion only through its combination within everyone’s individual activities. So the most good is done when each person lives free to effect what he can by what he knows while obeying laws to preclude his damaging others.
-----This attitude is reflected in Paul’s treatment of the gifts of the Spirit and the parts of the body at Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12. It is eluded in his idea that everyone should be fully convinced in his own mind regarding controversial issues (Romans 14). And Peter directly acknowledged boundaries for the leaders of the church at I Peter 5:1-3. Of course the country is not Christian in that it must be a church. But it reflects the Christian affinity that a definite amount of individual freedom is necessary within a system of limited control. And that system of control operates by the pooling of all our knowledge rather than by anyone’s own, limited knowledge being seated as the power.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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