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EDITOR'S
SIDEBAR
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Back before the election, there was a call from some Christian leaders who felt God had impressed it upon their hearts to pray that God's man would be elected. In some quarters, this was dismissed as simply a code for praying that Republicans would win.
In the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center, however, we are facing the kind of crisis that nobody predicted. There were rescue efforts which, sadly, are likely now to be only clean-up and recovery efforts. There have been survivors' wounds to treat, both physical and non-physical. The families and friends of the victims are in need of comfort. The attacks are being vigorously investigated, in this nation and abroad, with a goal of seeing the guilty brought to justice. Finally, there are the attempts to make sure it never happens again.
Through it all, George Bush has been showing himself a leader, and the accolades are coming not only from his political allies. Last night, after his speech to the nation before a joint session of Congress, I saw him embraced by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a Democrat and one of his harshest critics. On the radio this morning, I heard that Senator Dianne Feinstein, whom nobody has ever mistaken for either a conservative or a Republican, gave his speech a "10".
Even in my everyday conversations with people, I am hearing people who did not vote for George Bush and do not usually favor conservative politicians say that they are pleased with what he is doing and that they seriously wonder if Al Gore would have done as well.
All this brings me back to the call to pray that God's man would be elected. Perhaps, instead of God's man being a Republican who just happened to be George Bush, God's man was George Bush, who just happened to be a Republican.
Brad Pardee
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| The Logs In Our Own Eyes |
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Although I don't agree with him on everything, I appreciate the Rev. Jerry Falwell. I know that he means well, and his intent is to see people turn to God. From time to time, though, I just have to shake my head, and say, "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, what WERE you thinking?"
Such was the case following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Appearing on the 700 Club, Rev. Falwell said, "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, and the ACLU, People for the American Way - all of them who have tried to secularize America - I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'"
To his credit, he has since apologized. A statement on his ministry's website, http://www.falwell.com, said, "In the midst of the shock and mourning of a dark week for America, I made a statement that I should not have made and which I sincerely regret. I apologize that, during a week when everyone appropriately dropped all labels and no one was seen as liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, religious or secular, I singled out for blame certain groups of Americans."
He went on to say that, "I do not know if the horrific events of September 11 are the judgment of God, but if they are, that judgment is on all of America-including me and all fellow sinners-and not on any particular group," and, "I blame no one but the hijackers and terrorists for the barbaric happenings of September 11."
The apology was appropriate, and I hope that those who were blamed will accept the apology. However, the longer lasting danger in Rev. Falwell's words is not the inappropriate blaming but rather the tainting of a legitimate subject of discussion. The subject of God's judgment may become labeled as inherently inappropriate, and there is a need for Christians in America, as well as elsewhere, to consider the subject, although not from the perspective that Rev. Falwell expressed.
We frequently think about God's judgment being stopped by a repentant nation, and certainly in the Book of Jonah, we see that happen. Jonah preached, the people responded, and in chapter 3, verse 10, it says that God withheld the judgment He had planned.
Christians who hold this as the only model, though, are missing a big part of the picture, because there is another scenario which gets much less attention. In Ezekiel, chapter 22, verse 30, it talks about God looking for someone who would "stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none." We see that in Numbers 16, where God is prepared to judge the Israelites, and the judgment is halted because Moses directs Aaron to make an atonement for the people. Even in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, we see God telling Abraham that He would spare the cities if only He could find 10 righteous men.
It seems to me that these passages place a significant responsibility on those who consider themselves as "God's people". We hear that, despite all the clear teachings in Scripture that the color of a person's skin makes no difference in the eyes of God, Sunday morning is still one of the most segregated hours of the week. We see Christians trying to exercise their citizenship by becoming involved in politics, but leaving the love and charity that ought to be their creed behind, and as a result, we hear more denunciation of opposition parties than we do heartbroken prayers for sinners in need of God. We experience churches where your acceptance is based more on the quality of your Sunday suit and the people you know than it is on your status as a child of God.
If we as a nation experience God's judgment, be it through terrorists or through famine and locusts, the question the church will need to answer is not whose unrighteousness brought His judgment upon us, but where are the righteous men and women who, as in Sodom and Gomorrah, could have caused Him to withhold His hand.
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