We are now entering these closing days before the election. Everyone who accompanies politics as a personal pastime is somewhere between disoriented and optimistic. I often play the role of a pastor to a small flock in Pensacola, whom I love more than anything. By now, they should know that politics is important as long as it submits to Zion. But I also acknowledge that there are a few dozen folks who don’t breathe my theological air but find the sort of things that I publish to be fruitful. I am grateful for all the positive feedback I have received through COVIDness, and I am incredibly thankful for all the private comments made. But pray tell me, why the preface, sir?
This entire preface serves to illustrate that disagreements will prevail in the coming weeks as they do at every Thanksgiving table in America about the nature of the turkey. The bad news is that our disagreements should prevail, and we ought not to run away from them. Of course, this is not the time to speak of rhetorical tricks for these upcoming days. But we should note that tempers will be running towards zealotry faster than Michael Phelps at a pool, and to quote grandma, “Be careful, children!” Good friendships should endure far beyond our disagreements on face cloths, political strategies and the superiority of a Chick-Fil-a sandwich.
For the record, ever since I have started caring about the political process, there comes a time in the days leading to an election that people suddenly become legal scholars and trained political philosophers. They become more passionate about the process than St. Nick when he slapped Arius at the Council of Nicaea (so the rumor goes!). That’s the nature of things!
To be clear, I have made subtle and precise observations throughout that this election is about trajectory. In other words, the things we care about like life in the womb, and the second and third thing after that shape our diagnosis of the problem. For others who find the abrasiveness of Captain Orange to be too much and who are overwhelmed by his tweets (count me in!), and who operate under the premise that the “pro-life” issue is too minimalistic to expect from an election and that racial issues and a greater call to unity is a more desirable approach and that we should contemplate a broader approach to politics that may give us a more sound understanding of life, like for instance, the “Pro-Life for Biden” fan club, then I have a few words for you. If you don’t happen to like that enormously long run-on sentence, you are not going to like the run-on sentence they have for you once you embrace that position.
For starters, as Biden said tonight, the idea of an 8-year-old seeking out a transgender surgery is par for the course. Or as he eloquently stated, “There should be zero discrimination!” Oh, and if you didn’t pick up that hidden mic during the ACB hearing, sister Feinstein said she is concerned because Amy Barrett seems to hold too closely to her religion when it comes to pro-life. BeYes, that dogma thing! And remember also that Biden wants cops to shoot people on the leg like a nerf gun fight in my living room. And finally, do not forget that leftist ideology embraced by the vast majority of Democratic politicians are woker than a puppy. These things should give you a great pause.
Let’s be honest, friends, we don’t live in the Puritan era anymore, so you don’t have to live by your pastor’s counsel when it comes to voting (though I hope you will at least respect your local pastor more than any politician), and you don’t have to vote to be a trusted member of a community. But you do have to cherish that when you do vote, you are voting for the trajectory of language to go one way or another. You either are voting for the continuation of the familiar language of traditional social norms (see my previous post on the “Horses and Chariots” principle), or you are voting for the degradation of classical categories. As my friend Gary DeMar stated, our vote is not a love commitment; it’s a chess move.
As for my line of work, don’t worry, the church will be all right. Hell hath no fury like a Church scorned. If anyone should mess with her, God has his ways, and they are a lot more severe than ours. Yet, we ought not to forget that our ability to seek the good, or at least the continuation of the common good, does not come through abstract conversations but it does involve at the very least speaking your mind between now and November 3rd. Life is hard and thinking through life is also hard and making decisions in life is even harder. It’s all a part of that glorious growing up thing. So, let’s behave, kids! But let’s not be naïve.