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Showing Mercy During A Time of COVID-19

2/24/2021

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Now that we are creeping up on spring, I would like to look back on this past year with an appraising eye. There are lessons learned -- difficult lessons, and they're not all done yet. Unlike the man who lost his deer-meat because he failed to preserve it  ("The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt", Proverbs 12:27), I don't want to lose what I've learned.

If I emphasize any one lesson, it's that God very much wants me to show mercy.

We all as a national evangelical church were suddenly called-upon, in a short period of time, to respond to something with which few of us had any practical or scientific experience. Everyone was scrambling. In addition, early on we were not as a nation receiving consistent guidance.

There was a lot that simply wasn't known yet. Some of the ambiguity came from both media and government, as reports over-emphasized, under-emphasized, misstated, erred, omitted facts, or just honestly didn't have certain answers yet. All us regular people were dealing with all of this. It felt like playing team badminton in the fog.  

Churches struggled to form a response to the disease, partly because of how congregationalism works. Congregational churches are run democratically. I'm not apologizing for this. I don't believe in government by kings, popes, or authoritarian church boards. Democracy is a good thing. But democracy means that it takes churches longer to get into gear when something extraordinary happens.

Democracy also forces us to work toward achieving consensus on hard subjects. Hammering out a group response among non-experts, on a difficult subject, in a democratic setting creates more total buy-in at the end (which is extremely important), but it causes a lot of stress while it's happening. We went through this very thing.

Looking back, I came to think that U.S. Christians listen to too many worldly voices. The apostle Paul wrote, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy" (Colossians 2:8). In a similar vein, Solomon said, "Guard your heart with all diligence, because from it flows the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). I speak here of any non-Christian philosophical influence. 

Non-Christian op-ed writers, media influencers, even entertainment companies sometimes say good things. But they are not trying to filter their thoughts through God's Word. They are not trying to advance God's kingdom. Some of them were spreading insane things, like QAnon. Non-Christian media influencers lead us astray. I too was influenced in this way.

As best I could tell, most of the churches around us have doing their best to respond. Churches I know set up distanced seating, cleaned their buildings diligently, limited occupancy, and provided sanitizer and breath-masks at the doors. Many, including us, temporarily stopped live meetings completely. We cracked open windows, propped open the doors, and blew fresh air through. We wiped down handles and surfaces. Of course, this could not protect our people Monday through Saturday -- you can catch something all week long --  but our building has been clean, because our people worked hard at it.   

There was also freedom to make choices. One church chooses to have live Sunday meetings, but requires masks. So, they have the help of the masks, but someone could still catch something because of being with other people. Another local church requires a mask to enter, but allows you to unmask after you are seated. So, there is some greater degree of lobby protection, but less protection once singing starts. But they also meet in a big, airy building. A third church I know still isn't meeting, and will not meet live until this coming summer. So, there is no chance of catching anything there, but it appears they haven't been been together as a distinct congregation for over a year.  

All these churches' leaders showed sensitivity to the danger, and all devised a response, using most of the recommended methods. But each church chose to set somewhat different limits. 


I recognize my own ignorance.
 
I do not know every church's room architecture, air flow, HVAC systems, seating capacity, congregational health, or ages in attendance. I do not know how much unanimity existed on each leadership team, or within each congregation, or how much they were able to achieve unanimity. I have some personal opinions and preferences, but Christ in Scripture says I'm not supposed to condemn people. After all, I also changed my mind about certain topics over time, too. So, within reason, I don't want to point a finger. These are reasons why mercy should triumph over judgment (James 2:13). Mercy will last, long after COVID is gone.
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A Christian & His Political Opinions.

2/18/2021

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How should a Christian form, or respond to, political opinions? Here are a series of steps and standards, based on Biblical principles.

1.  Commit to surrendering every political opinion to the Holy Scripture, and to test every political philosophy by the same standard. Paul is 2 Corinthians 9 said that it was his goal as a minister to bring every idea into obedience to Christ, no matter what that idea might be. Scripture holds highest authority over every idea, every principle, every philosophy. It is a sin to subordinate Scripture to worldly ideas. Paul also said in Colossians to beware world philosophies, out of which most political opinions form.  

2.  This requires a good working knowledge of both Testaments -- not just the New Testament. The Old Testament has a lot to say about nations, governments, civic ethics, and law. Every Christian should work on becoming Biblically literate. Read through the whole Bible once a year. Attend quality Bible studies. Read trustworthy material on the Bible. Attend a church where the pastor preaches the Bible in a literal, historical, and contextual way. You don't need to become a professional Bible teacher to know the Bible.

3.  Do not adopt a worldly philosophy of politics, then artificially attach out-of-context Bible verses to its different points. God did not give us His Word to endorse world political philosophy. He expects us to use His word to form and follow a thoroughly Christian way of life, one that can stand on its own two feet. Nearly every world philosophy has some kernels of truths contained within it, some veins of truth running through it, but all world systems are riddled with serious errors. 

4.   Contemporary liberalism is built on a foundation of atheism, or agnosticism, Darwinism, and statism (the concentration of power into the hands of a centralized government). This makes liberalism essentially anti-Christian. Liberalism sometimes overlaps with the Bible in areas such as justice for the poor, but it approaches those issues from a radically anti-Christian starting-point. Liberalism is humanistic, and as humanism it has historically been promoted as a alternative to Christianity's influence.

Conservatism, on the other hand, has a history in the Western world (especially in England) of being influenced by Christianity, which has exerted a positive effect upon it. America's founders drew upon the Bible as they formulated the new nation. British conservatism gave us the Constitution, and anti-monarchism. But secular conservatism is also based on tradition, experience, and unredeemed human reasoning. Scripture is merely one source among many, not the highest rule of all philosophical truth.

There is also a breed of conservatism which is just as Darwinistic and humanistic, in its own way, as liberalism is; such as a certain kind of conservatism which denies the sinfulness of the human race. Both systems are infected by moral pragmatism -- the devilish doctrine that the ends justify the means.

My bottom line is, don't jump on this world's political band-wagons, no matter where you live! We Christians are citizens of the kingdom of God first, and citizens of particular nations after that. The Bible speaks authoritatively to matters of economics, courts, war, and the law, just as it speaks to relationships, the heart, and personal salvation. Keep a sanctified mind regarding the politics of this evil age, and guard your heart, for out of the heart flow all the rivers of life.  

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