faith for faith

Beloved, we are God’s children now, but what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (1Jn. 3:2).

Have you ever looked to the past and reminisced on old flames or past crushes–persons whom, at that time, you thought the world of and would have done anything in your power to be with? Upon the memories of some of those persons you may still look with fondness, while on others you can hardly believe that your heart was ever inclined in their direction. On the latter group, a change in personal preference or knowing the person better may have extinguished the desires you once had for that person, or perhaps the desire you once had for them may have be trumped by a force outside the two of you–another person who you, upon your seeing and knowing them, found to be more beautiful, more handsome, and all-around more agreeable with the desires of your heart. When you found this person and your heart and mind were captured by them, your fondness for the former object of your affection was brought to nothing.

It is a callous analogy, but it is one to which most of us can relate. We all have had desires, even very strong desires, that we have witnessed become nothing in the light of circumstances, time, and greater desires. For the Christian, this is a comforting reality, for we know that some, if not many, of the desires of our heart stand against the desires of our God. While we stand and watch the world indulge itself with all that this life offers those who will “free” themselves to enjoy them, we find ourselves torn between what we can grasp now and the Promise we have been given and assured of by the Spirit of Christ.

Yet we can take comfort knowing that it will not always be this way, for, “When [Jesus] appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” For when we see Christ and behold him at the end of this age, we will be changed forever. Just as our old flames were put out by seeing and knowing another more beautiful, so too will all of our worldly desires be extinguished upon a single glimpse of our Savior in glory. In his presence, our strongest desires and greatest strongholds will crumble away as though they were nothing, for at last we will know him for whom our hearts were created.

I’ll preface this post by a personal revelation (not that anyone is likely to care one way or another), but the candidate for whom I voted did not win, though I knew that would happen when I casted my vote. I will also reveal that of the two candidates that had a chance to win (neither of whom I voted for), the candidate that I would have preferred to win did not. Either way, I had settled it in my mind prior to the election that the candidate that I would prefer to become the president did not have a chance at the presidency, so I was not terribly disappointed by the news when I awoke this morning.

What I am disappointed in, and what I have been disappointed in for years and through numerous election cycles, is the conduct of many Christians during various campaigns and following elections. And though I could justly be thinking of the rhetoric used by Christians, their tendency to fall in line with a political party without reservation, or their seeming love affair with war, I am mostly disappointed in their passion and zealotry for politics. In this respect, this election year has been particularly poignant, having witnessed Christians, with great zeal, placing their hope and their future in man who, by its basest definition, is anti-Christ. Even our most beloved “reverend” Billy Graham saw it fitting to remove Mormonism from his list of cults for sake of the political “good” of the United States.

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As I was perusing my Facebook news feed this evening, I came across a link to a news article concerning Billy Graham’s endorsement of Mitt Romney and the subsequent removal of a web page from Graham’s ministry’s site that labeled Mormonism as a cult. And while there is much that can be said about Graham and the questionable actions of his latter years, the article prompted me more to think of what we as Christians, both individually and collectively, are willing to surrender for the sake of politics and the governments of this world than it did to begin an internal diatribe against the formerly revered Reverend Graham.

Consider this with me: On what subject in this world is their more contention between persons than politics? If there is none greater (save perhaps religion), on what subject is their more contention between Christians than politics? As for myself, I have found in my experience that there is none greater than politics between like-minded Christians. I have countless friends with whom I stand in almost total agreement theologically, but when it comes to the subject of politics, we could argue and debate all the day long.

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As emotions have flared and tensions have tightened between Christians and Christians and between Christians and non-Christians over the political issues that have branded our time, I hope and believe that there is growing an understanding that, at least between Christian and Christian, much grace must be given on differences of opinion on these matters. And for some of us (myself included), we have had to show grace and patience to ourselves, finding that one day our hearts and minds would lead us one way, and on another day the other.

And as these differences of opinion between Christians have arisen on these political matters, some of us might be (or have been) tempted to simply chalk these disagreements up to the typical culprits of divisions in Church in other matters, such as biblical ignorance or theological subterfuge. In these non-political cases, we would make our claims based on our biblical arguments and theological understandings and be quick to dismiss as wrong anyone who has a differing opinion. We would then view these political issues in the same manner that we view those other issues that are contained within the Church and its theology, and we would readily divide ourselves further with the same power of conviction.

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Considering the last two posts to my blog, some may find it odd that I did in fact vote for Amendment One. It was not something that I was particularly passionate about, but, granting the system we live in and that I already had a ballot in hand because I was voting for Ron Paul, I found myself in general agreement with the amendment and bubbled in “FOR.” There are plenty of things that I do not like about the present system regarding marriage (and a thousand other matters), however, it is the system in which we live, and, as a citizen within that system, I will support legislation based upon natural morality when I can.

On the other side, opponents of the amendment have and still are railing against the will of the majority to “suppress the rights” of the minority. Their chief tenet is that all unions, be it between a man and woman, a man and man, a man and three women, a mother and son, a sister and brother, a goat owner and goat, etc. should receive equal benefits under the law.

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Forget the projection polls for a moment and imagine with me that, after all of the dust settles and all of the votes are tallied, it is found that Amendment One to the North Carolina State Constitution has failed to garner enough support to be ratified.

What are the ramifications of the outcome? The immediate secular ramifications seem small, but the outcome has the potential to have much larger ones in the future. For while the failure of the amendment to be ratified does not change the fact that homosexual unions are still illegal in the state of North Carolina, it does leave open the possibility that the state’s courts could rule the present law unconstitutional and effectively repeal it.

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I have long debated with myself as to whether or not I was going to throw in my thoughts with the rest of the masses regarding the vote for Amendment One of the North Carolina State Constitution, and that debate has hinged chiefly in my own indecision rather than upon any fear of backlash from whomever. For the issue as it regards Christians and the Church is far from black and white, and the very fact that this is a state issue through and through further muddies the issue.

For though it is more than evident that the institution of marriage is far older than any secular government and was instituted by no one other than God himself, the fact remains that as a society today, marriage is chiefly a secular institution. While others have said that marriage is an institution created by God and recognized by the state, it is not that simple. For if that were true, no one could bypass the church and be married in a courthouse by a magistrate, and there would be no secular ramifications for being married, except for perhaps the changing of one’s legal name. Yet, these things do exist and so demonstrate that the once religious institution of marriage has evolved into something that can elude religion entirely.

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After hurdling down this road as a nation for some years, it is drawing nigh to the time when North Carolina will cast in its lot with others on the legal nature of marriage (well, reiterate or contradict its present legal nature) with the proposed Ammendment One seeking to modify the state constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. While there are numerous angles to view and to evaluate this legislation, I’m presently interested in what should be the response of the church to it. As a member of the Church in North Carolina, what questions should I ask, and what actions should I take for or against it, or should I act in neutrality? Here a my thoughts:
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