A Few Thoughts on a Difficult Election

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Steve Foster

I guess just about everyone has an opinion on the upcoming presidential election.

Here’s mine.

“It’s a mess.”

I love our nation and I am so thankful for the freedom, stability, security, and prosperity that we enjoy. Yes, we have our sins and shortcomings as a people but overall we live in one of the most privileged nations in the world…not only in modern times but in all of history. We have been exceedingly blessed.

So I lament the condition that we are in as a nation.

We are angry, divided, cynical, critical, dissatisfied and distrustful of one another.

It feels like our nation is coming apart at the seams. And this current election is only increasing the schism.

The two major party candidates are perhaps the most disliked and flawed in American history. Current polls say that close to 60% of the population extremely dislikes one of them. Thus, regardless of who wins on November 8, over half of the population will be sick to their stomachs. Hardly the prescription for national healing.

So how do I navigate through this mess? How do I vote? Should I even vote?

As a Christian, I have been confused, conflicted, and concerned throughout this election cycle.

Confused.

I’ll be honest. In watching the Republican primaries, I wanted any other candidate besides Trump to win. If there is one thing that the Bible emphasizes over and over when it comes to leadership, it is that character matters…character matters…characters matters. This is not about being moralistic but about being wise. A person can only lead out of the character they possess. Even if they have incredible skill and talent, their character will eventually seep through and affect everything they do. I simply could not…and still cannot…overlook, dismiss, or downplay his abusive language, sexual infidelity, and self-promoting pride. It is not just “locker room speech.” It is sin. It is not just “strong talk.” It is arrogance. It is not “just words.” It is the overflow of the heart (Matt. 12:34-37).

Conflicted.

But when I look at the other major option for president, I can equally say character matters…character matters…character matters. And though Clinton's sins and character flaws may be more covert and less sensational, they are equally disturbing. Political calculation. Media manipulation. Gross negligence. Denying responsibility. Skirting the law. Playing the political game. Holding both “public” and “private” positions for personal gain and power. The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them (1 Tim. 5:24).

Both major candidates fail the basic character test in my opinion.

So where do you go from there? The lesser of two evils? Third party? No vote?

In a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, I think we do have the privilege and responsibility to be involved in our governmental process…and at the very least, voting. Sure it is messy, unpleasant, and confusing but so is the rest of life. Ethical decisions in a sin-impacted, dysfunctional world are the challenges that force us to walk in humble dependence on the Lord.

It is hard for me to sit this election out. The next president could in theory appoint two or three Supreme Court justices during his/her term. Though the Supreme Court should not wield so much power, in our current political climate it does. When unelected judges appointed for life can “interpret” the Constitution based on their own political and social theories, then the balance of power has tilted to the judicial branch…with each Supreme Court appointee potentially influencing judicial decisions for the next 30-40 years. This is the real “prize” that many Democrats and Republicans are fighting for.

Plus I have read both the Democratic and Republican platforms…and they are miles apart. The Republican platform supports the sanctity of life, the biblical definition of marriage, the foundational priority of the family, and the protection of religious liberty. The Democratic platform either ignores these issues or rejects them outright. In the end, voting for a platform may be more important than voting for a candidate, even if going third party. That is where I have landed at this point.

Concerned.

This election is more about the character of our nation than the character of the candidates. Joseph de Maistre, a French philosopher, once said, “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” We have become a divided, distracted, angry, vulgar, entertainment-hungry culture. Our nominated candidates reflect our desire for image over substance and our abandonment of absolute truth for individual autonomy.

The book of Judges describes the nation of Israel at its lowest point…And there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes (17:6; 21:25). The people had no authority and wanted no authority. They rejected God and denied His law. They wanted to become their own gods and the whole land suffered for it.

In other words, our real issues are spiritual not political.

No politician…no law…can change our hearts.

For that matter, no politician…no law…can end sickness, ban natural disasters, abolish death, transform lives, or promise eternal life.

Thus, our ultimate confidence must not be in “princes” or political leaders but in God (Ps. 118:8-9). This is not simply a cliché. When we are anxious, angry, or desperate for our candidate to win, then we betray where our true confidence lies. We can easily forget that God is sovereign and can direct a leader’s heart like channels of water (Prov. 21:1). Even the worst candidate elected could be humbled, changed, and redirected by the power of the gospel (e.g., 2 Chron. 33:12; 1 Tim. 1:13). Whatever happens on November 8, God is still on His throne working all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11).

Let your speech always be with grace… (Col. 4:6).

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth… (Eph. 4:29).

Remind them…to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men… (Titus 3:1-2).

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called… (1 Pet. 3:9).

Give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all… (Rom. 12:17).

Even in a divided, cantankerous, confusing election, do not forget your calling, lose your focus, or harm your testimony for the sake of a post on social media.

So what is my position on this election?

Kneeling.

I am praying for wisdom as I go to the voting booth, for the preservation of religious liberty, for the salvation of governmental leaders, and for the church in America to be strengthened and unified around the power of the gospel rather than the power of politics (1 Tim. 2:1-8). And I am also praying that God will somehow act to bring healing and revival to this nation… that in His wrath, He would remember mercy (Habakkuk 3:2).

I know everyone has an opinion on this election but wisdom begins with the “fear of the Lord” (Prov. 9:10). Seek His face and cry out for His wisdom. He alone knows the future and knows what is best for our nation.

The simple promise of Proverbs 3:5-6 is more relevant than ever:

Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.

Certainly that includes a ballot in a messy election.

Posted in Government/Politics | 1 Comment

When Life Presses “Pause”

Posted on August 21, 2016 by Steve Foster

A week ago in Baton Rouge, we were in the midst of a severe thunderstorm. In Louisiana, that isn't too unusual. But this one would turn out to be anything but "usual."

Over a 48-hour span, two and half feet of rain fell on our area. It rained…and rained…and rained.

Statistics say that there is a .1 percent chance in any given year for that much rain to fall in that amount of time. But it did. Thus statistically it was the "1000 year flood." I guess we can take comfort in the theory that the next one isn't due until 3016.

But, for now, life has become a blur.

Last Sunday, we had church with a limited crowd. It was time to access whose house was flooded, who was in need. We handed out pages of our directory for people to call.

We sang. We reflected. We prayed. And then got organized to help…

But first we had to wait.

The rains and floods were not over. Streets were still closed. Floodwaters were still rising. Many neighborhoods were still in jeopardy. We needed a break in the weather. The weather forecast still showed rain for the rest of the week.

Prayers were offered and God was gracious. The rain stopped and the floodwaters began to recede.

Monday through Saturday were days to get mobilized. Teams went out from our church each day. Each house was different. Some sustained a foot of water; others sustained over six feet. Some were impacted by rising waters from backed up drainage canals; others were devastated by rushing river water.

Mud. Mold. Sweat. Stench.

Water-logged mattresses. Swollen furniture. Rotting food. Saturated books. Ruined photos. Mildewing clothes.

What was valuable, useful, personal the week before was now a soggy pile of garbage hauled to the street.

As the week progressed, the line of garbage grew…and reality began to set in. Life would not return to "normal" for thousands of people for several months…maybe even years.

While the rest of the world continued on, life in Louisiana pressed "pause."

I have heard that for the rest of the nation, the "Louisiana Flood" received little media attention. It was a storm with no name. It was overshadowed by presidential politics, Olympic events, and narcissistic swimmers lying about being robbed in Rio.

Personally I can understand why people could overlook our flood. There is so much tragedy in our world that it is simply hard to absorb. In some sense, we have all become numb.

Emotionally how many stories of suffering can we really take in?

People in Paris, Nice, Brussels, San Bernardino, Orlando, Istanbul, and other parts of the world are all still suffering…while, for most of us, life goes on.

It is like a death in your family. While the grief is real and raw for you, it only temporarily and superficially affects those around you.

And here's the caution. Our personal pain can quickly turn into anger and resentment toward others. One of the psalmists struggled with this very thing:

I believed, therefore I spoke, "I am greatly afflicted." I said in my haste, "All men are liars!" (Psalm 116:10-11)

The pattern is simple. I am hurting. I want relief. I look to you to make me feel better. You fail in some way. I get angry. The hurt deepens. And the cycle spirals downward.

But we must realize that life presses pause for all of us at some time or another.

And the pause is ultimately for us and not for others.

The pause forces us to stop. It interrupts our routine. It opens our eyes. It exposes our fears, our inadequacies, our idols. It reminds us that we are weak, fragile, mortal.

It confronts us with the fact that we are not in control.

With all the technology in the world…with all the radar…with all the forecasts…we still can't stop a storm, a flood, a rush of water from wiping away all that we hold onto in this world.

We can deny this…fight this…or run from this.

Or we can run to the only Rock that we have in this uncertain world.

The only Refuge in the storm. The only Ark in the flood.

Life presses pause so that we can find Life.

Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).

Selah.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 4 Comments

Why Does This Election Seem So Dire?

Posted on August 6, 2016 by Steve Foster

dire. “extremely serious or urgent; causing great fear or worry” (dictionary.com)

This upcoming presidential election could certainly be classified as “dire.” Some would even call it “apocalyptic” with predictions of imminent doom to America and even the world depending on whom is elected.

Why does it feel this way?

We could argue that the two major party candidates are the most unique, flawed, and untrustworthy in Amerian history. Both candidates’ “unfavorability” ratings are hovering around 60%. This election may ultimately hinge on which candidate seems the least flawed and least untrustworthy to the American people. The lesser of two evils, so to speak.

But as I reflect on this election (and pray fervently for God’s wisdom and mercy!), I think of two additional reasons why this election seems so dire.

Government has become involved in every aspect of our lives.

Regardless of your opinion on the role of government in a society, there can be no denying that the federal government has expanded its spending and involvement in our everyday lives as Americans.

The Founding Fathers envisioned a limited federal government that would primarily provide for a national defense, preserve public peace, regulate interstate and foreign commerce, and conduct foreign affairs. Today, we have a federal government that subsidizes almost every thing we buy, use, and own. It directs our education, insures our health, provides our retirement, and offers over 2000 programs of assistance…while racking up over a trillion dollars in debt in the process.

The point is not to argue between capitalism and socialism but simply to point out that who runs our government is a bigger issue now than it was several generations ago.

Our government has become the Law more than submitting to the Law.

In 1644, Samuel Rutherford wrote a controversial book entitled Lex, Rex. It was so controversial that Rutherford was charged with high treason and his book was banned and burned in England. What was so controversial about it? Rutherford argued that there is no divine right of kings but that every king (or governmental leader) is under the authority of a higher Law.

In other words, the king (or government) is not the Law (Rex, Lex) but rather the king (or government), like its people, must submit to the Law (Lex, Rex).

Our system of government was founded on the principle of Lex, Rex. Our government is to submit to the Constitution which in turn is derived from the natural, universal Law of our Creator.

God’s Law > Constitution > Government

Instead, in more recent times, that equation has been changed. The concept of a universal Law rooted in God’s character has been denied and dismissed and the government has taken on the role of the interpreters and redefiners of the Constitution and of moral law itself. Thus, we are left with…

Government = “The Law” (or Rex, Lex)

The government today is the one who gets to define marriage, gender, life, civil rights, and liberty. And when the government begins to have that kind of power and authority then who is “in charge” becomes of preeminent importance.

The German philosopher Nietzsche envisioned a world in which there were no absolute truths or universal laws. In such a society, the only absolute is the “will to power.”

Whoever has the power makes the rules and rules the day.

This is the path we are on in America. Thus, we feel desperate to get our “candidate” into power because the consequences seem so, well, dire.

Imagine playing a team sport in which there is no agreed upon “rule book.” Instead each team spends the majority of their time fighting to get one of their guys into the role of “referee,” knowing that for a certain space of time the referee is the one who gets to make up the rules for the game. The game would cease to become a “friendly game.” It would become a vicious, manipulative battle and interrelational war.

Welcome to politics in postmodern America.

So what’s the solution?

A nation of people must be willing to acknowledge and submit to a universal Law, given by a gracious, sovereign Creator, in order to live in mutual peace.

Ultimately it’s a heart issue not a political one.

Thus, the solution is a heart one not a political one.

Whether America humbles itself and turns to God is not up to me…but whether I humble myself and turn to God is.

And that’s why I am on my knees.

Submitted to the King.

Dependent in prayer.

Hopeful (and joyful) because one day He will reign.

Posted in Government/Politics | Leave a comment

A Few Thoughts from Baton Rouge

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Steve Foster

It has been quite a week in our city.

A tragedy happened on July 5. Right or wrong, justified or unjustified, fear-motivated or race-motivated, a human life was taken. And from all accounts, it did not need to happen.

But it did.

The editorial in the local Baton Rouge newspaper on July 7 captured the tragedy well.

A grave complication of viral videos is that the lives depicted in the moving images can become reduced rather than enlarged. Instead of individuals, we begin to see icons of some dry, uppercase abstraction — Racism, Poverty, Crime, Police Brutality.

Conscience calls us to remember that the men in the Sterling videos — not only Sterling, but the policemen who were with him — are human beings, not merely characters in a morbid blockbuster. To treat them as anything less is to diminish all human life, which would be a tragedy in itself.

I lament for the family and friends of Alton Sterling. I lament as well for the police officers and their families who will replay that night over and over in their heads and feel the effects for the rest of their lives.

Somehow we have lost sight of our common humanity. Video and social media tend to make events less real. Stereotypes turn fellow humans into caricatures that rarely fit the complexity of who we really are.

I am sure racism still exists in America. We are divided, fearful, unsure of one another. I can't crawl into the skin of another human being. I don't know what it is like. I can't pretend that I do.

Proverbs 14:10 reminds us that the heart knows its own bitterness and no stranger shares its joy. In some sense, we are all isolated from one another. I can't assume that I know what anyone else is going through, what they have experienced, what they feel, what they fear. 

And no one can truly understand my own heart either. I even struggle to understand myself at times.

That is why things don't fit into easy categories. That is why the narrative of the media never tells the whole story. That is why the issues go much deeper than skin color.

As I have gone through the past few days in Baton Rouge, I have felt a mixture of sadness, burden, discouragement, fear, frustration, oppression. The divide in our nation seems so wide. True dialogue seems to have disappeared. Anger. Vengeance. Lawlessness seem to rule the day.

I have been driven to my knees. I pray for our nation. I pray for those in law enforcement. I pray for those who feel like victims in their own communities. I pray for pastors and churches. I pray for my own boys, wondering what kind of world they will inherit.

But I can't give in to fear. I can't retreat. I can't solve the problems of the world but I can continue to show love, to seek to understand, to pursue peace.

It is not the big act posted on social media that makes the difference but the smaller ones done day to day that are rarely seen.

Through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another (Galatians 5:13b-15).

The wounds are deep in our nation. But I know One whose wounds are deeper.

True justice and true grace intersect on the Cross where Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

The ground is level at the foot of the Cross.

That's the one place where we all stand united.

Posted in Random Thoughts | Leave a comment

Exclusion & Embrace

Posted on July 2, 2016 by Steve Foster

Every once in awhile you pick up a book, try to read it, and then put it down.

Exclusion & Embrace by Yale professor, Miroslav Volf, is one of those books. I tried to read it several years ago and found it to be too wordy, too philosophical, and way above my head.

But recently I have come back to it. And though it is still hard to understand, I have found some real gems in it and it has stretched my thinking.

Volf is a Croatian theologian and he writes from that background. He watched his native land get torn apart by hatred, division, and war thus he longs to understand how divergent people and cultures can truly live together in peace.

Many of us wonder the same thing.

Our world is coming apart at the seams. A "new tribalism" is occuring across the globe. We are finding more and more reasons to separate from one another–race, ethnicity, politics, religion, culture, economics, gender, and now even sexual orientation and gender identity.

As increasing populations and a shrinking world push us more and more together, we are finding more and more ways to push apart.

Universalists say we need a "one world government" to hold us together. Multiculturists say we need to encourage the multiplication of these tribes and even promote cultural differences. And postmodernists say we should simply encourage individual autonomy, allowing people to do what they want and to form their own identities–wayward and erratic vagabonds, ambivalent and fragmented, always on the move and never doing much more than making moves (20).

Volf says that the solution will not be found in the right kind of governmental system, philosophical approach, or social arrangement. All of these kind of solutions assume that the issue is external to us. Instead, Volf proposes that the issue is internal, a matter of our hearts, and thus the only path to peace will be found in being the right kind of person.

There is much to digest in Volf's book but here is the main premise as I see it:

To a world desperate for relational peace but increasingly fragmented, the solution is found in the character of God and the cross of Christ.

Perhaps this sounds too simplistic but Volf makes a compelling case, exploring the intricacies of academic philosophy and complexities of real-world problems, to show that there really is no other solution.

Only in the character of God, as demonstrated on the cross of Christ, do we see the perfect balance of justice and grace, only there do we understand that the pathway to relational peace always involves self-giving, sacrifice, and suffering.

Here is reality: We are different. We form identities of who we are. We associate with those most like us. We tend to exclude and separate from those different than us. We justify our own opinions and actions. We vilify those who disagree with us. We oppress and feel justified. We even play the victim and "oppress the oppressor" and feel justified.

In a world so manifestly drenched with evil everybody is innocent in their own eyes (79).

The cycle of hatred and violence is hard to break. Only someone willing to bear the injustice and extend an embrace to the violator can create the space for reconcilation.

This is the cross of Christ.

To break the world cleanly into victims and violators ignores the depths of each person's participation in cultural sin. There simply are no innocents. (80)

When God sets out to embrace the enemy, the result is the cross. On the cross the dancing circle of self-giving and mutually indwelling divine persons opens up for the enemy; in the agony of the Passion the movement stops for a brief moment and a fissure appears so that sinful humanity can join in. We, the others–we, the enemies–are embraced by the divine persons who love us with the same love with which they love each other and therefore make space for us within their own eternal embrace. (129)

But what about victims of injustice? Should they just forgive?

First, the victims must realize that, in their hearts, they are capable of the same injustice.

It is a fact that cannot be denied: the wickedness of others becomes our own wickedness because it kindles something evil in our own hearts (87).

The language of victimization undermines the operation of human agency and disempowers victims and imprisons them within the narratives of their own victimization. …The longer the conflict continues the more both parties find themselves sucked into the vortex of mutually reinforcing victimization, in which the one party appears more virtuous only because, being weaker, it has less opportunity to be cruel. (103)

If victims do not repent today they will become perpetrators tomorrow who, in self-deceit, will seek to exculpate their misdeeds on account of their own victimization (117).

Second, the victims must realize that forgiveness does not eliminate justice but rather enthrones it.

Every act of forgiveness enthrones justice; it draws attention to its violation precisely by offering to forego its claims. Moreover, forgiveness provides the framework in which the quest for properly understood justice can be fruitfully pursued. …Only those who are forgiven and who are willing to forgive will be capable of relentlessly pursuing justice without falling into the temptation to pervert it into injustice (123).

In other words, we do not give up on the pursuit of justice, we just pursue it in the context of relationship and with the goal of redemption and reconciliation not revenge and retribution.

Finally, the victims must realize that even if justice is not achieved on this earth or reconciliation does not occur, God will ultimately judge. 

When one knows that the torturer will not eternally triumph over the victim, one is free to rediscover that person's humanity and imitate God's love for him. And when one knows that God's love is greater than all sin, one is free to see oneself in the light of God's justice and so rediscover one's own sinfulness. (124)

This is not an academic affair. Facing extreme injustice and choosing to forgive is only possible through the power of God. Instead of taking out one's anger on others, we learn to pour out our anger before God and trust Him as the perfect arbitrator of justice and grace. This is where the imprecatory Psalms of the OT begin to make sense.

For the followers of the crucified Messiah, the main message of the imprecatory Psalms is this: rage belongs before God. …By placing unattended rage before God we place both our unjust enemy and our own vengeful self face to face with a God who loves and does justice. Hidden in the dark chambers of our hearts and nourished by the system of darkness, hate grows and seeks to infest everything with its hellish will to exclusion. In the light of the justice and love of God, however, hate recedes and the seed is planted for the miracle of forgiveness (124).

But isn't God all love? Does He really condemn and judge sinners?

This is where Volf is the most helpful in my mind. I almost find it hard to believe that he teaches at Yale! But Volf has experienced real atrocity and bitter hatred in his lifetime and he does not sugarcoat the reality of sin or the need for God's justice.

A "nice" God is a figment of liberal imagination, a projection onto the sky of the inability to give up cherished illusions about goodness, freedom, and the rationality of social actors (298).

God will judge, not because God gives people what they deserve, but because some people refuse to receive what no one deserves; if evildoers experience God's terror, it will not be because they have done evil, but because they have resisted to the end the powerful lure of the open arms of the crucified Messiah (298).

Should not a loving God be patient and keep luring the perpetrator into goodness? This is exactly what God does: God suffers the evildoers through history as God has suffered them on the cross. But how patient should God be? The day of reckoning must come, not because God is too eager to pull the trigger, but because every day of patience in a world of violence means more violence and every postponement of vindication means letting insult accompany injury (299).

And the quote that in my mind makes the book worth the reading.

One could object that it is not worthy of God to wield the sword. Is God not love, long-suffering and all-powerful love? A counter-question could go something like this: Is it not a bit arrogant to presume that our contemporary sensibilities about what is compatible with God's love are so muich healthier than those of the people of God throughout the whole history of Judaism and Christianity? …One could further argue that in a world of violence it would not be worthy of God not to wield the sword; if God were not angry at injustice and deception and did not make the final end to violence God would not be worthy of our worship.

…My thesis is that the practice of nonviolence requires a belief in divine vengeance will be unpopular with many Christians, especially theologians in the West. To the person who is inclined to dismiss it, I suggest imagining that you are delivering a lecture in a war zone. …Among your listeners are people whose cities and villages have been first plundered, then burned and leveled to the ground, whose daughters and sisters have been raped, whose fathers and brothers have had their throats slit. …Soon you would discover that it takes the quiet of a suburban home for the birth of the thesis that human nonviolence corresponds to God's refusal to judge. In a scorched land, soaked in the blood of the innocent, it will invariably die. And as one watches it die, one will do well to reflect about many other pleasant captivities of the liberal mind. (303-304)

In the end, Volf calls Christians to a life of embrace. Opening our arms to others. Being willing to listen and to forgive. Being agents of reconciliation in a world of hatred and division. Speaking the truth to a deceived world…but doing so with the love of the crucified Messiah.

In a world of enmity self-giving is the risky and hard work of love. (189)

I open my arms, make a movement of the self toward the other, the enemy, and do not know whether I will be misunderstood, despised, even violated or whether my action will be appreciated, supported, and reciprocated. I can become a savior or a victim–possibly both.

Embrace is grace, and grace is gamble, always (147).

Posted in Recommended Books | 1 Comment