I post this video as a reminder that there was a generation that believed “We’re on the Eve of Destruction” back in 1965. Some of these folks studied hard (or not) in school, and went on to become some of the college professors and news media and celebrities who seem to be among the thought leaders of the liberal movement that has brought us to this point.
In the meantime, I do remember quite a bit of Christian literature from the 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, and beyond, looking forward to the Rapture. In doing so, they may have soothed their minds about any potential destruction that was coming, but they seemed to have abdicated some other, very important responsibilities.
In some sense, Christianity in America must bear some responsibility for the situation that we now find ourselves facing.
But not all of it.
I’m sure we all are disappointed, but we can look at the bright side. We don't have a Mormon as president.
And it certainly does seem possible to “blame Bush”. It seems as if Obama did right under our very noses the thing that Bush did in 2004: cede the center and expand the base.
It was that “expand the base” part that we didn’t see coming, even though he did it right under our noses.
We were busy counting that “ceded center”. To paraphrase the words of the venerable James T. Kirk from Star Trek II, we got caught with our pants down.
Fortunately for us, we’re not trapped on an unstable planet, watching our self-destructed starship break up in the atmosphere, with a madman trying to kill us. Getting by in Obamaville is not going to be quite so difficult a problem.
I have seen several Christians already talk about this election in apocalyptic terms. I don’t think that we should be doing that. It's true, it will be difficult to be a Christian in the coming years, but no more difficult than some other Christians have had it in the past. We do need to “watch and pray”. I thought of the phrase, “Occupy till I come”. That is the KJV version of the command in the parable that Bock translates as “trade with these [minas] until I come”. “Do business”, another translator renders it.
We need to keep in mind, this being a parable, that it is not a direct command to us, but rather, we are to draw a lesson from the parable.
I think we all approached this election with a measure of optimism. I certainly did. And I’m certainly disappointed. But life is going to go on, and Christ is still king. We will be able to work toward a goal in 2016 that we didn’t achieve tonight. (That is, if it is even proper to consider this “our achievement” or “our loss”).
I am honored beyond measure to be a Triablogue writer. I know I have my weaknesses, as we all do, but the Lord has put us where we are for a reason. In any given situation, a chess grandmaster will assess the position on the board, and form his plans accordingly. He will look for weaknesses in his and his opponent's positions, he will look for opportunities to strengthen his own, or to disrupt the plans of his opponent, and he will attempt to make the strongest possible move.
No doubt we’ll face some difficult times ahead. One thing we have been given, in a strange way, is more time. I’m sure we’ll have to use that time wisely, not the least of which will be to try to understand the position on the board, and to learn how to move forward in the present environment.
Steve mentioned below, “I don’t have a great personal stake in life at this juncture. I’m just sorry for the future which Obama’s policies will deny to the innocent, the undeserving.” I don’t quite feel that way. With six kids, several of whom voted for Obama, I now feel more compelled than ever to become engaged and to deal with the position on the board, to understand the world as it is and to work to foster the Kingdom in the world as it is. So, with the time that we have been given, my hope is to do what I can with what the Lord has given me.
We are still in the game.
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James T. Kirk: My God, Bones... what have I done?
Leonard McCoy: What you had to do. What you always do. Turn death into a fighting chance to live.
Audio here.
That almost sounds Messianic.
It's hard to watch another 4 years go this direction, especially when it's likely he'll appoint at least 2 new Supreme Court Justices. But that said, I try to hold to the thought that this is somehow part of God's plan. While I certainly can't see where things will go, I will put my trust in Him. I liked a post a friend put up last night: No matter who is President, God is King.
ReplyDeleteNow if only we could find a James T Kirk or Jean Luc Picard to run for President, though I don't know if self-destructing the White House would do us any real good.
Hi Erik, I agree with everything you say. A friend of mine noted that it probably wasn't good enough that Romney was an "anti-Obama" candidate. He certainly didn't function that way to the fullest extent -- he gave Obama lots of passes in the last days, (on Bengazi, for example, choosing to focus on the economy). And he had a lot of negatives that prevented Evangelicals, for example, from fully supporting him in his own right. He was a "rich guy", he was a Mormon -- aside from his positives, he just couldn't overcome some of his negatives. And Obama hammered him along those lines.
DeleteIn his own right, he just wasn't a positive-on-his-own-terms candidate. He wasn't someone for whom there was just a groundswell of support. Someone that we all rallied behind just because he was simply the best candidate.
Certainly, the Republican primary process wasn't helpful to his cause. He was a good candidate but he wasn't the magnetic leader that we would all just choose to rally around because he was the best person out there. He was, at the end, the only person left standing at the end of a big brawl.