NAIVETE AND GULLIBILITY

I Was Just Thinking About - - -

One of the negative achievements of the cultural shift and movement is in the area of man’s capacity to think rationally and objectively. So much depends on who is championing the particular narrative at a given point. An illustration of this is a declaration that demeans and excoriates (criticizes severely) the Police across the nation. The result is that the safety of Police personnel knows greater jeopardy than ever before. Protest groups abound that follow a false narrative that has been declared to a point where vandalism, destruction and a degree of carnage has occurred in different communities.

During this time of political debate, naiveté and gullibility is obvious. A particular concern is its presence in what is known as the “evangelical” circles and communities. This term no longer has clarity of meaning due to the statements and actions of some who are called “leading evangelicals” in this nation. One of them who is Pastor of a mega-Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, upon his endorsement of a political candidate when he said (Breitbart, 03-04-16): “Every Christian has the right to his own opinion about a presidential candidate, but no Christian has the right to impose his preference as a litmus test for someone else’s Christianity or spirituality…Some Christians, including a well-known Christian author, have denounced one candidate for his tone and vocabulary. However, when I’m looking for a leader who is going to sit across the table from Iran or confront radical Islamic terrorists, I don’t care about that leader’s tone or vocabulary. I want the toughest, meanest, son-of-a-gun I can find!” Later, in a television interview, he added: “During World War II, no one was concerned about the tone and vocabulary of General Patton. Their concern was winning the war.”

With the philosophical and political shift in the culture, those who thought they knew what conservatism and evangelical meant are left disillusion and directionless. Following the recent annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, DC,  one pundit stated in an interview with World Magazine (03-11-16): “I think you’re watching the culture change. We’re struggling with how to react to it: When to retreat; when to engage. … This event is symbolic of that in that you’re watching more and more social conservatives saying, we’re not welcome here. I think the question then becomes for us, When do you flee? When do you run for the hills?” 

The answer to these questions rests upon another question: Who is in control of the affairs of mankind and nations? Proverbs 21:1-4 reminds us: “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin.”

What is the Biblical Evangelical Christian to think and how should such a one act in an rapidly eroding culture? Regarding political aspirants, we note the expected and required behavior in James 1:22-26, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” Does this diagnose any political “leader(s)” presently claiming to be “religious and Christian”? 

One additional thought that should govern how the Biblical Christian must believe and behave, is expressed in a series of rhetorical questions in II Corinthians 6:14-16, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial (false gods or  false beliefs, the devil)? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. Verse 17 adds, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” As a Biblical Evangelical Christian, we are not to endorse or condone the ungodly nor the unseemly behaviors (crude, deceitful and profane) of political aspirants. Do not allow yourself to be either naïve or gullible. Consider these things with me!