Castaway Politics of Emotion
Posted: Wednesday, April 29, 2009
by Jean Purcell
OpineBooks.com
The apostle Paul wrote a fervent and somewhat unusual letter to the church in Corinth, and part of it dealt with rituals of the law about what to eat, drink, or touch. He said the church did not need to worry about those rituals; then, he said the church should be mindful and perhaps follow them at times!
He was concerned about new Jewish Christians of tender conscience who felt sinful if they did not keep the rituals. Paul wrote that he wanted to be sensitive to their feelings, and not to eat meat with them, for eating meat offended them. His was not a hypocritical act of pretending to agree about rituals, but to respect the sensitivities of those still attached to them. He shared all of this openly.
The apostle Paul, reborn and therefore rejecting his former life as a persecutor of the church, felt the weight of his past sins. He also felt the grace of God in forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. He wanted to make sure to do all he possibly could to live what Christ taught him and what he then preached to others. He wanted to walk the talk.
Paul's inspired awareness has taught the church for centuries and reaches today's generations. Sometimes I question myself (not always easy) along the lines of the apostle's concern: "Are you doing as you advise or teach others to do?" One of the easiest situations for a Christian to fall into, unawares, is to accept the teachings of Christ, intellectually and with deep devotion, and then to fail to follow them. Any of us can be hypocrites unaware.
Have you ever mentioned something that really offends you, like gossip? And soon, you hear something that grosses you out and you react: "That is so stupid!"? I've done that. I haven't gossiped, per se, but have come close to calling someone a fool! Jesus taught that we are not to do that, for it reeks of sin!
We are not being too hard on ourselves to take time to get real before God often. We need to try to see through His microscopic light of scriptural truth. Are we are doing according to what we say and profess to believe? Are we serious about accepting Jesus' call to follow Him at any cost?
Every time we cannot say, "Yes, I am serious about following Jesus at any cost," then we know that truly hypocritical behavior is shadowing us, from the inside out. If allowed to continue or to be excused, it eventually will darken the detour we're taking, and we will hardly notice. Then, the increasing difficulty of being at peace in relationship with God begins to overwhelm us.
Our emotions so often lead us off track. Our own frustration, then ire or verbal attack can take over. Wrong focus or obsession, based on fast reaction, often does that. Nowhere is this more the case, for some of us, than political issues.
Yesterday, two political surprises hit the US news bigtime. First, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania (PA) shocked many by announcing his switch to the Democrat Party. He said he expected a better chance at winning in the 2010 Pennsylvania primary. Now, I belong to neither the Democrat nor the Republican Party. So, why should it matter to me if Senator Specter leaves the Republican Party?
Yet, I have lived most of my life in the Washington DC area, which means it is very hard to ignore what's happening here. I have gone up and down as a political junkie. It's not a pretty picture. I know, 'cause I see how it changes people.
Some Republicans are now outraged by Senator Specter's decision. They call him ugly names and hammer at him at every opportunity. The basis of the Senator's decision is part of the nature of what some call "the politics beast." Unfortunately, so is the kind of anger being vented toward him.
By the way, will Sen. Specter's switch give the Senate an assured veto-proof Democrat majority? The number does not mean that he will vote completely along Democrat party lines. This Senator is publicly called by some "independent" and by others "unprincipled." But that's mild compared to the anger and word-rage being directed toward him over this latest political and personal decision.
The main issue I disagree with the Senator about is abortion, regardless of his party name. However, the second news of yesterday may do more harm to life votes in the Senate. Senator Specter's pro-abortion view is well known, and so is Kansas Senator Sam Brownback's pro-life view known.
Senator Brownback of Kansas, however, voted for a strong pro-abortion Cabinet nominee of the President's yesterday. His surprise vote for Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services may do more harm than Senator Specter's Party change.
Senator Brownback knows that Governor Sebelius is pro-abortion to the extreme. He also knows that as Secretary of the HHS, the former Kansas governor will have not only opinions about abortion, but strong influence on key abortion moral issues, like refusing care to abortion-survival infants, stem cell research issues, and tax-payer-funded abortions.
Senator Brownback, who takes pro-life positions usually, explained his decision, which he reportedly said was due to the recent Swine Flu virus outbreak and its seriousness. He felt that HHS must have an official director as we go farther into this possible pandemic.
I disagree mightily with that rationale. In fact, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Surgeon General's office, among others, do not yet have approved appointees, or Secretaries, either. Experienced career people are in charge until that happens. This happens often in government, and deputies historically know more about the issues than newly appointed heads know, going in. Deputies and Assistant Directors are the ones that new appointees, like a new Secretary of HHS, depend on to bring them up to speed during the initial days and months in office. Executive level career civil service personnel are the ones who know the issues and practices from the ground up.
These are the facts as I know them about yesterday's surprises. With shock and a deep sense of disappointment in Senator Brownback for his decision to vote for Governor Sebelius's appointment, I learned that news. With surprise yet an eventual shrug ("That's politics") I leaned of Senator Specter's affiliation switch.
You may think it ridiculous for me to thank God that I no longer, however, go ballistic over decisions and people that greatly disappoint me or are completely other than my views. To do so would put me in castaway danger, for I would be doing what the apostle Paul expressed his desire not to do. This does not mean that we cannot use strong arguments or persuasions, but they must be effective and not hateful.
Our battles against declining morality must be formed, in part, by cogent arguments. Otherwise, and if emotions rule, we will go adrift as we say one thing, professing the way of Christ by faith, and do another, using the world's ammunition, including reactions that displease God. God is just, and ultimate justice is His. He judges Senators and all others, including this writer, by His own righteousness. We are blessed to have such a caring God, who will not give up on our becoming wholly right with Him, and helps us.
God desires that we seek righteousness and seek to live righteously, or rightly, before Him. The Washington Capitol's ups and downs will not likely change. No extreme of verbal pleading or anger will be enough to change the elected people that lead government. But that does not mean that no good change can happen, for it can. There are ways to do it, with good arguments, facts, and thoughtful reasoning. It is a long, amorphous battle, in which everyone must be prepared to think through the most important opinions and to stick with them, and sin not in attitude whether overreaching anger or threats, which some still do.
There is real and powerful ammunition for fighting what we believe to be wrongs and fighting for what we believe to be right. First, do we stand up for Christ's teachings and seek to live them? Second, do we realize that emotional reactions do not have true power. This happened with the apostle Peter, when he drew a sword to cut off the ear of a soldier who was arresting Jesus, and we know Jesus' response.
God began this process in me and it has been hard and sometimes painful over the years. And, I still have to remain alert on this matter. I come from revolutionary stock on social issues! But I know that I now rely less on my emotional or knee-jerk reactions. It is more natural now to start thinking rather than to react only on feelings. I am very moved and upset at times by political matters that seem to violate this nation's most elementary beliefs and moral aims, historically. But I owe much to God, to my husband, parents, and others who have helped me not get locked into feelings. They have by example helped me put upsets to work in positive and, hopefully, effective ways.
Like the apostle Paul, I do not want to become a castaway, having done all I can to profess Christ and yet fall prey to subtle spiritual dangers in the process.
To what do you owe your convictions, faith, and self-control? It is not easy to hold strong convictions and yet to seek earnestly not to let them take the emotions veering off into one ditch, sewer, or bog after another. I urge each of us to think about this. I continue to work on myself, in hopes of giving more true accountings before God. That's a big job.
Thank you, dear Reader, for reading this far! God bless you!
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