Hypocrisy on Facebook

It never occurred to me that I might one day find myself praying to God about Facebook.  But that day has come.  Actually it arrived last year some time, in the midst of the political campaigns for the presidency of the U.S.A.  I’ve long been a registered Republican, and had strongly disapproved of Barack Obama when he was elected the first time.  (In fact, I wrote several blogs here about him back then.)  As he was running for re-election, I didn’t see a suitable opponent.  I had initially thought Hillary Clinton would take his place, but then it became clear that the only real choice would be between Obama and Mitt Romney.

 

Of course there was no shortage of positive or negative rhetoric about either of the candidates running for President.  But I found myself with reservations about Mitt Romney.  No, it wasn’t his Mormon faith.  I actually have a lot of respect for many of the ideals and values espoused (and held to) by the Mormons.  Rather it was a sense that Mitt Romney might not be as sincere in his caring for all of the people.  Much as I hate to admit it, some of his remarks about people who are poor, handicapped, or even unemployed seemed strangely reminiscent of now-deceased billionaire Leona Helmsley who was quoted as having once said that, “Only the little people pay taxes.”

 

So I turned to Facebook to try and find worthwhile understanding other than my own.  From time to time, I would pose a question, usually about Mitt Romney.  Several times I tried to start a dialogue about the issues.  Does Mitt Romney really have a plan to bring our country’s deficit spending under control?  Do we really believe that reducing tax rates will result in increased tax revenue with which to pay for our government’s spending?  But time and time again, questions like this on Facebook would result in the exact same outcome.  The Obama-bashers would in outrage ask some stupid question like, “Would you like four more years of Obama destroying our country?”  Never once did they answer my question, mind you.  They would just try to “disarm” me with a condemning question --- resting on the assumption that I was an Obama supporter (which I am not).

 

It’s of course no secret that I’m a born-again Christian.  I spend my life with great concentration on the teachings of Jesus Christ.  I work hard to reconcile my sinful nature and selfish desires to the godly standards of the Old and New Testament.  And as you might imagine, a great percentage of my friends and even my acquaintances are also Christians.  At least that’s what they would have you believe.  Frankly, the bullying and hateful disrespect that some of them displayed (on Facebook) had me wondering if they could really be following the same Christ that I do. 

 

At times I would try to point out the hypocrisy that seemed apparent to me.  I would try to re-engage them back on the original topic at hand.  After all, I really did want to discuss the issues.  But I had no interest in demonizing either candidate.  Ultimately, I failed in those endeavors.  My so-called Christian “friends” prevailed in their desire to hold on to their hatred and disrespect, demonizing Obama and trying to bully me for not joining them.  Eventually, I began to “unfriend” them on Facebook.  That didn’t stop some of them, so I had to go back and actually block them from even seeing my wall or communicating with me.  This was quite sad for me.  I’ve known some of them for nearly 20 years.  I also had thought of them as godly men.  (I don’t any more.)

 

There is plenty of Scripture in the Bible that tells Christians how we are to regard our government and its leaders.  Romans 13:1-7 says that, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. …. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the (governmental) authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”

 

Did you catch that last part?  If you owe respect … then give respect.  If you owe honor … then give honor.  They are no less important than paying the taxes that you owe.  This passage makes it abundantly clear that we are to obey the government God places over us. We are to obey the government in everything—paying taxes, obeying rules and laws, and showing respect. If we do not, we are ultimately showing disrespect towards God, for He is the One who placed that government over us.

 

When the apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Romans, he was under the authority of the Roman government during the reign of Nero, who is notorious for – among other things – being quite possibly the most evil of all the Roman emperors. Nevertheless Paul still recognized the Roman government’s rule over him. Do we dare do any less today? 

 

Recently I had to “unfriend” an old classmate from high school.  I had reconnected with her not long ago, and thought it would be fun to catch up.  That didn’t turn out to be the case.  While professing to be a Christ follower, and quoting Scripture regularly, she also refers to our (now re-elected) President Obama as “the antichrist” (sic).  When I tried to point out the error of her thinking, she reacted the same way those other Facebook friends had reacted last fall.  I got a severe tongue lashing for refusing to join or support her demonizing of Obama.  I cautiously tried to discuss the issue with her, but was quickly attacked by her adult children as well.  Finally I retreated, apologized for offending her, encouraged her to review her position with her pastor, and, of course, “unfriended” and blocked her. 

 

Sadly, my self-proclaimed Christian Facebook friends don’t appear to be familiar with the context of what Paul said to the Romans.  Even if Obama were the “antichrist,” the command for Christians would not change.  Obama may have been elected by the American people, but he got his position and his authority from God.  Therefore, it is necessary to submit to him not only because of the law, but also, as Romans 13 tells us, because of conscience.  You see, we honor God when we give respect to those in authority over us – whether that is at work, at church, in government or anywhere else. 

 

One of the things we mistakenly conclude is that if we don’t agree with someone then we don’t have to submit to them.  We may think that they “don’t deserve” our respect (as if anyone could).  I’ve heard people say that the politician whom they think is vile “hasn’t earned” our respect.  But who has earned our respect?  After all, each of us is so terribly flawed and bent toward sin and evil that we required the salvation of a Messiah.  It’s good to remember that when looking at those in authority over us (and others) whom we don’t agree with. 

You see, I don’t have to agree with you, support your policies, or even like you in order to submit to you, show respect for you, obey you, and even love you.  Love is patient and kind, it always forgives, it never gives up, it is never harsh, and all those other things that 1 Corinthians 13 teaches us. 

So, here’s the question:  Have you loved your politician (insert name here) today?  I started out saying that I never imagined I'd be praying to God about Facebook.  But as I've encountered this conflict and nasty business on Facebook, I've found myself bewildered by so-called Christians who were behaving so heinously that I didn't know how to react.  So I've found myself praying, asking God to show me how to respond to someone.  Fortunately, He's been willing to guide me.  In some cases, I've been able to re-focus the conversation in a more righteous direction.  In other cases, I've been led to "shake the dust off my feet" and move on. 

I have to say that in those cases, it gives me no pleasure to "unfriend" someone on Facebook.  For I realize that they are lost in their hypocrisy and have a reckoning day coming that will surely be ugly.  Because I love them, I don't want to see that in their future.  I wonder if anyone ever sees my hypocrisy so clearly.  And I wonder if they do, would they love me enough to try to call me out on it.

Obama A Muslim?

According to a Washington Post survey, about 20% of all Americans think that President Obama is a Muslim. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/18/AR2010081806913.html) It's interesting to note that the Washington Post makes it clear up front that these Americans wrongly believe Obama is a Muslim. I guess that makes it clear that the writers at the Washington Post are clearly not in that 20 percent!

I have to admit that I'm not in that category of Americans that believe Obama is a Muslim. But then I never really thought he was a Christian either. Oh I know, he identified himself as a Christian, and had attended a supposedly Christian church for years before even running for President. But when I saw the kind of pastor he'd listened to for years, it became clear that at best he'd had a misguided teacher of what Christianity is. He'd been misled about what it means to follow Christ. So I never thought Obama was a Christian.

Now here's the thing. Those Americans that think Obama is a Muslim? What do they think they are? My guess is they'd be wrongly believing that too. Hypocrites aren't new to the modern generation. They existed in Biblical times. Through the ages there have always been lots of people who believed they were something they were not. Usually they thought of themselves as more righteous, more holy, more right ... than they actually were. And they still exist today. Scores of them.

Years ago I heard a preacher ask his audience if they were put on trial for being a Christian --- would there be enough evidence to convict them. Honestly I thought of all the people I knew who claimed to be Christians, and measured myself against them. I concluded that maybe there wouldn't be enough evidence to convict me. I was guilty as charged. Though I claimed to be a Christian. Probably at least 20% of Americans would look at me and conclude that I was a Christian. Nevertheless, would there be enough evidence to convict me? I doubted it. (Hopefully my record today is better!)

So what if 20% of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew or whatever? Would there be enough evidence to convict him of any of those things? Frankly I doubt it. Most Americans might be surprised to find themselves in the same spot too. Let's face it, people, most of us just don't live devout lives devoted to serving the one true God or any other god. I doubt seriously that Obama's record is really any better than yours or mine.

Perhaps if just 20% of Americans believed they were close enough to God for their prayers to be answered - and devoted themselves to praying for our President - then Obama would look very different to most of us. Mmmmm?

National Leadership

I've been thinking about this for a while now. I am considering a potential run for President of the United States. You see, I am beginning to think that perhaps God has given me more insight into effective leadership than has apparently been bestowed on the rest of our nation's leaders in my entire lifetime. (Seriously!)

Consider the story of King Solomon in the Bible. He was the son of King David, whom God had called "a man after my own heart." Solomon was one whom God told he could ask for anything he wanted - and God would grant his wish. Being clever young man, Solomon asked God for wisdom. So God made him "the wisest man who ever lived." (That would include now, by the way.)

The Old Testament book of 1 Kings chronicles the story of Solomon rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. When it was finished, he held a dedication ceremony. In that ceremony, he prayed a very public prayer in front of the entire nation. Look at what Solomon asked God for on behalf of his nation:

1. God's presence (1 Kings 8:57)
2. Desire in the people's hearts to do God's will (1 Kings 8:58)
3. Help with the daily needs of the people (1 Kings 8:59)
4. Desire and ability of the people to obey God (1 Kings 8:58)
5. Victory in the causes (including wars) that God might call the nation to (1 Kings 8:44-45).

At this national assembly, Solomon finished praying aloud before his constituents. Then he turned to his people and said to them, "But your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord, to live His ways and obey Him." (1 Kings 8:61)

What do you suppose it would be like if the U.S. President held a national assembly - a televised press conference - and prayed such a prayer? How would we react? More importantly, how might God react?

And how would the media respond if that President finished the prayer, and then turned to the people of the United States, saying something like, "Now, all of our hearts - including my own - must be fully committed to the Lord, to live life His way and to fully submit ourselves to and obey him!"

I suspect this kind of national leader could actually change America. How would he (or she) do so? By focusing themselves and the people of this great country on the solution ... instead of the problems.

Now I've been seeing these examples of national leadership in my Bible. I've been looking for them in American politics. They are not to be found. If they're out there, they are very good at remaining anonymous and obscure (which really means ineffective). So I wonder if God gives me this vision and this understanding for another reason. Maybe I'm not supposed to vote for this person. Maybe I'm supposed to be this person!

So I am beginning to imagine my inauguration. I would pray such a prayer. I would call the national to public and corporate repentance for the sins of our nation. I would ask everyone to find a good church and get committed to it with regular attendance, financial support, service, etc. I would set up a national web site for everyone to voluntarily register their agreement with me to go this direction. I would ask them to pray for Congress to repent and reform - changing their evil and foolish ways.

How about it? Do you think I have a chance to win the U.S. Presidency?

Secretary of Discipleship?

President-elect Barack Obama has been busy lining up his "team." Perhaps the most newsworthy appointments have been Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton --- two people who ran against him in the Democratic primaries and said publicly that he was not as qualified to be president as they were. My how things change in such a short period of time. Rush Limbaugh was on TV today, talking to Barbara Walters about how genius Barack is to "keep his friends close and his enemies closer." I don't know if that's true. I don't know if Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton would really be enemies of Mr. Obama. They will certainly make interesting government.

But amidst all the flutter about the appointments Mr. Obama has been making, I found myself wondering how such positions evolve in the first place. Who decided there would be a Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense or other positions? When were those decisions made? How were they made? Perhaps what I'm really thinking about is how such a decision could be made today. What if, for example, Mr. Obama decided to appoint a "Secretary of Discipleship?" The purpose of this role would be to disciple our president and his top leaders. They would be the pastor or chaplain who would see to the spiritual needs of Mr. Obama.

I've blogged before about the concerns I've had with Mr. Obama's discipleship. He spent twenty years sitting in a sick church, being discipled by a misguided fool. It concerns me that he himself have a strong, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I'd like to see our president be grounded in prayer, getting discipled with Biblical truth. It would benefit our nation, I believe, if our president were making decisions based on God's eternal priorities.

Imagine if Mr. Obama were to call me and ask me about being his new "Secretary of Discipleship." Where on earth would I start? I think the first priority would be to get the Obama family into a good church fellowship near their new home. I'd set up daily meetings with the president ... to look at Scripture in light of whatever might be on his calendar that day. We'd end that session with prayer. In fact, I'd help the president "pray without ceasing." Perhaps most importantly, I'd be with the president to ensure that satan's attacks could be fought effectively. Whether he needed encouragement or accountability, I'd try to help the president reconcile his beliefs with his behaviors and his decisions.

Don't get me wrong. I don't have any fantasy that I could be so important that President-elect Obama would pay me any attention. But if he were to ask me, I'd say he's still missing one important appointment. Who's going to see to the spiritual needs in the White House? The change that Mr. Obama promised us should definitely include a spiritual realm. We Christians just can't sit outside the White House fence and send prayer chain e-mails around to each other to pray for our president. The spiritual needs and demands are just too great. It's time to put the spiritual needs of the president where they need to be addressed --- in his cabinet.

Electing Leadership?

We're in the final countdown now, to the presidential elections here in the United States. Just a few more days until one of the biggest decisions in our country will be made. The world is watching, literally. I was in a Ugandan prison last month and was surprised to hear the prisoners discussing the U.S. presidential elections. For the world's only remaining super-power, the President of the United States has been called "the most powerful person on earth." So while we Americans think about electing our country's foremost leader, the world seems to understand that whatever we decide has an enormous impact on everyone else as well. I wonder if Americans are cognizant of that truth when they decide for whom they will vote.

In the elections we tend to discuss leadership and refer to the elected officials as leaders. But I've been thinking and I'm not so sure we have a handle on that. I mean to say that maybe leadership isn't the issue we think it is. If you look up the definition of leadership in the dictionary (or go to http://www.dictionary.com/) you'll find it is rather ambiguous. I read all of the available definitions of leader or leadership and think to myself, "No, that is not what I'm looking for in America today."

You can jump over to some Internet searches on leadership, and you end up in topics like qualities of leadership and other such topics - which tend to be someone's opinion of what leadership really is. Go into any bookstore today and there seems to be no end to business or religious books on leadership either. Quite frankly, I get sick of hearing it. Some of these books are pretty lame. It seems that we humans tend to confuse success with leadership. We take a football player, for example, who is a good athlete and makes a ton of money - and we call him (or her) a leader. Or we take a person who has made a lot of money in business - and we call him (or her) a leader. Is that really the criteria for leadership?

I am concluding that there is a cultural definition of leadership, at least in this country. It is perhaps better defined as influence or celebrity. It doesn't seem to be comprised of a particular set of skills or gifts or even behaviors. After all, the bully on the school playground can be considered a leader in today's terms. And we've all known about evil leaders like Hitler or Idi Amin. For centuries, and continuing today, the world has had many leaders that were truly bad people. A leader can be evil and still be considered a leader. Some would argue that they may not be effective leaders. But perhaps we assume that any reasonable definition of effective leadership would require positive results. Unfortunately, no dictionary seems to have that definition.

So if leadership isn't all it's cracked up to be, what should we elect instead? For starters, I think we should elect wisdom. It is that captured learning that lets you make extraordinary observations of past experiences and present information to come to new conclusions and make decisions that produce better results. I think we should elect discernment. It is the ability to sort through the noise and separate the urgent from the important. It is time we elect integrity. It is consistent thinking, speaking and behaving against a morally high set of values that are applied in all situations at all times.

We could argue for things like courage, for example. But I've seen courage be incredibly foolish. Sometimes people aren't afraid of things that they should be afraid of! Or we could argue for honesty and truth, but I've seen the truth spoken without love - and it turns out to be just mean. We could argue for tenacity or perseverance, maybe high energy. But I suspect those would ultimately fail us as well.

No, I believe I'm going to hold onto wisdom, discernment and integrity. Whoever is elected will be a world leader, good or bad. The world will be impacted by their leadership, whether they are effective or ineffective. But I think that Americans and the rest of the world will be best served if our next President is wise, discerning and a man (or woman) of integrity. Most of all, I would like to see our next President be truly submitted to God, leaning not on his own understanding, but turning to God in prayer for every decision and every perspective. So, my fellow Americans, do you think that is the person we can elect in the next few days?