Pick an issue that divides people.
Let’s start with climate change. You probably have a position on this. You either believe that humans contribute to climate change or you don’t. You either think that we should do something, because the alternative is a disaster, or you think that the evidence is not in. You probably have bumper sticker worthy rhetorical lines handy in the event of a “discussion” of the issue in person or on line. You probably align with a political party and their stand on the issue. You listen to this party’s politicians and professionals and take in their arguments as your own. You might even see those on the other side of the issue as ignorant, wrong, or even dangerous to our way of living.
Now go through the same process with other issues that divide people – Immigration. Gun violence. LGBTQ+ rights. Money. Wealth. Poverty. Welfare. Homelessness. Health care. Racism. Taxes. Foreign policy. Minimum wage. Education. Criminal justice.
Let all of that sink in. How are you feeling right now? I imagine that you might feel like you are standing in a castle, with soldiers watching along the wall, looking for the potential assault that may be coming. I imagine you might feel defensive and ready for fight or flight. I imagine you are arming yourself for an intellectual fight over a topic that you haven’t studied yourself, but have heard things from people that you trust.
Too often we approach such issues with an all or none mentality. We quickly determine whether someone is with us or against us. There can’t possibly be another option. A or B. Republican or Democrat. Right or wrong. Two options and only two options.
But what if there was another option? Or many other options? What if we expanded our imagination to allow for other possibilities?
Missing in all the debates over any of these issues are other options.
For Christians and those that claim to follow Jesus, we are missing God. I’m not talking about using God as a weapon to shut the other side up. I’m not talking about ending with a God statement to show how God is on our side.
I’m talking about starting with God.
Pick an issue. Instead of asking how we have to fix it, or focusing on the fear of change, or what our trusted politicians have to say about the issue, what if we started with God?
What if we looked to God first and asked some of these questions – what’s God up to here? What does God have to say about this issue? How do we think that God wants this to turn out? What if we went to the bible first to start the conversation, rather than the end to prove our point?
I imagine the conversations would change. Let me correct that – I know the conversations would change.
It would change the issue significantly. It would change it from a partisan argument where there are winners and losers, to a discussion on what God is calling on us to do in order to live out the faith we claim to be given.
What do we think that God wants climate change to turn out? How about Gun violence. LGBTQ+ rights. Money. Wealth. Poverty. Welfare. Homelessness. Health care. Racism. Taxes. Foreign policy. Minimum wage. Education. Criminal justice. How do we think God wants all of these things to turn out? I imagine far differently than we currently imagine. I imagine far differently than we currently talk about these issues.
Given that, who’s willing to start looking at issues this way with me?
Laced up Lutheran 
Hmmm…
What if the “issue” is healing on the Sabbath? What if the “issue” is the servants of the vineyard beating and killing messengers from the master? What if the issue is turning the house of prayer into a den of rebels?
Would that change things?
Does God not have a right/wrong position on at least some issues?
And when it comes to violence (let’s apply this to gun control for example) is he for it or against it? Is he for it if he sends a little shepherd boy into the battle against a giant? How about if it’s Gideon? But what if Jesus tells you to LOVE you enemies and pray for them? Would that change things??? Is God even consistent at all???
Are these things really that simple?
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I’m not arguing that simply asking the questions makes the solutions obvious or simple. Actually, I’m arguing the exact opposite. The politicians offer rhetoric that presents simple solutions.
I’m arguing that starting with God changes the nature of the conversation – it moves it away from simple solutions. It moves it away from being right and the other person being wrong. It moves it towards relationship, communication, and discovery. The foundation of a conversation is different if God is the starting point, as opposed to a weapon to finish off the enemy.
You raise some great questions in the comments. It’s not clear what God is for or against so often. I don’t read the bible as a book of answers. Rather it is a book of questions that are raised. It’s messy. It’s violent at times. It raises serious questions. And these questions should cause us to proceed with care. Too often, that care is missing in the debate on any given topic. People seem more concerned with their idol of being right, rather than being in right relationship with God and others and letting that be their guide.
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Thanx for setting me straight, Matt.
Just when I was clicking the send button on my response, I looked again at the title of your post and it dawned on me that I kinda missed the point. Juggling multiple tasks here, I should have been more careful with my response. But I saw you posted this yesterday, and I had not as yet had the chance to play, so I was a bit over eager, I suppose.
Now that I am slowed down a bit, I wonder… How about we say this: Deal with “the issues” starting with the Love of Christ and work outward from there.
As my previous remarks demonstrate, just trying to be “biblical” (which is good and indispensable, I think) is not REALLY enough. But if the Love of Christ, which is biblical, informs everything else (including the Bible) is the vantage point I start with and end with, then surely it will “CHANGE the discussion” in a positive way.
How’s that for my two cents???
Thanx for the good post.
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No worries my friend. I appreciate you reading the post. And you really did have some great questions – really difficult questions. I really like the idea of dealing with the issues starting from the Love of Christ. Also, I use the word “issues” mostly because I know it will be understood a certain way. But I think issues is a terrible way to talk about the challenges we face. Issues are faceless and take out the humanity. It makes things into something that is a debate rather a human concern that actually affects people’s lives. And I agree, just being biblical is not enough.
Did you know that Christians and Jews read Scripture differently? Jesus demonstrates this in his interactions with people. Christians often look at the Bible as a book of answers that is used to settle an argument. It’s where many Christians go to last at the end of a discussion to show how God agrees with them. But Jews often start with Scripture to begin the conversation. Jesus does this before the parable of the Good Samaritan. It’s a great example. I think the Jews have the right approach in about this.
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Yes, we have (at least between the two of us) established that there are multiple dimensions to Jesus, to being biblical, and so forth. Actually, there are with “the issues” themselves regardless of our handling of them.
For instance: Gun control.
I am not particularly a gun enthusiast, but I have enjoyed the sporting fun of some target practice with a few guns in my time. I never was a real hunter, but my grandfather was, and I grew up in Colorado which hosts hunters from all over the nation (esp Texas) in season. And so I find a large part of the gun culture to be good. But I find the control of guns to be ABSOLUTELY necessary if we are to have peace.
Thus I have sensitivities running right through ME which tend in both directions.
But when I hear someone say, “THEONLY WAY to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun,” I immediately say. NO.
That is not, in fact, the ONLY WAY.
You might effectively argue it is the best way or the most important way or what have you, but it is definitely not the ONLY way. I would ask you to google “Nurse Joan Black” if you insist otherwise. Joan Black disarmed an active shooter in her hospital WITH A HUG!!!
That is very nearly Christian of her.
We have other options. Costly? Yes. But so is trusting that Aunt Edna is a sure shot in a crowd and can pick out the perp from the bystanders in the fog of war which suddenly erupts in your frozen food aisle on an otherwise tranquil Tuesday afternoon.
Jim Morrison wasn’t speaking for Jesus when he said, “Nobody here gets out alive,” but he was still right about that. And Christians knew this when they died with Christ way before Morrison came along and made his famous statement.
But all of that is really the OTHER side of the coin from where you and I live. Yes we deal with that too, but we are Jesus people talking about the bearing Jesus has on all these “issues” or matters or whatever you want to call them. (Yes, I know there is problems with labels of all kinds, but they still function as shorthand language in ongoing conversations we are all already having anyway.)
Yes, I hope we can bring to bear our best Christian thinking, talking, care and living to these matters. Jesus is Lord of all or he is not lord at all. And that filters down through EVERYTHING.
Great discussion.
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Thanks for the contribution. I wholeheartedly agree with the things you have raised – there aren’t nice easy solutions.
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