What’s in your bushel? Is it hiding the light of your beliefs?
Division by Any Other Name is Still a Divide
I’m not a highly-educated person, so please take anything I share with a grain of (common sense) salt – tragically, we are a very divided nation – we argue and clash over so many causes and positions – one thing that rings true, more than either side of our debates, is the growing divide continues to get worse.
We have lots of opportunities for divide – we are divided by culture, economics, religions, educations, sports, employments, races, genders, legal influences, etc., etc… – one common denominator associated with all these divides is how they seem to evolve into polarizing political divides – I find this to be most troubling.
Some of these divides should be less contentious than others – for example, a Dallas Cowboys verses New York Giants football game will naturally have friction between opposing fans – this opposition should be passionate, emotional, even fun, etc… but certainly not combative – but lately it’s easy to find hundreds of stories of physical confrontations, assaults, gunfire, destruction of property, etc… as a result of a football game between rival teams – perhaps there is something more at play here than just football.
This can be a sensitive topic, so I’ll proceed cautiously, but deliberately – the divides we face today are all tied back to personal traits which (to be fair) are important to each of us – these are the foundations of who we are – I hope to illustrate that of all our traits, our personal beliefs and convictions are the most important – and by contrast, our politics, sports, economic, culture, etc (for examples) may be the least important – and by doing this, I hope we can see how much we really have in common, instead of how different we think we are.
Why are beliefs and convictions our most important trait? Please allow me to illustrate:
For example, I am a Christian – my beliefs are Christianity – I make this distinction because my “behavior” as a Christian is not always aligned with my beliefs (yep, I’m guilty) – odd as that sounds, this is true of most people and most beliefs – therefore, two basic conditions are critical for all of us:
- We should always be identified, first by our beliefs and convictions ahead of any other trait we may possess – our race, gender, employment, economic status, education, etc… even politics are important, but should all be subordinate to our beliefs and convictions.
- It is our individual responsibility to live, illustrate, and project our beliefs in obedience to the Lord, and as a witness to the world around us regardless of our conditions – it’s is not the responsibility of the world around us to deduce our beliefs by any other means than our profession and our behavior – IF our behavior compromises our beliefs and convictions, it is also our responsibility to make that right with the Lord, and to live, illustrate, and project a realignment of our behavior and beliefs to the world around us.
NOTE: These two points are pretty much in line with most beliefs – as a Christian, these two points are Biblically secure.
Soooooo (said the voice in Kevin’s head)… “This all feels very robotic – my beliefs and convictions are personal, emotional, Spiritual – please explain what this looks like in real life.”
How would applying these two points play out in real life – as mentioned above, I am a Christian and I’ll use Christianity to illustrate how my beliefs easily surpass any other traits in my life – you can easily plug in your beliefs and convictions as you consider these real-world illustrations:
Example 1: Christians believe in the sanctity of human life – traditionally, this belief applies to unjust loss of human life associated with abortion – where Christians may compromise our belief is if we don’t show the same care, compassion and awareness for other unjust loss of human life that is not associated with abortions (of which there are tens of thousands) – Biblically, there is no distinction – politically (not the same as Biblically), this looks like Pro-Life verses Pro-Choice – so, when considering how to avoid division without compromising our beliefs, reference sanctity of human life, consider these questions:
What does the world see in Christians? Do they see our genuine care compassion, and awareness for only aborted lives? Or the same passion for all unjust lost life?
What do Christian’s lives illustrate and project to the world? Is our involvement limited a politically charged contentious anti-abortion voting issues? Or are we also active in any cause championing victims of unjust loss of life?
Does the world see Christian’s with genuine care compassion, and awareness for “all” unjust loss of human life, or selective loss of life?
POINT: Christian’s belief in the sanctity of life should include “all” unjust loss of human life, and Christians should live, illustrate and project the totality of this belief – we’ll be better witnesses and more welcoming to the world around us if we’re not indifferent to tens of thousands of other unjust deaths – we’ll be less divisive along political, cultural, and social issues – BUT (don’t miss the greater point), if the opposite is true – meaning, we live, illustrate, project care compassion and awareness for ONLY aborted lives, we are hypocrites for embracing only a portion of this Biblical principle, and we’re causing, and widening the divide.
For a Christian, Biblical principles are not an ala carte menu for us to selectively construct our beliefs and convictions – for example, it would be like us being an activists for PETA, but only advocating for dogs – deliberately not caring about cats, birds, circus animals, or any other animal in harm’s way – in the case of sanctity of human life, we’re talking about sanctity of ALL human life – think about that in the context of what divides us politically, culturally, economically, socially, etc – each of these lesser traits can easily be tied back to conditions that unjustly causes the loss of human life – yet, Christians are often quiet and apathetic about these other (non-abortion related) losses.
EXAMPLE 2: Christians believe in the Biblical principle of adhering to the law of the land, in so much as that law does not require us to compromise Biblical principles – for example the law of our land requires international border control – we also have laws to protect citizens from other citizens, as well as laws to protect citizens from law enforcement, legal processes, and violations of human and civil rights – so far so good, right?
Let’s consider one of these law-related framings:
International boarder control is a state/national level voting issue, it’s not a belief – we vote for those we trust to carry our voices forward – then the government, plus law enforcement do their jobs – this boarder issue does not compromise our beliefs or convictions – so far, to this point, this law does not divide us – as citizens, if we don’t like the law, we can vote for change at the next election, and so on…. where Christians may compromise our beliefs is if we fail to show care compassion and awareness for those on either side of the border who find themselves hungry, homeless, hurting, oppressed, suffering, etc… – in fact, even though Biblical principles are very clear about how to treat people in such conditions, (tragically) what many conservative Christians are “known” for, is dehumanizing those at the boarder – even though they were created by God, in His image we often see them, treat them, and show contempt for them in many unbiblical ways – perhaps we see them in an un-Christ-like way because these people have broken a law that we passionately support.
Please take a second and consider this – there is nothing in the Bible that places citizenship requirements on care compassion or awareness – you can bet the world sees our lack of care, compassion and awareness – remember, our outrage with the legal boarder issue is a voting issue, not a belief issue – the boarder issue is important, however the hungry, homeless, hurting, oppressed, suffering people at the boarder is a rock solid Biblical principle for believers to pray about and address – at this point, it is really easy to see how so many political, economic, social, cultural, etc divisive positions can come from this one issue.
Does the world see our lack of compassion for those in need at the either side of the boarder? Or only our outage with the boarder issue?
How do we justify Christian organizations who provide aid all around the world, but not at our boarder?
Has God called us to make assumptions and speculate about those in need, or did God call us to have care and compassion for those in need?
Our beliefs teach us to show care, compassion and have awareness for those in need, which transcends any voter’s interests associated with the boarder crisis.
If our outrage at the boarder issues is more visible than our care, compassion, and awareness for those in need, we are hypocrites and we’re causing, and widening the divide.
Again, Biblical principles are not an ala carte menu for us to selectively construct our beliefs and convictions – in the case of caring for those in need, are we talking about only SOME of those in need, or ALL of those in need – think (again) about this in the context of what divides us politically, culturally, economically, socially, etc – each of these lesser traits can easily be tied back to either caring for, or showing indifference for those in need – Christians are often quiet and apathetic to those in need, that are the results of a political, economic, or social issue we disagree with.
Make no mistake about it, when Christian’s behavior fails to measure up to Christian beliefs and convictions, the world takes notice, and the divide continues to grow.
Let’s move on – these two examples clearly establish a sustainable, repeatable framework that illustrates how so many of our collective beliefs and convictions are not equitably mirrored by our collective behaviors – with very little effort we could map many other topics that divide us in much the same manner – topics like: food deserts, prejudice/hate, healthcare, big businesses wealth, wage gaps, big pharma, unequal education, unjust wars, civil and social rights violations, living wages, poverty, homelessness, and unjust legal, banking, housing, policing, convictions, etc., etc… it’s a very long list –
Okay, lets redefine the conditions – our behaviors and our beliefs don’t always line up well – social divide is a natural byproduct of this disparity – the divide compromises our ability to let our belief’s “light shine” because of our visibly tainted behaviors – add in heaping helpings of human (selfish, self-serving) nature, and before you know it the divide soaks into many of our lesser traits i.e. culture, economics, religions, educations, sports, politics, employments, races, genders, etc., etc – the most visible of which is our devotion, love and chest pounding for our ‘politics’.
If we continue to encapsulate and associate our unique divides by filtering them through political agendas, and NOT our beliefs, we are sure to remain dividend and at (escalating) odds with each other.
NOTE: I am not advocating for compromising Biblical or your belief principles at all – in fairness to most Christians, there are Biblical principles associated with many politically divisive issues we’re faced with today – that being said, there are also many Biblical principles that get watered down for the sake of political agendas – which side of these divisive issue are we falling on, beliefs or agendas?
What does the world around us see more of, our politics or our beliefs?
Any such divide between common citizens, who should be standing with each other (even to the point of death) should be harshly evaluated and critiqued – in many cases, this divide is political – no free nation will ever stand totally on only one side of any political divide – a nation’s people are foolish to believe that 40% or 50% of its citizens will just rollover and accept a political position they do not believe in – however, a nation’s people are naturally inclined to embrace and listen to each other IF OUR PURE BELIEFS ARE VISIBLE, TRANSPARENT AND NOT FILTERED THROUGH POLITICAL STRIFE!
The only answer to political divide is real and effective governance, dialogue, give and take with the interest of the nation’s greater good at the forefront – no political agenda can always get it’s way all the time – this is not true on the playground, not in competitions, not in life, not in government – we are fools to believe any such outcome is possible, yet we campaign as though that is the only results we’ll accept – our best course of action is to elect representatives to govern, to speak for us, to have out best interest heard at the highest levels – but even if our voting issues fail, we should never, never, never accept compromise of our beliefs, or the nation’s unity.
Stop holding fast to a belief that “my way” is the only acceptable solution for a nation that declares freedom and justice for all.
What’s in your bushel? Is it hiding the light of your beliefs?
Division by Any Other Name is Still a Divide,
Kevin's Thoughts 