Order & Chaos
Let us not be afraid of the fact that the Church is different from the world, that the reality that we celebrate, that we share, that we rejoice in our worship, is a reality that the world treats as an illusion.
Lesslie Newbigin
Conservative Christians in America are living in moral chaos. There is confusion and disorientation regarding their social surroundings and they are asking, “What kind of country am I living in? Where are we headed? Has the moral order collapsed?” Before the pandemic, conservative hopes were riding high on a great economy and strong military. Socialism was on the run and bright days were ahead. Then came the pandemic, the protests and riots, and, of course, there was the war of Donald Trump against Big Media, Big Tech, Big Industry, Big Sports, and Big everything. A scorned and angry left ganged up on him and, in the end, defeated him. Unprecedented division now exists in the nation and no one knows what is going to happen next. What seemed in great order, has now become chaotic.
America is not divided by religion and race. Particularly race is promoted as a major crisis. It is not a crisis; it is a problem. Global climate change is not a crisis, it is a problem. Government spending is an actual crisis, meaning if we don’t do something now, it won’t matter what else we do, we will no longer be a powerful nation. Problems do exist and they have long term solutions. Race is a major victory for America. We are the least racial society on earth, we have repented of our sins and changed, and it shows. We have made great strides in climate, we are doing better than most nations with solutions that are long term in nature.
Our greatest divide in America is philosophical - it is worldview and it is about moral authority. Around that issue there is chaos. Let me give an example, Donald Trump was not known as a Christian before he ran for President. Some reported that indeed he had become one just before he became President. To many Christians, this seemed a bit convenient, particularly progressive Christians who saw it as a political move. One thing was clear to conservative Christians however, Trump seemed to favor a more conservative interpretation of the Bible. He was anti-abortion, he supported a more traditional view of marriage, and he was a law and order advocate. He also supported religious liberty, freedom of speech, and the second amendment. The capstone was that he appointed originalist judges to federal courts and three new conservative judges to the Supreme Court.
Our new President, Joe Biden, is also a religious man. It could be said, more spiritual, more consistent, and more faithful than Trump. While Trump is a bundle of chaos looking for a place to happen, Biden represents, at least in his demeanor, order and a sigh of relief for an emotionally exhausted nation. He and many of his fellow progressive Christians possess and read Bibles. Fewer liberal Christians attend weekly services than conservatives. This is easily proved by Gallup, Pew, or The Barna Group research organizations. The pandemic has distorted any meaningful comparison at the present time. Back to President Biden … He seems to have interpreted the Bible differently. His Bible reading somehow has commanded him to expand abortion rights, even though his church abhors it. His compassion has been saved up for immigrants, even criminals, and his executive orders have been so far left that they defy common sense. His decree that allows transmen to compete against women in athletics will ruin women’s sports and set back the women's movement decades. He seems to be a reed blowing in the political winds. We should all prefer that he be guided by inner conviction. I pray that he will do so. We are wondering, “What is at his core?” What seemed calm is actually a storm of radical actions that will exacerbate our differences and create even more chaos and moral confusion.
Philosophically, President Biden is taking the nation in a more systemic liberation theology direction. Classic liberation theology joins liberal theology with liberal political theory, primarily socialism that reorders society. It is another utopian ideology that denies actual human nature and reality in general and always requires an authoritarian government to install it. This is understandable in that the Left has historically dismissed personal sin and focused more on systemic cultural sin.
This goes back to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s first trip to New York City in 1930. He attended Union Theological Seminary for one year. He didn’t agree with their liberal deconstructive approach to the biblical text that led to the erosion of biblical authority. Bonhoeffer didn’t get along with the Lion of the Left, Reinhold Niebuhr. Niebuhr believed that societal sin that led to racism and poverty were the greater sins and was a brilliant proponent for such a view. This, of course, flew in the face of orthodoxy and made him the darling of the secular left. He made fun of Billy Graham and put him on the cover of Time magazine, he joined Graham himself, and C.S. Lewis, as a cover story. The intellectual elite and ruling class despised fundamentalism and its cornpone spirituality.
It is clear that the ruling class remains arrogant and superior, both left and right, according to their own words. Many are calling for a deprogramming of people who disagree with them. Again, they have a secular worldview. Worldview is shaped by theology, religion, and philosophy. Which is of course combined with lived experience. And don’t underestimate the power of snobbery; you can forget your Latin, your Greek, and the history of art you studied at your university or left-wing seminary, but being a snob stays with you for life.
This short history puts on the table the real divide. It is between one interpretation of scripture that proposes that the Bible is true and has moral authority in a person’s life. And the view that this ancient book on which our society has been built, needs to be reinterpreted, and reapplied to American life. A progressive interpretation of the Bible dismisses several key doctrines of the historic Christian faith.
Jesus Christ is God incarnate and the only way to heaven.
That any sex outside of marriage is immoral and a sin.
That Hell is a real place where those who reject salvation will spend eternity.
That ideal marriage is between one man and one woman.
That God created the world and universe and one day will set up his kingdom from which he will reign.
That people are eternal, not the physical universe.
So, where are conservative Christians to turn for order while the chaos swirls around us? When Moses went up the mountain to meet with God and was gone for forty days, the people waited under the supervision of Moses’ brother Aaron. I want to be fair to Aaron, I don’t know him personally, I‘m sure he has a story to tell. But the people didn’t pay much attention to him. Genetics doesn’t necessarily mean that the mantle of power and authority is passed on in a family. It seems that Moses had been gone a bit too long. What once was order, now turned to chaos. The people’s sentiment was summarized as “Come on, make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”
This normally is when Moses would go into his tent and seek the Lord. Aaron said, however, “Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me.”
Then Aaron himself melted the gold and made the golden calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” Aaron then announced that the next day there would be a festival with feasting and drinking to please their Lord. Obviously, Aaron was a political being, definitely not a leader. Certainly not a brother who could be trusted with power - he melted like butter.
Meanwhile on the mountain, God told Moses to quickly get down the hill, he described the problem and entreated Moses to step back while he destroyed the lot. Moses tried to pacify the Lord and took up the people’s cause and asked for mercy. “So, the Lord changed his mind” This is the kind of leadership that is needed, and that leader, Moses, was about to break up the party and restore order. When Moses saw what God told him about, Moses burned with anger and smashed the tablets. He took the golden calf and ground it into powder, threw the dust in the water and made the people drink it. He wasn’t finished. He then had the Levites go through the camp and slay even their loved ones until 3,000 were dead. A bit strong for modern sensibilities, but we know that order was restored without which there was no going forward in any meaningful way. That order finally came through the law of God found on those smashed tablets, historically known as the Ten Commandments. They hang today in the Supreme Court of the United States and form the basic morality of all of Western Civilization. When a society breaks them and leaves them behind and starts indulging their pleasures via their own gods, chaos will result. So, Christians, here is what to do:
Read, study, memorize, and meditate on the scripture. It will provide stability, focus, and comfort that God is knowledgeable and in ultimate control. This fact does not ensure that life will be less difficult, even tragic, but it will provide you with the knowledge and hope necessary to move forward with courage.
Find purpose and mission. The scripture tells us that God has a purpose and plan for human life and even directs us to discover it. Such passages as Ephesians 2:10 say we are the work of God’s hands, his masterpiece. That mission in general is to be a disciple and to make new disciples who also reproduce (Matthew 28:18-20). This is the game until Jesus returns.
Connect with a group of believers and live in community with them. Hopefully you will find a community of like-minded individuals who live by covenant. That means you have leaders, rules, and disciplines - you have order.
