The past week has been a bit interesting. As the world around us continues to convulse in violence our attention has been focused on some Supreme Court decisions, and the Rebel Flag. It has brought out interesting comments from a variety of sources. Evangelicals have had their say and have been highlighted as "those intolerant extremists" once again. In reality there is a common thread that connects all three of these topics. They share the same problem that has taken us to where we are today. Drifting rapidly from where God has designed us to be. It is not just the Court or the Rebel Flag detractors but also Evangelicals who have fallen prey to the attack on truth.
If you are not familiar with me you should know that I am a bit driven to try to see the historic and cultural context of things I study. This is true in my study of the Scriptures as well as other things that interest me. I believe it is absolutely essential to try to understand what was the intent of the author and the reader at the time events were recorded. When we ignore the original context of who wrote things and to whom they were written, we may well end up in error. That is the case for the Supreme Court decisions, the concern over the Rebel Flag and how evangelicals understand the Word of God. The first two are disturbing and even irritating. However, the last, understanding Scripture, has led us to confusion and outright error. A place no follower of God or Messiah wants to be.
I would like to view these one at a time. In the decisions made by the Supreme Court, the Court has simply disregarded the history that is the foundation of the U.S. Constitution. They have usurped the rights of the states and denied the intent of the authors of the document. Whether it is demanding the support of a national health care program or redefining marriage, history and the intent of the writers has had no bearing. There is nothing in the document to grant the power they have exercised. There is nothing in the Constitution that even mentions marriage. To tie life, liberty, and equal protection from the 14th amendment is fanciful at best. It assumes that if marrying several women or men at the same time brings you a feeling of liberty and happiness, you are guaranteed equal protection to make that happen. Concern has been voiced by those who see this as a moral issue or from the basis of religious conviction. The thought is that their right to practice their faith will be in question. There may be cause for concern, as one of the commentators following the decision on same sex marriage made the statement that "The Supreme Court has finally recognized that religious freedom must end where oppression begins." It is not hard to imagine that a religious stand concerning abortion, sexual purity before marriage, homosexuality or even sin in general will be viewed as oppressive. Such conviction spoken would not be allowed.
The only way to arrive at the decisions we are seeing is to remove the foundation that the Constitution was built upon. No matter what you want to believe, the United States of America was founded on the belief that there is a God who created us and made Himself known to us. Religious freedom was at the very core of many of the colonies. Our laws were gleaned from or in principal drawn from the pages of Scripture. We have simply chosen to ignore the historic truth beneath our nation's founding and the Constitution that was meant to protect our freedoms from a potentially oppressive government.
As to the Rebel Flag, the supposed flag of slavery, there are several flaws in the current argument. Questions were asked of people on the street during a segment of "The O'Reily Factor". One question was, "What was the reason for the Civil War?" The answer, of course, was "slavery". Just a few points of reality. 1) It was not a "Civil" war. No one in the South wanted to overthrow the government; they were revolting to form their own government just as the 13 colonies had about 100 years before. 2) Southern states seceded over what they saw as an oppressive federal government laying unreasonable taxation on the southern states. 3) The Northern states also had slaves. In fact, next to Charleston, the greatest ports for the importation and sale of slaves were Philadelphia, New York and Boston. 4) The Emancipation Proclamation only applied to southern states. Northern states could maintain their possession of their house servants and stable hands. 5) Slavery became the issue two years into the war as northern support was waning, and a moral issue was needed to continue to pursue the war.
Whatever you think of the Rebel Flag, the history behind it wasn't about slavery, but about the south rebelling against an oppressive federal government. If you compare memorials in Gettysburg and Fredericksburg, you will find that the Union fought the Rebels at Gettysburg while the Confederates fought the Federalist at Fredericksburg. Perspective. However, history has no bearing on current society so take down the flags and don't sell them on e-bay or at K-Mart. By the way, the slaves were purchased from the English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Dutch colonies in Africa. I guess we can't sell those flags either. The point is slavery was a national travesty, not just a southern one. Slaves were owned in all of the states. The northern states simply did not have to endure the heavy taxation placed upon the southern states by the federal government. Unfair taxation led the southern states to rebel with a desire to form a new Confederation of states with a limited centralized governing authority. Imagine a flag that represents being upset with an oppressive federal government that taxes unreasonably, tramples on states rights and personal freedoms. But, again it must be said, history doesn't matter.
As to Evangelical Christians, at least those who write commentaries and Bible studies, we find the same disturbing truth. Studies and materials produced are written as if the Apostle Paul wrote to Americans. His letters do apply to us. However,they were written to existing assemblies in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, etc. As a Jewish Rabbi writing to a mix of Jews and Gentiles, the culture and instruction was decidedly Hebraic. But, we have determined that the Jewish foundation of our faith is pretty much to be ignored. If you look at Scripture (see Acts 24:5,24:14 & 28:22), the believing groups at that time were viewed simply as sects of Judaism. Yet you will be hard pressed to find Evangelical assemblies that honor any Jewish traditions. We are told we are under grace and not under the Law. Ephesians 2 explains that we Gentiles who were far off and not citizens of Israel and had no claim to the covenants of promised are brought near. By the blood of the Jewish Messiah we too can become citizens. We too can share in the covenants. Paul is clear in Romans 11 that it is the Gentiles who were grafted into Israel http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=11&t=NKJV#s=1057017. Yet, if we are honest, Evangelical Christians let Jews know they have to be grafted into the church to be in God's kingdom. Who cares what the culture and historic context of Scripture tells us; what the Scripture means to me today is what matters.
If we saw ourselves as a sect of Judaism, as the believing assemblies did in Acts, we would have to rewrite much of what we do today. What of the evangelical rejection of resting on the seventh day. What of the ignoring of God's ordained holidays in His Word? Should we honor those in addition to the ones we just made up? And O my! What about bacon! But don't worry. We are under grace. God can't really be concerned with what He inspired the writers of Scripture to write. After all He gave us His Spirit Who can lead us to pick and choose what we like and ignore the stuff we don't. Hey, we can even add some new stuff to help us justify what we don't like. We add words and take them away to make our point. (See Wednesday, June 24, 2015 The Book Of James Should Not Be In the Bible)
We can be pretty outraged at what the Supreme Court does when they ignore the history and original meaning and intent of our Constitution. As well we should be. We may draw wrong conclusions about what a flag stands for when we fail to consider the history behind it. Yet, might it be more important to consider what is the foundation, the history, the culture, that lies beneath the Word of God, of His revelation to us? Do we just ignore it and hope we are right about a gracious God not caring what we do with His Word? Does it matter that we have drifted so far from the practice of the Early "church". You know, that sect of Judaism that was growing back in the first century.
Well, there is a lot to think about. Feeling oppressed yet?
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