Wednesday, November 2, 2016

No Matter What?

With regard to the current presidential election and its outcome, I recently heard someone say that "whatever happens, no matter what, it's God's will."  Of course, I find this incredibly problematic.  First, we are the ones at the polls voting; not God.  And so, this kind of thinking presumes that our judgment (or at least the judgment of those who comprise the majority vote) is unquestionably without error.  That is, whatever we as a nation decide by majority vote is to be interpreted as God's will.  Furthermore, this kind of thinking supposes that God is in control of everything, including our politics, and we are just pawns being moved about.  Are we to think that everything that has transpired leading up to election day is really, undeniably the work of God? 

To give God all of the credit (blame?) for the outcome of our politics, is to abdicate our responsibility as citizens; and as people of faith.  To say that God is in complete control of the election, orchestrating the outcome to coincide with God's will, is like saying God confused those Cleveland Indians outfielders and gave the Cubs a grand slam in order to create a game 7 situation tonight.  God is about as involved in our politics, as God is in baseball (or any other professional sport).

I'm not saying God is absent from our lives.  I'm saying God has empowered us and given us freedom to follow God's ways, or not; and it's entirely possible that the outcome of this presidential election will be the result of the latter.  That is to say, the outcome of this election may not be God's will.  But whatever happens, it's really on us; not God. 

Whatever happens, for Christians, our first and best allegiance is to God in Christ; and we must continue to seek God's kingdom.  No matter what.

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