Political Lovers
It is odd that love is such a political motive. While trying to
exclude Bible believers from public life in the name of the
Establishment Clause, some would rob others to give to yet others in
the name of love. Prisoners are released to prey on communities
in the name of love. For love, some harbor fugitives and give
special entitlements to special interests. Partiality is shown to
the oppressed. Paradoxical to their claim on love, the same
advocate infanticide, homosexuality, protected religious status for
Occult religions, and other agendas destructive to society. After
doing these things, they condemn those who most qualify to claim love.
What then is love? All agree on the apparent kindness of love.
Love
is
patient,
love
is
kind.
It
does not envy, it does not boast, it is
not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not
delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never
fails. (1Co 13:4-8 NIV)
Secular and liberal lovers miss other important aspects of love.
One is that love is tied in the Bible to righteousness. The one,
who quotes
Love
worketh
no
ill
to
his
neighbour:
therefore love is the fulfilling of
the law. (Ro 13:10)
as permitting him to do as it seems right in his own eyes on the basis
of supremacy of love, forgets that the statement defines love in terms
of obeying the God's commandments. Therefore it is impossible for
the someone who has not dealt with the issue of sin to claim a higher
love.
Secondly, hard things sometimes have to be done for love. Just
laws must be strictly enforced and violations quickly punished.
Children must be corrected if they are to become moral participants in
civilization, even by means that cause temporary pain. Indeed,
Benjamin Spock was wrong in teaching that the spanking of
children causes them psychological problems. War is sometimes
just, as in the struggle against Hitler. Love
withholds charity to those deemed to use money for criminal or
self-destructive behavior. The severity of hard preaching against
sin is love in view of eternity. It is also just for the wicked
suffer their consequences and even to go to Hell if do not obey the
Gospel, after all it is not hard to receive Jesus. I would guard
here against those who would label actual hateful acts as love:
this principle does not justify acts of political expediency.
Hard things not clearly justifiable on some moral principle should be
left to God's wisdom.
Third, love for the poor will help them in ways that leave natural
incentives to prosper in place. Where secular and liberal lovers
will enslave them with a free handout, the Bible would require them to
work for it.
And
when
ye
reap
the
harvest
of
your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the
corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy
harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt
thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the
poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. (Lev 19:9-10)
It would appear that behaving toward others with redemptive kindness is
only possible with the help of God, as he only has a full view of the
outcome of a sequence of behavior in view of eternity. It is wise
to seek Him
How does a misguided view of love enter politics? The desire to
use Church as a means to gain respectability for one. The smooth
road of respectability not agitating the compromises of power lead to
the liberal church; and there they learn to compromise
spiritually as well. Others have adapted Christian love to other
belief systems, even atheism. What atheist would disagree with
the few verses relating to love which they and others have assimilated
into their own beliefs?
It is not surprising that those who resist the smooth road are found to
have a different faith from these.
Document History
June 3, 2011 Created.
June 3, 2011 Made corrections and additions.
