You Can't Fight That Way
There
is a movement afoot on the right to embrace tactics the left embraces
in public, namely harassing politicians, chasing them out of
restaurants, and otherwise engaging in mob like tactics. But there is a
problem with this and I think conservatives, particularly faith based
conservatives, need to avoid these tactics. I think the embrace of
movements on the right that behave like Antifa and the "they started it"
motto need to be shunned. And the reason is very simple.
The progressive
left behaves this way out of despair. They would never say it that way
or think of it that way, but the underlying premise of the progressive
left is an atheist secularism that posits that this world is as good as
it is going to get. So their struggle is to bring about heaven on earth
because they don't believe it will ever get any better. And frankly, for
them, it won't.
But for faith
oriented conservatives, we need to reject the politics of despair
because we have the hope of the resurrection. We should not mimic the
tactics and strategies of those who reject the resurrection, but rather
we should present an alternative to it.
I'm
reminded of Lazarus, I passage I spoke on in Texas last weekend. When
scripture says that Jesus "was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly
troubled" (John 11:33), it means that Jesus grew angry or indignant at
the affects of the fallen world on his flock, but also at those who were
driven into despair because despair precludes the hope of the
resurrection.
We need to remember this.
When conservatives
are storming building and trying to shut up politicians to silence the
other side, as Antifa does, or when it chases politicians from
restaurants are shows up at their homes, or when it decides to throw
punches at Antifa not out of self-defense, but out of behaving like
Antifa, we are not only escalating what the left does, but we are
embracing a strategy and tactic whose underlying premises are anathema
to anyone who believes in eternity.
There are better
ways. There are the ways of the happy warrior who is willing to
highlight those strategies of despair and turn it on those who despair
by showing their ways do not lead to community. There are the ways of
the conservative who focuses on the welfare of their local community.
There are the ways of the Christian who persuades and argues in defense
of his ideas like Paul at Athens.
The
simple fact is that if you are a person of faith, you are a person of
faith 24/7/365, not just on Sunday. You cannot behave like the godless,
secular, atheist in despair of grave and you cannot and should not cheer
on those who behave like that.
We have something better and we should behave like it instead of thinking their mob justifies ours.
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