To Be Fair

I really do want to be fair, so I am going to examine one or two of my assumptions - yet again. I do that every time I am challenged ...

... well, most every time.

We are not primarily critics of culture as citizens of God's Kingdom - but we are not outside of culture. We are participants and decision makers. We are the kings. We are in authority over this dominion. That brings a heavy responsibility upon us to listen, think, and speak.

I do think it is fair to let public people speak for themselves. We can read what they say in context or listen to their speeches in context. We can try to include context in our quotes and quote accurately. We should try to do that. We may come to some of the same conclusions, but at least we will do so with understanding and sometimes, we will correct ourselves.

Ultimately, it is about the idea.

For the Christian, it is about the intersection, contrast, complement, or enlightenment that is present in the space between idea and gospel. The gospel is the bigger idea for us and it includes some presumptions about a Great Commission and a Great Commandment as well as a fundamental ethic that is not shared by all in society - the ethic of the Kingdom of God.

I have no basis for arguing Kingdom ethics with those who do not share that presumption. I do not require or expect people to buy into my assumptions without that presumption in place.

I am not a big fan of exploiting momentary Freudian slips or fleeting hashtags as the sole basis for criticism of public policy, but sometimes people really do say what they mean in a few sentences - maybe within 280 characters ... at least what they mean in the moment.

How does that translate into policy and what is my responsibility as a citizen two kingdoms?

I think we might also want to pay attention to the relationship between words and actions. In the final analysis, most ideas and prevailing narratives are much bigger than a few individuals, no matter how high profile they may be.

So, I find that going from specific to general and then, back to specific is often necessary to insure that the magnetic north pole is tuning my compass.

I will be working this out for quite some time.

When I stop, please do not send flowers to my grave, but make a memorial gift to some worthy cause.