“All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful.
All things are lawful, but not all things build up.
Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.”
(1 Corinthians 10:23-24 NRSV)
The Apostle Paul really wrestled intellectually and spiritually with the Corinthian church. This pluralistic congregation struggled to live the gospel faithfully within their community. These verses are his suggestion to a simple difference of opinion about eating habits among the believers, but I think his advice suggests a path toward faithful motivation for all Christian action whether in church or in civic community. They set a moral tone that helps us draw a line of acceptable behavior in communities. Especially communities with great diversity of cultures and opinions
like the tossed salad that is the USA.
So, if you will indulge with me, taking his advice to seek the good of the neighbor has basic governance implications because it takes the context into the community. What motivates you to engage in political activities? As a practicing Christian, I look for the fruit of any leader’s actions. Paul writes that all things are lawful for there were no laws concerning eating food scarficed to idols. His audience struggled with choosing the right action to take out of love for God and neighbor. But he is redirecting the struggle to conside motivation for the action and the outcome or the fruit of that motivation. Contrary to Paul’s situation, laws are written by legislatures to set a minimum standard that is required for a peaceful society. The optimal words here are “minimal” and “peaceful.” Judeo-Christian morality, however, often sets a higher standard which may not be one we can or should enforce with legislation in a pluralistic society. However, we can seek to set laws for a minimum standard of civic conduct. The point of discussion and debate rests upon what is the minimum standard that is acceptable for each situation by all stake holders in the issue under consideration.
Paul expects the congregation in Corinthian to work to build up each other in the faith. That requires them to work for what is helpful for the community as a whole. The motivation, in his opinion, should be considered in the struggle to achieve the correct and useful action to take. Motivation is a building block of character. In a legislature, voting may be motivated by many different things: constituent opinions, lobbists persuation, scientific facts, negotiated details, policy principles, and even partisan stands. After the last four years, I think character matters, especially in our elected officials.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution has already drawn the line in the sand about insurrectionist behavior for public officals. Go ahead and Goggle it! We need to evaluate our congregational members by this minimum standard to determine if they are willing to work to bring all of us together to fight the pandemic among many other issues we face. And we need to evaluate their motivation: is it power, ego, partisan goals or a strong desire to build up the country? We need to be sure that elected leaders understand what representative democracy truly is and will draw a line to defend our government against terrorist threats internally. To do less puts us always at great risk. For me it is not helpful, nor does it build up the country to have members of congress who believe in lies and promote insurrection when the people have spoken with their votes. We need accountability or we will encounter insurrectionists again and the next time democracy may not win. All members of congress who supported the coup by action, silence (inaction) or voting records have forfeited the right to serve by breaking the law and their oaths of office. I have contacted my Respresentative to the House and both Senators to call for impeachment of the former President and to censure all members who supported the insurrection. I have asked for accountablity as a citizen. That is what I can do to prevent this from ever happening again in my lifetime.
Call to Action:
Reach out to your national Representative and Senators and tell them you expect impeachment for the former President and censure for those still in office who betrayed their oath and allowed an insurrectionist coup. This is not partisan. It is the right thing to do to honor our Constitution and preserve our democratic republic. Tell them character matters!
Very well said Ms. Campbell! I really enjoyed this blog. God bless you and may he use this for his glory to help produce peace and unity in our country.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you contnue to read. Be the peace and unity you wish to see! Bless your path toward faithfulness. Share my address with friends and family too.