How To Avoid Becoming A Secular Pharisee

I want to tie two seemingly unrelated quotes together. The first quote comes from Jesus's parable of the two men praying in Luke 18:9-14 (click here for the source):

 

9 Now He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, crooked, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to raise his eyes toward heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other one; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The second quote come from the speech that Martin Luther King Jr. gave protesting the Vietnam War (click here for the source):

'The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.'

Before I connect the two quotes together, we need to substitute a fill-in-the-blank for the word 'Western.' As a result, we come up with the following:

The ________ arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not  just.'

Note that we can use any group's or individual's name in the fill-in-the-blank. For examples:

The Leftist arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just

or

Curt's arrogance of feeling that he has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just

And so we should see that this arrogance of feeling knows no personal, group, nor ideological boundary. From here, we should easily see the connection between the 2 quotes. In the former, we see the Pharisee who offers evidence of his own righteousness by how he is  morally superior to the Tax Collector.  The Pharisee proudly proclaims that not only is he morally superior to the Tax Collector, that he is without fault while the Tax Collector is without merit.

And what is said in the second quote? That the 'Western arrogance of feeling' proclaims that the West believes that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them. This does not just imply that the West believes that it is superior to other parts of the world, it claims that the disparity is so great that the West is completely self-sufficient while the rest of the world is dependent on the West. Just as a side note, do we still wonder why there are some Americans, the President for example, who are plagued with narcissism?

Those of us who believe in Christ should be alarmed at having such arrogance. We should be alarmed because arrogance is not only not smiled on by God in either the Old or New Testaments, such arrogance brings God's opposition and punishment. And so no believer should have such an arrogance of feeling, but many of us do anyway.

To the unbeliever, having such an arrogance of feeling is not necessarily a problem as it is for the Christian, and so many of them could enjoy being arrogant, but not all do. And so one of the many conditions that harms the reputation of the Gospel is when an individual or group of believers are arrogant while there are many unbelievers who are repulsed by that characteristic.

By now we should see how the second quote can be an example of the Pharisee's attitude expressed in the first quote. Though they are not identical, the two quotes have enough in common so that the person or group  in question in the 2nd quote becomes an example of the Pharisee from the 1st quote. And since what the West was trying to teach others involved secular concerns, then we can conclude that one does not have to be religious to be a Pharisee. That those who have only secular interests can be Pharisees too.

The possibility of becoming a Pharisee should, for us who believe in Christ,  strike fear in us because of what happens to the Pharisee in the end.  We should also note that, for us believers in Christ, there is never a time whenwe can safely pray the prayer of the Pharisee nor is there a time when we no longer need to pray like the Tax Collector.

For unbelievers, the possibility of becoming a Pharisee means that one is emulating the characteristics of what they often criticize Christians for. 

Many of my fellow believers will object to what has been written here by claiming that because they have Biblical worldview, in contrast to the worldviews of unbelievers, they have everything to teach unbelievers and nothing to learn from them because they have what unbelievers don't have. Here, James Boice's criticisms of Monasticism and the early Anabaptists apply here as well. We should note that those Monastics and Anabaptists believed that, because of how corrput unbelievers were, they had nothing to learn from unbelievers, Boice said that the attitude of the Monastics and early Anabaptists failed both to appreciate the effects that God's common grace could have on people in government and on those influencing culture as well as it  'overestimated' the godliness of devout believers including themselves (see pg 104 of Two Cities, Two Loves: Christian Responsibility In A Crumbling Culture). And so those fellow believers who conclude that they have everything to teach unbelievers because of  their own adherence to a biblical worldview have deceived themselves about both their godliness and the contributions that unbelievers can contribute.

At this point, we should point out the carrot that arrogance holds out in front of us. That carrot consists of feeling good about oneself. That carrot consists of feeling a sense of significance. In fact, feeling superior to others can be especially gratifying especially when others consist, in part, of those whom we do not respect or even despise. In addition, being arrogant can lead us to feeling entitled over others. However, because being arrogant can make some feel significant, challenging a part of those beliefs that makes them feel significant, regardless of the facts and logic one employs, can be perceived as a personal attack by those who feel superior to others.

Certainly there are individuals and groups from all over the ideological spectrum that could accurately be used in the above fill-in-the-blank. And there are other times in which our own names could accurately put in the fill-in-the-blank. But because of the current situation, we need to look at the Evangelical support for President Trump and his policies. Why? It is because of both what Trump has said and done, especially during his 2nd term as President, and the level of support he gets from religiously conservative Christians.

Note that Trump had campaigned on the claim that only he can fix it with it being the nation with its problems. Trump had hats made saying: 'Trump Was Right About Everything.' Or consider the title of a Charlie Kirk book: The MAGA Doctrine: The Only Ideas That Will Win The Future. Don't both Trump's self-proclamations and the book title sound way to similar to what was said in the second quote? And, if so, can't both Trump's self-proclamations and Kirk's book title  cause those who embrace those sentiments to speak like what was said in the 2nd quote?

If so, then perhaps the Evangelical community needs to reexamine the kind of commitment that it has made to both Trump and the MAGA Doctrine. The claim that some believers have all of the knowledge while unbelievers have none should raise a score of red flags because of the arrogance that such a claim carries with it. The recommended reexamination does not imply that one must necessarily leave the Trump and MAGA followings, though I would strongly recommend it, such a reexamination should cause Christians in the Trump and MAGA followings to adamantly stand for drastic change in both their leader and their their groups. That change must include promoting hybrid approaches and solutions to our nation's problems rather than just Trump and MAGA ones. Those hybrid solutions must have contributions from unbelievers who hold to different ideologies than MAGA ones. That is because, as the Scripture say, 'GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD' (which is part of I Peter 5:5). And looking down on others as inferiors is a first and almost certain indicator that one is arrogant. On the other hand, recognizing the contributions that those outside one's group can make is evidence, though not necessarily proof, that one is not arrogant.

For those fellow believers who insist on Christian Nationalism, arrogance cannot be one of their traits. In fact, arrogance should never be a part of any Christian's life. And we should note that for those of us believers who have escaped the clutches of yearning for Christian Nationalism, we have our own sins to battle. We can neither entertain the notion that we are superior to any Christian Nationalist nor think that we have nothing to learn from them. We too should seek hybrid approaches and solutions to our nation's problems. This should cause us to avoid the all-or-nothing thinking that Trump and many MAGA followers employ--a kind of thinking that provides the cognitive foundation for authoritarianism. And that authoritarianism would make believers do what both Jesus and Peter warned against: the lording it over of others.

  

Tis The Season For Manipulation

What is the season for manipulation? Tis neither the 4 seasons of baseball, football, basketball or hockey nor the 4 seasons of summer, spring, winter or fall. For our house, the season for manipulation is neither soft butter season nor hard butter season--we don't keep our butter in the refrigerator. I am not referring to Christmas season, that that is a season for manipulation by the dangerous combo of children and advertisers, nor Easter season nor Kwanza season, nor Chanukah season, nor Passover season, nor any other religious season. Rather, the season for manipulation is election season. And this year, our elections are the midterms.

So what we have is this. Some hoping to be elected to office are resorting to all kinds of ways of playing with the truth in order to persuade us to vote for them, or at least not vote for their opponents. But in the end, these same people who are playing with the truth are hoping to get our votes so they can represent us at. We should let that fact sink in. Those wishing to represent us so that they can pass laws that control us, determine how much to tax us, and decide how to spend the money we paid in taxes are trying to manipulate us by playing with the truth. And that should raise red flags for any candidate who does such things.

Quite often, we don't take democracy seriously enough. Instead, we are apathetic and show little to no initiative in maintaining our democracy. And, btw, the eventual reward for such an approach to democracy is to lose it. My guess is that if we lose our democracy, we will become a kind of religious oligarchy that we see in Russia where the chief leader  gets to pick who his political opponents are once he has decided that he will be allow them to live.

If you are smart enough to stay away from Twitter, which I am not, you see the manipulation every time you log in. There is always some celebrity or political hack posting some contextless or half-truth or false claim that supports their favorite political position, party, or person running for office. Yes, inflation is high now. The tweets will blame Biden. But inflation is a world problem caused by the pandemic and the war. And if inflation is a world problem, then inflation here would take place regardless of who is the President.

The same goes for the price of energy. Yes, energy prices are high. But that is because of the war. And yet tweets scapegoating Biden for those energy prices fail to mention the war as a factor. And we have to balance our use of energy with the effects of climate change.

One recent tweet I read said that El Paso, Texas is seeing around 2,000 illegal immigrants pass through each day. Of course the tweet provides no documentation supporting such a claim. And the tweet neglects to mention that, according to the CBP, July of this year became the 2nd consecutive month in which there was a decrease in encounters between CBP agents and immigrants along the Southwest border (click here for the source). The August report states that most of the illegal immigration into America's Southwest comes from struggling communist nations such as Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (click here for the sources). The number of illegal immigrants in August was around 2% higher than in July. Of course, some of those nations are struggling as a result of US policies.

Such is the close view of immigration. The long view tells us that Trump did very little in terms of stopping the number of illegal immigrants entering the country (click here for the source). In addition, Biden has done very little that is different from Trump in terms of immigration (click here for the source). Also, there are signs that we have fewer illegal immigrants in the US in 2021 than in 2020 (click here for the source). 

There are other claims made about illegal immigrants and those claims are examples of fear-mongering. One example of those claims is that under Biden, we have open borders. But again, that is not the case. And the fear-mongering that is in messages like that is there to drive voters into the arms of those who participated in or supported the Jan 6, Insurrection, those who sought to steal an election that Trump appointed judges found to be fair,  those who revised voting laws to make it more difficult for minorities to vote, those who embrace QAnon conspiracy theories, and those who rationalize Trump's illegal possession of classified materials, etc. 

Another common theme in the tweets is that Biden has declared war on all who disagree with him. Those tweets came after Biden's speech on MAGA followers. More than one tweet described Biden's speech as dividing the nation or declaring war on the Republican Party.

Of course, Biden wasn't talking about all Republicans in his speech. He was referring specifically MAGA followers. Again, those are the people who denied the election results, denied the seriousness of the pandemic, denied climate change, participated in or supported the Jan 6, Insurrection, have been censoring books and trying to tell businesses what they can say to their employees, and defended Trump's illegal possession of classified documents.

It was clear that Biden was only talking about MAGA followers. And yet, MAGA influencers are lying about whom Biden was referring to by claiming it was about over half of America or about all Republicans.

There is a very hardcore effort being made by MAGA supporters and leaders to paint an overly negative view of the Biden Administration's efforts. And let's face it, Biden is no prize. But what is left unsaid, besides adding context to their accusations that have some resemblance to the truth or admitting that some of their accusations are false, is what is in store for us should MAGA movement members win enough elections. One only needs to go to the state of Florida to find out. In Florida, the governor tried to tell businesses what it could tell its employees about racism, has told schools what what it could teach about racism and gender identity, has sought revenge on those who oppose laws made by the governor, and has denied the seriousness of the pandemic. 

There are some similar efforts in the state of Texas. We see in other state where a MAGA gubernatorial candidate publicly say that he can declare voting machines null and void, We see MAGA moms work to censor books in their states. And with all of that, these same people describe the Biden Administration as being a soft authoritarian regime.

We are being played by MAGA supporters. It isn't that the Dems are not trying to manipulate us to. For example, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in one state helped the most radical Republican candidate win his party's nomination because he thought he had a better chance to beat a radical Republican.

But for the most part, most of the manipulation that has come in the guise of false accusations, half-truths, and claims without context all of which were efforts at fear-mongering are being practiced by MAGA members. And the only way not to be fooled is to be well educated regarding the issues. It is being well educated that allows us to determine whether someone is trying to manipulate one into voting for them or not. And that is what the midterms are going to come down to. Are we going to be well educated enough to recognize when we are being manipulated or are we going to fall for the fear-mongering.

To Tell The Truth? Biden On MAGA

Social media is abuzz about Biden's attack on MAGA. On twitter, it seems that every MAGA supporter framed Biden's comments as an attack on at least half of America. Such a description begs the question that half of America are MAGA followers.  Since not even half of Americans are Republicans and not all Republicans are MAGA followers, it is logical to conclude that the MAGA portrayal of Biden's comments cannot possibly be true. But truth is not a friend to those who want to manipulatively persuade fellow Americans into following them

But what about Biden's claims about MAGA followers? You know, those who twice believed pre-election claims that only a fraudulent election could defeat their candidate, who so passionately embraced conspiracy theories designed to slander their political opponents and inject unwarranted distrust in our institutions, many of whom view Trump as a messianic political savior, who participated in or supported the invasion of the Capitol with the intent of overthrowing a legitimate election, who have sought positions in government in order to control voter participation and vote counting, who have threatened to take elections out of the hands of voters, and who fervently defended Trump's illegal possession of classified documents and how he stored them in unsecured locations at his residence while having foreign guests visit him.

And none of the above includes the two most major MAGA star politicians: Trump and DeSantis. Both of them used their positions in government to try to discredit or even take revenge on their critics and dissenters. Both of them have used their positions in government to censor historical materials about our nation's history which have narratives they don't approve of. Both of them have appointed yes-men people to medical/science positions in government\. And one of them, Trump, to be specific, called the MSM the enemy of the American people and has publicly expressed envy of and/or admiration for tyrannical dictators like Putin, Erdogan, and Jinping. In fact, Trump actually praised Putin for how he had Russian forces attack Ukraine.  And Putin supported the reelection bid of Donald Trump

So was Biden's assessment of MAGA followers wrong? I see no evidence of that. None. Zero. Zip. The evidence supports Biden's portrayal of MAGA followers. So should Biden have said what he said? The answer to that question is more difficult to answer because it all depends on the purpose of making those claims about MAGA followers.

If Biden merely wanted to reveal the threat that the MAGA movement poses to our nation, then Biden was right to tell the truth. 

But if Biden also wanted to avoid marginalizing any group of Americans, then the answer is a clear "NO.' In other words, Biden had his own deplorable moment in publicly denouncing MAGA followers.  In football terms, Biden committed a 'turnover,' a possible momentum changing one. All of the political capital gained from his recent legislative victory, the January 6th hearings, and the revelation of the kinds of documents recovered from Trump's Mar-A-Lago residence was put in harm's way.

But there is another problem with Biden making such public claims about MAGA followers. What Biden did worked as well as trying to tame a wild animal by cornering it. Of course, Biden wasn't trying to control MAGA as much as he was trying to score political points for fellow Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections. But Biden's singling out MAGA as an enemy of democracy was as politically effective as giving William Tell a shotgun to knock off an apple from the top of a person's head. And MAGA opportunists have not been slow at trying to make non-MAGA Republicans feel like victims who need the MAGA movement as a law firm for a class-action lawsuit.

Yes, the MAGA Movement gives every indication of wanting fascism provided that it is one of their people who is at the top. Yes, it was the MAGA Movement that first demonized their political opponents. Yes, it is the MAGA Movement that casts their leader as a Messiah who was hand-picked by God to save us. And yet, those in the MAGA Movement are fellow Americans with each one is made in the image of God.

We need to reach out to the MAGA people by focusing on the actions and rhetoric we object too rather than asking society to marginalize them. We need to point-by-point show where their claims are wrong with the hopes that we can turn some of them around. And we need to listen to their legitimate concerns, while ignoring their conspiracy theory driven fears, that those in the MAGA Movement have. That is how Biden should be speaking to the MAGA Movement.