Modern, American Christianity has been infected with this drive for oversimplification. Our churches willingly throw away thousands of generations of experience in favor of the cliff notes. Everyone preaches Jesus's executive summary of the Bible, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] This is Matthew 22:37, but how often have you heard a minister insist on the truth of Jesus's message from chapter 5, "Do not think I have come to abolish the Law ... not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen will by any means disappear from the Law." Not only are we willing to to ignore the significance of this statement, we are happy remaining ignorant of it. Its like Chris Rock's rant on Ni..az, "Nothing makes a N happier than no knowing the answer to your question." Even our Presidential candidates pride themselves on what they don't know, " when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I'm going to say, you know, I don't know."
Americans believe that simplicity and perspective are enough. We dismiss depth and detailed understanding as making things to complicated. It is the reason that candidates like Cain and Perry believe that having the right values qualify them to be President. "Give me the executive summary." "I was elected to lead, not to read." It is not enough to be a "compassionate conservative". I am talking about understanding the Bible, even the Old Testament, and believing it holds the answers to our problems. We should not be so quick to dismiss the wisdom of the Bible, to "lean not on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5). Worse, we should not be so quick to lean on our lack of understanding.
The most dangerous dismissal of the Bible is the statement, "You can use the Bible to argue both sides of every issue." This is like the statement, "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." "Satan would love us all to believe this, but it isn't true. It is true about a number of things, but there are some things that are some positions that even a great debater cannot win. In fact, I dare you to take counterpoint against me on these topics:
- Homosexuality: The Bible is unequivocally against homosexual behavior. (There is room for loving the sinner)
- Immigration: The Bible does not support rules against immigrants. (special favors for clansmen notwithstanding)
- Interest: Don't charge interest
- Taking care of the disadvantaged: Widows, orphans, immigrants, and etc are not to be mistreated (doesn't extend to victims of war)
I could build a list, but these are hot in the current political debate and Christians and our churches are happy remaining silent or ignorant on these issues and many others. We stay silent because sticking to the Bible on these issues is hard and complex, but that does not make it wrong.
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