Opus 2014-24: Do We Really Want to Fix It?

A couple of years ago I was listening to Alastair Begg talking about grieving the Holy Spirit.  I don’t remember his sermon topic.  As often happens my mind took a seed and started to grow in a different direction.

What is the opposite of grieve?  Bless?  That would make sense.  If one action can cause grief then there must be another that can move us toward rejoicing.  Bless is a good word for that.  It would be good if we would live in such a way as to bless the Holy Spirit instead of grieve Him.

This took me to thinking about how we often look at things as if they are opposites when they are not.  We like safe categories.  We like black and white.  We like either/or.  Unfortunately most of life isn’t that simple.  Most of the time we have to make choices based on what is possible instead of what is perfect.  Other times we want to rule out one concept because to look at the big picture requires mental effort and hard choices.

We see this in politics.  Take the current dismantling of our health care.  Most people would admit that things could be done better.  We would disagree on what.  I would say that the government has no place being involved in health care.  At the same time I realize that there is a small group of people who are in real need and have nowhere to turn.  In the past those people have been taken care of by churches, the local community and the county hospitals.  I know this because that was where my family found itself when I was a child.  There may be times when the government needs to force issues such as changing jobs or cancellations of policies because a person starts to need help.  That doesn’t mean we need socialism to rule.

Or take Social Security.  At the current time I am eligible for Social Security.  At least I think I am.  They keep changing the numbers.  It cannot continue the way it is.  Something is going to have to give.  If the special groups making a fortune over manipulating the system would get out of the way there might be a fix.  You could start by stopping the payments to the many people who never really paid in and the types of needs that were not part of the original plan.  We don’t need to either throw it out or let it keep going as is.

Then we have theology.  For instance, grace and works.  They are not opposites, they are fellow travelers.  One does not rule the other out.  Too often different groups emphasize one and exclude the other.  Calvinists tend to emphasize grace and downplay all the verses demanding obedience.  Arminians make the mistake of falling into legalism.  In reality grace and works are both required.

We could probably work out solutions of many of our societies problems if we would enter honest, open, courteous discussions that were truly trying to find what will work.  Maybe we should be looking for leaders who have principles but understand the need for healthy compromise.  Most gun owners understand the need to keep the mentally ill from having guns.  Most pro-life people understand that there are rare cases when a woman will die if the baby comes to term.  I don’t know of any Christians who want to go out and beat up homosexuals. 

There are solutions.

homo unius libri