Thoughts on Government...Part 1

A friend challenged me with these questions about myself and what I believe, so I decided to think through them here. After all, I've found talking to someone else is the best way to clarify what you have jumbled up in your heart and mind. And, in other words, my brain works better than my mouth.

***What is your stance on a Christian's role in government?***

   We live in a culture that wants to remain kids. Meaning, they want all of the privileges of freedom and liberty, just like children want all of the privileges of adults, but few of them are willing to shoulder the responsibilities of freedom and liberty. We need an army of men and women, not children, because those are the people mature enough to take responsibility for our culture, government, churches, and homes. God again and again calls us young men and women in His Word because that is what He desires us to be, that is what the world and Church need us to be, and that is what we must be. We must also be humble, knowing we are prone to be childish and that only the Lord can work in us the maturity to be adults in this world. We must not be naive, pleasure-loving, irresponsible children - God would never have us be so “humble” that we become these kind of people. We must show true humility and maturity by stooping to shoulder the great burden of responsibility in our government, church, and homes. God chose us out of this world to be salt and light, to preserve it. And how can we preserve it if we are either beating it down from the inside or sitting aside, ignoring it as it crumbles. Between those two options there is a balance of standing out, taking responsibility, and preserving our government and culture. And the only way to find that perfect balance is to look to the perfect God.

  Therefore, a Christian's role in government is to stand up and fight for that balance, to point others to God who has made a perfect balance. It's true, we must not force our religion on others. We must proclaim Christ, but this earthly government was not given for us to enforce our religion.

  Still we must also follow the pattern of the Founding Fathers who knew that to have a free and moral country we have to base our moral principles on the ones that Divine Providence has established. In essence, no free government can stand without holding on to morals-what is right and what is wrong-and the moment we begin removing God from our lives and government we begin losing our morals. And what is graver still is the thought that the only form of government that thrives on a lack of morals is a tyrannical one: an unjust, oppressive, arbitrary government. Does that sound anything like our government now?

  So there is, again, the fine line, perfect balance, narrow way we as Christians must walk in. We must preserve our government; it is our duty as Christians to be salt, to preserve. But it is also our duty to be light; we must fight the darkness that is so prevalent, especially in our government. We are soldiers of Christ's Kingdom! We are not allowed to give up! Unlike the rest of the world, our duty before God requires us to influence, work, and learn about our government, so long as we are able. Christians have to care about government!

News through several decades

  "I used to faithfully watch the news, but now I find it discouraging...and with my job, I just don't have time to watch all of the news I should..." Mrs. Harlow* remarked sadly. Without missing a beat Mrs. Martin* responded, "I get my news from Facebook. If there is something important happening my friends will be talking about it, then I will go look up more information if I'm concerned." "Oh, I guess I get my news on the radio because it's easiest. But, when I get the  chance, I do watch Fox news..." Ms. Smith* replied.

 These interviews took my by surprise. Despite the decades, no matter the advancements in technology, amid differences, there is still a prevailing reason for how and even why people get their news. It truly hasn't changed much over time. We see the news that is most convenient to get. Our time and lives go by fast, so if something isn't easy to find or convenient to learn about, we may never know it exists.

"I'm really not the best person to ask about that. I really don't watch the news at all." My first interviewee, Mrs. Harlow's reply showed that she viewed getting news as watching it on TV. She only guiltily admitted that she usually used Facebook to stay updated on events and quickly wanted to explain that she still stayed informed without TV. As a young woman, she read the papers that she sold on her paper route, but, when it became more available, she switched to TV to get her news and finally to Internet.

Mrs. Martin's and Mrs. Harlow's pattern of getting news over their lives I found relatively similar. Mrs. Martin also got most of her information about local and worldwide news from TV until using the Internet became a more accessible. "I just look up things that I hear about on the news websites. It saves me time and I can learn about what I want to hear about, and not be overwhelmed with all the news." 

Besides the fact that she began news-journey by reading the papers, Ms. Smith had little in common with the older ladies I interviewed. She explained to me how she rarely used the Internet and watched Fox News when she could, but the majority of her knowledge of events and politics came from listening to the radio. With her job and many classes, she spends much time driving, therefore the radio is the most accessible source of news for her. "Why do I use the radio? Because it's convenient." was Ms. Smith's response.

 One thing that was similar between Ms. Smith and Mrs. Harlow was their thoughts on what is up-coming for news media. They both think alerts through phones will be the next big push, which I believe is already happening in some places. Mrs. Martin had a different opinion however, that streaming the Internet news through your TV is closer on the horizon. And she seems to be right. As our worlds grow bigger with all the information we are bombarded by, we are looking for faster, easier, simpler ways of getting the news we need. Truthfully, we are looking for convenience.


*Names changed for privacy.

Beginning Journalism

   This isn't much of an introduction, but I believe one of the greatest parts of life is the suspense over what is next in the way we are running. So here I begin, sort of in the beginning, and yet right in the middle of  a fantastic, amazing, difficult, but always purposeful journey to share the Truth my Lord has put in my heart and mouth to proclaim. 

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  Early American journalism represents a pattern that we would be wise to continue to follow. We now have many helpful developments in gathering, receiving, and printing which allows us to get information from all over the world in hours, rather than months just to get news from England. We have numerous major newspapers, radio stations, and TV networks that instantly update us on worldwide events. Yet in this flood of information, the small, local newspapers which generated the unity and patriotism among the thirteen colonies to rebel against the most powerful nation in the world, has now been diluted.

  However, this broad focus in journalism on the rest of the world merely reflects what people want from the news and media. Freedom of the press, protected by the First Amendment, changes according to our interests. And, though it may be harmful at times, this is how it should work: the people should have the freedom to receive and direct information as they choose.

  If this freedom were ended, restricted, or even hindered by the government so much would be lost! Lack of or distorted information leaves us to make error after error that would ultimately lead to the crumbling of our democracy; it could lead us into an unnecessary war or hide from us the truth about how our small actions effect the grand scheme of things. In essence, an uninformed people are not a people, but robots doing someone else's bidding, and if we have been given minds to use we must not be content to let someone else run them. We must search and fight for the truth now, otherwise we may never find it. It is there, God has it waiting for those who will run after it, but we must run to it now!