Being Chuck

Let it be known that I am not by and large a fan of presidents or presidential elections. I am however, a fan of this country and ideas like due process and democracy.

So on this day (Presidents’ Day), I feel it appropriate to call out a few of my fellow Christ followers. If I step on your toes… you’ll live, but hear me out.

I am not a fan of President Obama. Never was. But at some point we need to be big boys and girls and start supporting the “team we play for.”

And for those who never played team sports (it’s not a perfect analogy), here’s a general synopsis of how to do that:

Playing on a team means that sometimes the things you want take a back seat to the team (even if you don’t think it’s in the team’s best interests). When the leader(s) of the team is(are) chosen by the team, he/she is the leader. End of discussion. And when said leader(s) makes decisions, those things have been decided. That doesn’t mean we don’t work to fix them if we believe they are wrong, but it does mean that we have to find a constructive way to do that (to lessen dissension and division within the team).

And you are part of this “team.” This country is a democracy (not in the purest sense of the word, but it works for most people’s purposes), and that means we vote. Which means sometimes you won’t get your way, but you don’t cease to be part of the team just because we’re not moving in the direction you think we should on the issue du jour.

(By the way, this is in reference to taking pot shots from afar on Facebook, blogs, and the like without any real action or attempt to solve said problem. I am probably guilty of this myself at some point… so I’m talking to myself as much as anyone else.)

But Chuck, I can say what I want… we have freedom of speech.

Yup. We do. And you can.

However, for some reason, “freedom of speech” is a difficult concept for some to completely understand. Freedom of speech simply (perhaps a little oversimplified) means that you are free to say anything you like without fear of governmental repression. But it doesn’t provide you freedom from consequences of that careless speech.

Here’s an example:

Don Imus, radio shock jock, invoked freedom of speech on his radio show and said some degrading and potentially racist things about a women’s college basketball team. He has the freedom to say whatever he wants, but he also has to accept the fallout of saying those things in a public forum. It created quite a mess for all parties involved. You can read more here.

My point is that if you’re not willing to do the leg work to help solve a problem, don’t stand around and gripe. I have always told people that gripe about all things governmental, “If you don’t vote, your opinion doesn’t matter.” The only concession I will make here (and I make it mildly) is for those who are unable to vote. But that is a rare concession at best.

Either jump in and find a way to help fix what needs fixing, or shut up. If you vote, then you have some right to gripe, but I doubt that voting is the only thing you can do to invoke change.

And sometimes, even if you are helping to fix it, learn to know when to shut up anyway (or at least learn how to speak to other people in a way that is conducive to dialog and not insulting).

That is perhaps one of the greatest problems of Christ followers face. We don’t understand how to enter a dialog with someone who doesn’t believe the same things we do without completely alienating said person within two arguments or less.

Discussion, dialog, debate, argument… whatever you choose to call it, learn to do it without insulting people’s intelligence, and we’ll all probably end up a little better off.

We are told that all authority (including the government) was established by God. Check out Romans 13 again. It’s pretty clear about how we are to respond to authority.

Work what needs to be fixed. If you have to talk about it, do so in a constructive way.

Talk is cheap. Everybody speaks, not everybody acts.

Note: This goes for any time period, whoever is president. So if you are a fan of President Obama, subtract four years and work through this then.