The Remedy Is a Dose of Apathy

Good is the enemy of great. Acceptable, the enemy of excellent.

While on the bus to work yesterday, I finished reading Follow Me to Freedom, a book co-authored by (or more accurately, a conversation between) one of my favorites Shane Claiborne of the Simple Way and John Perkins of the Christian Community Development Association. I’ve read quite a bit by Shane before, but I was unfamiliar with John Perkins or his immense passion and dedication to racial reconciliation. Reading Perkins’ stories made me much more educated, informed, and aware of race issues, especially those John encountered in Mississippi. I humbly and gratefully reflected that for the majority of my life in the Northeast-ish U.S., racism was not something I ran into very often. 

Fast-forward to this morning’s bus commute. No sooner did we pull out from the bus stop, than a black man began loudly “preaching the truth” that he was “born and bred American, and it’s time to stop letting in so many [hispanics] or else we’ll end up like [Latin American Country] or [another Latin American Country].” He carried on until the my favorite bus driver sternly instructed him to quiet down. I felt a twang of guilt as I realized how, just a day ago, I wrongly dismissed racism as an issue from another time or place. Sure, it’s lightyears better today in Northern Virginia than it was half a century ago in the deep south. But “better” isn’t “perfect”, or even “great” or “ideal”. 

How many ways do I settle for “acceptable” when I should be striving for “excellent”? My challenge to myself today. Join me.

Today I will take my last-ever law school exam: a 24-hour take home on Food and Drug Regulation. I ate lunch at Chipotle while reviewing what constitutes a food additive and whether certain ones qualify as GRAS (generally recognized as safe). My mouth danced with the flavors of fresh guacamole, savory onions, and spicy tobasco, and I glanced at my receipt indicating a payment of $6.65 for the burrito bowl. I was intensely struck with the reality that people who favor big governments, and specifically people who have a real fear that members of society would eat not-safe food additives but for government regulation, must really think people are dumb.

Let me back up. Having slept only three hours, gone for a 6+ mile run, and consumed nothing more than a bagel and cup of coffee, I decided I wanted an early lunch. Most of my study “meals” for the last two weeks have severely lacked nutritional value. I was sitting at Panera, because the internet in my apartment has been disconnected due to my imminent move-out. Knowing that Chipotle has both moderately high nutrition and insanely long lunch lines, I used the splotchy coffee-house connection to order my lunch in advance. 

So then I found myself simultaneously contemplating both the delicious freshness and efficiency of my meal as well as the absurdity of imposing government regulations on the meaning of a safe food additive. Really? Am I Is anyone so stupid as to keep supporting a food business that makes people sick through unsafe food additives? I pay three times more for Chipotle than I would for Taco Bell, because to me, certain standards of quality and service are worth that cost.

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While conservative media buzzes and complains that Obama gets credit for a project that started under Bush, I am unamused. Who cares? Such bantering between the left and right is not only typical and to be expected, but also indicative of how the stereotype that Americans think we’re better than everyone else has merit. Bin Laden’s demise was something that both sides of the aisle thought would be a good thing. (They differed on the question of, at what cost?) Now that it has come about, though, they immediately start to bicker about who gets credit. *Sarcastic slow clap* GOOD JOB, AMERICA.

So politics aside, how should Christians respond to Osama bin Laden’s death? Last night, as the twittersphere began exploding with news on the end of bin Laden, I had conflicted feelings. Certainly I can rejoice that no more death will occur on account of him. But does that mean I ought to celebrate the end of his life? Human life is priceless, and without claiming to be God - who among us can claim that one life has more value than another? (From here, I could easily digress into a long stream of thoughts on the nature of man, sin, the need for redemption, and a number of other related topics. I’ll save those for another day and focus on what the Bible has to say regarding the demise of your enemy.)

Proverbs 24:17 - Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.

Ezekiel 18:27, 32 - when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will safe his life… For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, declares the Lord God. Therefore, repent and live.

Matthew 5:43 - You’ve heard it said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

The surface message is: death is an unpleasant thing, and we should not celebrate it - even when it is the death of an enemy.

But the underlying message is that God wants relationships with the people he created. And until death, that relationship is possible. Once death occurs, however, that lack of relationship is final.

On the idea of the relationship God wants: he wants a real, not forced, relationship. If that relationship is forced or entered into by coercion - it’s not really a relationship, is it? At least, to the extent a coerced relationship is real, it is probably not loving and filled with mutual care. In other words, if God forced you and me to be his friends, by coercion, then we wouldn’t have a meaningful, caring, loving friendship. God allowed us to fall in the garden, and thereby have sin enter the world, because he wanted relationships with people who want to be his friend. For that to happen after letting sin into the world, though, God had to create a path of redemption. The only way for God to know I actually want a relationship with him was for him to separate us by sin. And because of God’s nature, sin has to be accounted for. So he created the redemption plan through Jesus. Now, the only way for me to demonstrate that I actually want a relationship with God is to follow the Jesus redemption plan.

God wants that relationship with all of the people he created. But if a person dies before entering into that relationship, redemption is no longer possible. So again, I can rejoice in the fact that more lives will not be lost by bin Laden’s hand. But I cannot rejoice in the thought that another person is likely suffering eternal separation from God due to a death that was not preceded by redemption.