from Ed Smith, President | Ā鶹AV

Ģż

Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor (1 Peter 2:17)

Iā€™m composing this devotional 69 days before the U.S. Presidential election ā€“ one of the most politically and socially contentious seasons in modern American history.Ģż Many believe, on both sides, that the very future of the republic is in jeopardy ā€“ what Anne Applebaum considers the Twilight of Democracy (2020).

And, coincidentally, if this devotional is published according to schedule, today is election day!Ģż Some predict, given the expected volume of absentee ballots, the results (unless there is a landslide victory by either party) could take days to determine.Ģż Can our social fabric handle it?Ģż Some say our country has been through difficult moments in history and survived.Ģż That may be true but how will we look as a community and a nation, even a church, on the other side?

The Apostle Peter has an antidote (1 Peter 2:17), one that must start with Godā€™s church, before a disbelieving public is willing to seriously consider it.Ģż So, how are we doing with honoring everyone, loving the brotherhood, fearing God, honoring the emperor?Ģż If we are honest, the church in America, with a few bright spots here and there, looks suspiciously similar to the broader culture.Ģż Weā€™ve become quite capable of spewing angry vitriol.

While argument and vociferous debate is appropriate in a democratic republic, the church should be reminded of another admonition from Peter when he advised the church to be ready to give a defenseā€¦for the hope that is in you. However, do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15-16; emphasis mine).

Hmm.Ģż How are we doing as a church with that one?Ģż When is the last time you/we had a calm and respectful conversation with someone who is diametrically opposed to our perspective, or even our worldview?Ģż Would we dare go home with Zacchaeus for lunch for fear that we would be accused by members of our ā€œtribeā€ as guilty by association?Ģż Iā€™m fearful we privately take delight in seeing our enemies, within the church and without, crash and burn.

Theologian, Miroslav Volf, remarked,

Enormous problems happen when we exclude our enemy from the community of humans and when we exclude ourselves from the community of sinners ā€“ when we forget that our enemy is not a subhuman monster but a human being, when we forget that we are not the perfect good but also flawed persons.Ģż By remembering this, our hatred doesnā€™t kill us or absorb us, and we can actually go out and work for justice (2019).

Recall, we are all created in Godā€™s image (Gen. 1:26-27) and our beloved Declaration of Independence reminds us, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men [and women] are created equal.Ģż Today, election day, pray not only for our elected and appointed officials but also for ourselves because, we the people, have formed this union.Ģż Itā€™s always been a fragile experiment ā€“ like no other in history.Ģż And, as Ben Franklin quipped, ā€œa republic, if we can keep it!ā€

Applebaum, A. (2020). Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism. New York: Doubleday.

Volf, M. (2019). Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

Edward ā€œEdā€ Smith is President of Ā鶹AV, a liberal arts Christian College located in Franklin, Tennessee

For Reflection:

1. In the spirit of showing proper respect to everyone (1 Peter 2:17), can you think of 2-3 people who do not share your perspective or worldview in whom you can begin a conversation based upon mutual respect? A place to begin could be by first listening and asking questions that are not demeaning or judgmental but done in a Christ-like spirit to gain understanding?Ģż This may require that you prayerfully prepare yourself before beginning this journey.

2. While personally holding high the ultimate, transcendent truth of Godā€™s word, would you consider exposing yourself to books, articles, or online videos as a means for gaining deeper understanding of oppositional viewpoints? Initially, this may be awkward and emotional.Ģż Ask God to help you think biblically and analytically about these contentious issues.

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“This past week I viewed a film on YouTube that a cohort shared called ‘The Star of Bethlehem’. There are moments in our lives as Christians where we make a discovery or find new information that leaves us in complete awe of the magnitude and glory of God. This film was one of those moments as I watched the end with tears streaming down my face. The premise of the movie showed Frederick ā€˜Rickā€™ Lawson on his pursuit of discovering what the star of Bethlehem during Jesusā€™ birth actually looked like and if there was scientific evidence to show its existence. Thankfully, through scientific advances there is software that can recreate the night sky of any time in history because apparently the movement of the stars and planets are not random. I have almost no astronomical knowledge, but I learned that the stars and planets move in very predictable and precise patterns, which allows for us to look back in history and see exactly where they were in the night sky! I wonā€™t give away all of the details, but I highly encourage you to go check out the 1-hour film and see exactly what was happening in the sky on the night that Jesus was conceived, born, and at his crucifixion.

What left me in tears is the fact that our powerful creator had to set these things in motion to happen at these exact times at day 4 of creation when time began, and he put the planets in motion. Back in January, I began classes to get my Masters of Arts in Theological Studies at Ā鶹AV. Let me begin by saying that I had almost no theological knowledge and my first few classes I was busy writing down lists of large, foreign words that my cohorts were using which I had no clue what they meant. I felt very out of my element and wondered what in the world a stay-at-home mom with a background in banking and real estate was doing here. While I had done several Bible studies since becoming a Christian, I had never picked up a theology book and felt I had a lot of catching up to do. Thankfully a saying Iā€™ve heard around church was proven true, that if God calls you to something, He will equip you for it. My first class was called Biblical Theology and while I learned many things in this class, one of my biggest takeaways was really understanding the overall metanarrative of the Bible. (Confession: I had no clue what metanarrative meant and now I can use it in a sentence!) Basically, what that means is that the overarching story of the Bible is pointing towards Jesus Christ, the Messiah. We see foreshadowing and even appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament and each of these stories are pointing us to the good news of what is coming. The film reminded me of this. Not only scripture, but in fact creation itself is pointing us towards our savior. God set the stars in motion at the beginning of time, before he had even created humans and had predetermined that even the stars and planets would declare Jesusā€™ arrival and his glory! Knowing this takes my breathe away- he is truly sovereign over all.

I love that there is scientific evidence to back the events of the Bible. In church growing up, I was not taught this. When I was younger, I was skeptical of the Bible, not really knowing if it was true or if it could be trusted. It seemed to me you were asked to believe this old book without any actual evidence or proof that it was real. One of the coolest discoveries I have made in school is that there is actual historical data to support the Bibleā€™s claims. In one of my Systematic Theology classes we read Gary R. Habermasā€™ book, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus. As the title may give away, this book focuses on the historical evidence that prove Jesus died, was buried, and resurrected. Habermas uses a minimal facts approach and really digs into all of the claims the Bible makes, that Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers, he was buried, there was an empty tomb, and the resurrected (and healed) Jesus was seen by the disciples, Paul, and more than 500 witnesses. The book goes into all of the theories to disprove these events such as hallucinations, hiding the body, Jesus really didnā€™t die etc. and runs through the evidence to prove why these theories are not valid. One of my favorite points attacks the theory that if it was a group conspiracy to lie and say that Jesusā€™ tomb was empty, they would have never said that women were the ones to discover it. At the time of the first century, women were at the bottom of the totem pole and were not considered credible witnesses and werenā€™t allowed to give testimony. If you were going to make up a believable story, you would never have let women discover the empty tomb. As a woman, I am a big fan that the Lord is seen throughout scripture restoring honor and dignity to women.

Reading this data gave me an unshakable confidence in my faith. My faith is not based solely on a personal experience I have had with the Lord but now it is strengthened by historical and scientific data. Maybe you are in a place of not knowing if the Bible or Christianity is real. Maybe youā€™re walking through a season of doubt or actually didnā€™t feel you had permission to ask questions and search. I want to tell you to search the evidence yourself. There are some wonderful resources out there from people who have spent years combing through the data and compiling sources. Donā€™t stay in the place of doubt and questioning but begin to look for yourself. Because I believe that if Christianity is true, it wonā€™t fall apart if we look behind the curtain. Our faith is reasonable and looking at the evidence will only strengthen, not harm your faith.”

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As we continue to live out our days in this very unusual time during what we will forever call something like, “that whole Coronavirus season”, I’ve been thinking a lot during my morning walks with Chester about who we are as the people of God in moments like this. When we look throughout the 2,000 year history of the church, when things have gone down in the earth, it was a summoning of the people of God to live out the way and the ethic Kingdom in this world.

For the past 25 years, my mentor has taught me, “When you’re going through something, imagine yourself on the other side of it and ask what it is that you would want to know what was true about you in that hard season.” I’ve been thinking a lot about this… what will be true about me when this is all over, whenever that is going to be? What will I want to know about the way I held myself… my posture, how I lived, the way I interacted with others, cared for others… the ways I took care of my own soul and agreed with the Living God? Who was I on the anvil as the hammer hit, as it does from time to time in our world?

While we are all in this together as a college family. And that’s what we are… we’re a family. As a sister in the Lord and as a sister at the college I just want to ask you, at the end of this, what are you going to know about yourself during this time?

We love you. God bless.

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