A Christian King - Part III

"We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."

One thing that many of my high school students understand as common sense, but many adults do not, is that not everything that is legal is moral.   In fact, pro abortionists consistently return to the fact that abortion is legal to justify the killing of an unborn child.  The conversation inevitably looks something like this:

Pro lifer: "Abortion takes the life of a human person." 

Pro abortionist: "Abortion is legal." 

Pro lifer: "Slavery was legal once." 

Pro abortionist: "That's different."

Why would someone uphold that slavery in itself is immoral and uphold that laws against it were a correct choice of action? Because they rightly see that it is in its very nature unjust, and thus a law that permits it is unjust. What makes a law for or against something unjust? 

Dr. King in this same letter proposes correctly that a law is unjust if it does not square with the law of God. This law of God, the Natural Law, is so called because it governs the heart of every human person insofar as they allow it to.  Thus any human law that contradicts this law of God is unjust.

In fact, this is why I can take the words of Dr. King and apply them to abortion: both segregation and abortion are unjust.  They relegate human persons to something less, to the status of things, or use them for their own purpose.  This is also why Dr. King can use the example of the holocaust to condemn segregation. Both relegate human persons to something less, to the status of things. 

Abortion should be illegal because it is immoral; it has not been made moral because it is legal.

A Christian King - Part II

"Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I it" relationship for an "I thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

I can, to the best of my ability, keep my world ordered, keep things as they ought to be.  However, I very, very, very often fail as an individual to do so.  Sometimes I put myself before others, sometimes I put finite goods before the Lord.  The point is that as a human being there are many things that are within my control, and in an ordered world, God would sit on the throne of my heart every minute of every day.  In an ordered world, I would love that which God has given me to love and I would use that which God has given me to use.  In a world of disorder, I try to use that which God has given me to love and love that which God has given me to use.

Sometimes our world can be disordered.  Dr. King rightfully singled out segregation as a disorder of this kind, a disorder so twisted that its proponents might as well preach that 2 + 2 = 5.  Citing Martin Buber, he points out that segregation is immoral (objectively so, it is not just his opinion) because it relegates human beings to the status of objects.  If one stops and thinks, can anyone doubt that our culture is guilty of this crime against humanity to the greatest degree?

Although it is just now being posted, I began writing this blog post on the eve of the annual March for Life, beckoning me to reflect: has there ever been a greater disorder than the modern relegation of the unborn "to the status of things"?  I don't mean this question to come across as pious or superficial.  I am really and truly asking: has there ever been a greater disorder?  In light of the 55 million deaths since Roe vs. Wade, the answer is clearly no.

My wife and I are expecting a baby, and the relationship between he/she and I is one of "I-thou."  I know, not just believe, that that person (that thou) is beautifully made in God's image and likeness and is so, so, so beautiful.  I love that baby!!!

Sadly, many unborn babies are viewed through the lens of an "I-it" relationship: they become objects (its), whose value is assignable and not inherent.  This is disorder.

What can I do?  Deeper conversion of my own heart, metanoia!

A Christian King - Part I

"So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?" - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

One problem with the study of history is that its judgments necessarily pass through someone's worldview, someone's mind, and emerge on the other side in a unique form.  Not only does this mean that coming to have the objective history, meaning the absolute truth about what really happened, is unlikely, but also that what you have learned about it and perhaps communicated to others has first passed through your point of view and personal interpretation.

If I were to show, for example, a picture of my son playing tee-ball in the backyard to two different people, my mom and my high school friend who played baseball, and ask them what they think, they will have different reactions.  My mom will go on and on about just how adorable he is, how he has my smile, and will even call him by name.  The friend will tell me that his feet are too far apart, that he needs to choke up on the bat, and that I need to rake up all the pine straw and mow the grass.  This is what you would expect, but at the same time it is amazing that different reactions can come from the same picture.

How will history remember Dr. King?  Sure only time will tell, but it also depends on who does the telling.  It's clear that many moderns would like to remember him as a secular human rights activist: his secular worldview showed that a better world would stem from secular equality (which is why his words and example are used in ads, for example, promoting so-called gay marriage).  I can't claim to connect with the struggle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  I can't claim to share his worldview, either.  In fact, any history I would try to present passes through my worldview.  What I can do, however, is put aside the vague idea of "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." that floats around in my own head the the public consciousness and interpret what he wrote.  Is there any greater access to the mind of a man than through his own words, whether written or spoken?

What I would like to do is interpret some of Dr. King's words from his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and see if they have any meaning for us today and our culture.  His letter is short but deep and packed with wisdom and insight.  The quote to open this post, for example, could easily be taken out of context to justify just about anything - abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia, etc., but what does he really mean?  To Dr. King, what is justice?  What is extremism?

The only thing that irks me more than a cheesy and meaningless quote is one that is packed with meaning but taken out of context.  In posts ahead I will try to look at his words in context and apply them to our times.

How much more important are you than birds!

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear.  For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.  Notice the ravens: they do not sow or reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them.  How much more important are you than birds!" - Luke 12:22-24

Freedom is of inestimable worth.  In fact, "For freedom Christ set us free" (Gal 5:1).  Our culture has come to misunderstand freedom and mistake it for license, doing whatever one wants.  Is this what Christ has set us free for?  To do what we want?

What's missing is an understanding that freedom isn't just freedom to do, but also freedom from.  Is is possible that the freedom to do, license, could actually bind us further and reinforce our shackles?

We as individuals, as human persons, are of infinite value and dignity.  We are more important than birds, and were made for something much, much, much greater: God himself.  Doing what we want, if it is contrary to God's plan and love, may feel great but at the same time throw chains over our shoulders and around our ankles.  How?  Because, "everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin."  If our desires are disordered, they can control us instead of the other way around.  Freedom from sins and desires that bind and shackle open us up to do his will: this is authentic freedom.

To say our culture is in a state of crisis, is sick and needs a doctor, is a truism: everyone knows it.  It's like a resounding gong that might have once been a shocking call to action for all Christians but has now grown stale and faded out.  The culture wars wage on, but to speak of them is old news to many.  I know I can't change the culture, but maybe I can help a head or heart.