Two Sides of the Same Coin

 

We made a big push last week through a lot of history and spiritual discussion on the dangers of big government, socialism, and the like. We looked at the value of certain conservative policies that try to uphold Republic-based government that limit the overall power of government. And all of this has been wrapped up in a hidden parable contained within the Captain America movies.

This week I want to turn the tables a little bit. I want to look at some others perspectives, particularly from the liberal vantage point.

Now understand something. If we cannot learn to do this, we will not grow. As much as I believe the limiting of regulation and taxation is truly a breakthrough in societal evolution, I believe an even greater breakthrough will be the expansion of empathy amongst human beings. In fact, I look forward to the day when the social skills of empathetic communication are taught right alongside math and English. I think we’ll grow by leaps and bounds when that happens. And I think detentions will go down too.

So in order to look at the other side of these issues, I want to first return to our cinematic parable and heed more of its wisdom . . .

In Captain America: Civil War there is a significant scene that sets the stage for the conflict that erupts amongst the Avengers superhero team. Tony Stark (Iron Man) meets a woman who shows him a picture of her son who was killed during one of the Avengers’ battles. Her son was a humanitarian worker residing in a certain country where the Avengers fought against one of their worst enemies. In the process, the Avengers destroyed a building, which crushed and killed her son. The woman confronts Iron Man about his team’s way of operating.

While many viewers of the movie might be quick to dismiss this woman’s feelings (would you prefer the Avengers let the enemy destroy the whole world!), Stark is confronted by the pain within this woman and the loss of her son, which has a pretty strong impact on him (and later leads to his willingness to come under stronger government accountability, which Captain America disagrees with).

 

The Pain on the Other Side

 

There’s a stunning picture here of what happens when you are confronted with somebody else’s pain. It’s hard to stand on an ideological position when you’re looking into the eyes of another human being and hearing their story and standing in their shoes.

I see this happen when conservative Christians become friends with someone who is gay, lesbian, or transgender (and I’m talking about actual friendship and intimate dialogue, not just sharing a cup of coffee here and there or attending the same class as them). Soon enough, this person no longer represents an “issue” in their minds with certain Bible verses surrounding it. Everything gets reframed when they learn the story behind that person, when they see how their lives often reflect their own, and when they learn about the unbelievable shame and struggle that this person has endured. While such awareness and friendship may not always change a person’s ideological position, it should change how they stand on their platform.

And hopefully they move from a military stance to one with open arms and relaxed shoulders.

But I digress—kind of.

The point is, Stark is impacted by this woman’s story. And though he has every right to defend himself and speak the truth and say that he was doing an ultimately good deed, he recognizes that there’s real pain here that cannot be swept under the rug of “truth.” Love, at its essence, is incarnational. It reaches into the sphere of people’s lives and hurts, even if it disagrees with them on certain levels. It then engages their story in a way that is beyond comfort. (If it was comfortable we wouldn’t need to have these conversations.)

This impacts Iron Man’s decision and begins to cause the rift between him and Captain America. And though Iron Man wears red and Captain America wears blue, there is a reversed hidden message where blue Captain America represents much of the “red states” and conservative ideology whereas the red Iron Man (including his youthful Spiderman recruit) represents the blue states and their ideology. The colors are reversed perhaps to hide the message a little bit. But that’s how a good parable operates. It doesn’t come out with blatant, over-the-top symbols, but presents them in a very subtle way (hopefully allowing people to put themselves in another perspective without realizing it).

 

“Liberal” Movements

 

So let’s talk about the some of the issues driving certain liberal movements in our country. I’m thinking particularly of things like “Occupy Wall Street” or “Black Lives Matter.” I understand looping these movements into liberalism is perhaps a generalization, but the two usually do go hand in hand, especially in contrast to conservatism. They are movements that conservatives are typically more defensive and worried about. They look at Occupy Wall Street as a Marxist-based effort with hidden fangs ready to suck the blood out of the economy. Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter is seen as a media-driven frenzy that is trying to destabilize and destroy the strength and honor of law enforcement in this country.

Now first off, I do believe there are many behind-the-scenes influences (i.e. George Soros and CNN) who are stirring the pot and adding unhealthy fuel to the fire in these movements. When one zooms out and looks at the big picture, you can easily see many negative underlying forces at work.

However, when you zoom in on the actual people within these movements . . . when you zoom in enough to look at their faces and see the lines under their eyes. . .  there is way more going on. As easy as it is to sit back and observe some big-picture corruption or political agenda and then rant about it on Facebook, it is a whole other ballgame to incarnate and actually meet and intersect with the people who are involved with these movements. Once again, these are real stories. These are not storm-troopers marching to beat of the empire. They are people who laugh and cry, who sing songs to their kids and have inside jokes with their co-workers. People who have genuine hurts that cannot be ignored.

Agendas and influences aside, the liberal battle against capitalism and the free market arises from very justifiable anger. The corruption on Wall Street and the way it insidiously preys upon the poor and vulnerable is no joke. And the fact that 1% of the world’s wealth is held within the grasp of an elite few while hundreds of thousands of children are literally dying every year because they can’t afford bread is an absolute tragedy. The greed that has surfaced to the top of the freer market is a definite issue.

Now we may disagree about utilizing the government’s bureaucratic influence to fight this, but we should still be slow to speak and quick to listen when it comes to the conversation. It would do us well to step into the shoes and passion of those who are looking for solutions to this horrible fact—the fact that a couple hundred people will die from malnutrition and impoverishment before you even finish reading this article . . . all because the wealth of this world is not being shared. (And I understand it’s more complicated than that, but complications do not cancel out the reality of greed directly influencing the deaths of millions.)

 

Systemic Racism

 

There is also a real conversation to be had regarding genuine racism that is still laced into our economic and criminal justice systems, which affects minorities and keeps them in bondage.

It has been a couple decades since the Civil Rights movement and gratefully we have seen much change in this country. However, that does not mean all the issues are solved or that underlying systemic racism is completely removed from our streets and corporations. Unfortunately, it will take much more time to wash from our shores the remnants of chains from African slavery and the driftwood of Amistad and other ships.

Make no mistake about it—those ships have been utterly crushed and the chains have been loosed. By the grace of God, by the blood of many martyrs, there has been a decisive victory over these things. But there are indeed small pieces from the fallout of these realities that still lie on our shores, which will require more clean-up work and more dialogue.

At the risk of getting bogged down in details and losing the big picture, I will share one example:

Our banks make a lot of money on giving unhealthy and unregulated loans to people in black communities; loans which they know cannot be paid back. This is done very willingly and knowingly. The loan officer may not be a racist himself, but he is still participating in a form of control that keeps people on the virtual plantation of corporate banking. The members of these communities are given new chains—shackles of debt placed on their wrists as they receive money to pay for important things in their lives. Money that is given without financial education and with hidden strings attached. Money that keeps them in bondage and even sucks up funds from any welfare assistance they might be receiving.

And such realities should cause conservatives to pause when they want to immediately argue about entitlement and people mooching off the system. Things are not as simple as that, and thus movements of resistance and challenge is often very warranted.

And like it or not, there are generational issues passed down from centuries of slavery and displacement that still affect whole communities today. There is much more work to be done, and we can’t sweep that under the carpet by holding up an “All Lives Matter” sign, which often just ignores and disregards the pain involved in the individual stories that make up the Black Lives Matter movement.

 

(If you have a different perspective and I’m losing you at this point, go back and read the beginning of this essay. Think of this as an opportunity for growth!)

 

I understand the need to want to quench the media-driven agendas that want to put a microscope on every police officer waiting for the slightest wrong move so they can cast a blanket of judgment upon all cops. I get the frustration and anger on that side of things. And it frustrates me too… But the story doesn’t end when you point out these agendas and inconsistencies. At the end of the day, there are still people who are facing real prejudice and who live in genuine bondage and fear (and fear is one of the root causes of crime in the first place).

 

Immigration !!!

 

Well since we’re already hitting on nice and safe issues that don’t cause any strong emotional responses, why not take on another light topic—immigration.

This is an issue I want to especially look at from both perspectives, because I believe it is a perfect example of how both sides can actually work together beautifully.

I know many people who are involved in the lives and needs of refugees and immigrants, those who have also gotten to know the stories and pain behind these people. They have looked beyond the “issue” of immigration into the actual hopes, dreams and fears of the families impacted by the issue. As a result, most of them speak from a much different perspective than those who are strong on immigration control. There is typically much more compassion and a willingness to look at things like amnesty with a more open heart. While conservatives can defend their position and say that they are doing the “ultimate good” in defending the border, a true compassion and understanding is often lacking. And this only breeds more anger and skepticism in a vast portion of the population (which then leads to more yelling back and forth on social media or television interviews).

 

The Importance of Strong Borders

 

But let’s look at the other side of this coin. The side that recognizes that our borders are very weak and one of the keys to having a healthy nation is to strengthen them.

If you don’t believe a healthy nation entails having stronger borders, I would propose a question to you:

Would you be willing to post your banking login/password information and make it public so everyone can have free access to your resources? I mean, if I have a serious need, and I’m struggling to pay my bills, why can’t I just use your login info and make a withdraw? You’re supposed to share right?

Or another question: Would you keep your doors unlocked and perhaps even partially open in a dangerous part of a city (let’s say as dangerous as certain parts of northern Mexico) so that others can share your refrigerator and bed—or maybe your children’s bed?

The fact is, every person who has a bank account is hopeful that there’s good security and firewalls set-up around their account. Most people, including compassionate missionaries and humanitarian workers in inner cities and foreign nations, typically close their doors and lock them at night to keep out unwanted visitors. This is not anti-compassion or anti-Christian, it’s just wisdom.

But here’s the thing, and hopefully you’ve stayed with me thus far . . . Ultimately, the person with the protected bank account and the walled house should use their resources for good. They have a strong firewall around their online banking so that they can make proper withdraws to not only support their family, but to also give towards needs outside of themselves (and not towards a hacker who wants to freely access their funds). Hopefully, the person who lives in the dangerous part of the city does indeed open their door to those outside, and thus uses their home to bless others.

All of this ties in with the country, for a country is just a big conglomeration of individuals and families.

The U.S. is filled with beautiful resources—financial resources as well as people resources. One of our most precious resources are the youth of our nation. These young people have the opportunity to grow up and do a lot of incredible good for the world, way beyond the borders of the U.S.

If we have no “firewall” protection—no strong border—it weakens the home and the account. Things like drugs can easily come in and pollute our precious resources. And if you don’t think drugs are coming through weak borders, do some research on the poppy fields of Mexico and then do some research on the amounts of people dying from overdoses in this country from the addictive chemicals within those poppies. We’ve had several deaths in my town just in the last six months. There is a heroin epidemic and it’s not sourced in the inner cities. It’s coming from outside and it’s robbing from the youth of this nation.

We need to wisely steward and guard our resources and that is not a Christless or uncompassionate response—as long as we see our resources as tools to help the world and strengthen it (including the poor people forced to work on those poppy fields in Mexico).

And here’s where both sides should collide. There are many who want strong borders solely out of fear and self-protection. That is truly Christless. There is a genuine racism and close-minded fear that wants a “stronger America” solely for ourselves; a viewpoint that could give a rat’s ass about the real pain of families in Syria or Mexico.

And yet! There are so many who see the opportunity within America to start non-profits, to educate children about our global opportunity to reform nations, to go out as those missionaries and humanitarian workers. But they wouldn’t be able to do this if they were robbed and broke.

And so we need strong borders with a global viewpoint.

And thus both sides desperately need to hear one another . . .

 

What is Love?

 

I’m not trying to hit on every controversial issue here. In fact, I think I’ll stop while I’m ahead. The point of this article is not necessarily to propose answers to certain issues as much as it is meant to address the way that we are arrive at our answers. The internal civil war occurring in this country actually has a lot of potential to bring us together. But we have to embrace a level of humility that requires more maturity than mankind has ever delved into.

I wholeheartedly believe there is an agenda to tear down the freedoms of this country through communistic policies that ultimately lead to corruption and death. I also believe God is going to overcome this agenda. Just as Babylon fell, and many communist nations, these things will fall, simply because they are outside of our design and the ultimate trajectory of mankind’s spiritual awakening.

But in the midst of that, I also believe there can be a close-minded attitude in conservative camps that too quickly dismisses some serious evils at work within this great Republic. Our stance on certain issues can actually hinder our impact when we do not cross the line and hear the stories of others

. . . when we choose to use truth as a weapon and not tangibly love our neighbor.

Now wait a minute . . . If you listen closely, you can begin to hear the sound of a religious answer coming to rebut the statement I just made… It sounds something like this:

 

Love is telling people the truth! That is love! Don’t try to water it down with some cuddly hippy version of love!

 

Can you hear it? I can…

While I appreciate some aspects of that rebuttal, it unfortunately still comes from a place of religious ignorance. Love certainly “rejoices with the truth.” But if you want the complete package of love, you’re going to have to check out the whole passage of 1 Corinthians 13. There’s a whole lot more to it than that.

Love is patient and kind and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love is also not rude or proud, which is unfortunately how so many people come across in movements that are opposed to the ones I’ve mentioned. The fact is, we’re just clanging symbols if speaking the truth is the only part of our love.

So now we’ve looked at both camps and both sides of the coin. Next week, I want to look at the third side of the coin. It’s very thin, but with enough patience and precision, it can stand on itself and cause both perspectives to shine together . . .

~

Read Part Five Here