Proverbs 26:4-5
Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
    or you yourself will be just like him.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
    or he will be wise in his own eyes.

The Bible is a complex document which can be confusing on a multitude of levels. But perhaps one of the ways in which it is most often confusing is in its bipolarity. Did Jesus come to bring judge the world (Jn. 9) or not judge it (Jn. 3)? Is Jesus the prince of peace (Is. 9) or did he come to bring not peace, but division (Lk. 12)? Or, as Proverbs 26 writes, are we or are we not supposed to answer a fool according to their folly? ​

Most people advocate the idea that life and morality are best exemplified by the avoidance of extremes. If you err in one direction, you end up being licentious, and if you go in the other direction, you end up being uptight and legalistic. The letter of the law or no law at all. Both are problems. 

But when you try to apply this concept of avoiding the extreme, you end up with a life that doesn't depict radical Christianity at all. Let's just take economics as an example. If you were to tell the early church in Acts to avoid extremes, you'd tell them not to horde their money, but also not to give their money away "unwisely." They should live modestly, but they also should make sure to save enough to put their immediate family first, to put their kids through college, and to have a safe, comfortable retirement fund to provide for their future. You certainly wouldn't tell them to share all their possessions and to give to those in need to a point that it hurts them and their families. Yet that's exactly what the early church did. 

The thing is, God's commands are extreme. So hording for self and spending in excess for self both fail to demonstrate love, just in different directions. They're both egoistic. But selling possessions, giving to the poor at cost to yourself, and sharing in common are extreme measures, but they are beautiful goods. I think we have to nuance the term "extreme" or else we equivocate on it. When we say don't go to extremes, what we should mean is that we shouldn't err to either side, either extremity, or either direction. What we shouldn't mean is that we live a life devoid of actions which are extreme and powerful. Think of it like driving on the road. When you stay in the middle - in your lane - you go at high speeds and have purpose and direction. But when you go into either ditch, you hit ruts, signs, fences, guardrails, and you slow down or crash. Extreme speed can only be maintained when avoiding the extremity of the road.

Chesterton has a wonderful discussion on this in his book "Orthodoxy." Chesterton argues that Christian virtue is not the avoidance of extremes, but rather the furious joining of two extremes. Courage, for example, comes when one counts his life as lost while simultaneously desiring to preserve his life. To only count one's life as lost is to be a suicide, while to only care about the preservation of one's life is to be a coward. Courage, like most/all Christian virtues, can only be held if one holds both extremes in the middle. The Christian life is an extreme life and we ought not to use this idea of "avoiding the extreme" to water down how we are called to live. 

I know most people think tattoos are stupid decisions, but I have never regretted my decision to get one. Part of the reason I have no regret is because my tattoo is infused with meaning. Whether or not you agree with the decision to get a tattoo, I'd like to share with you the theology lessons you can pull from my tattoo, should you ever see me shirtless at the pool and aren't blinded by the white. 

Trinity: The most recognizable part of my tattoo is probably the center, which is the trinity knot. The trinity knot represents the trinity by having three points (for the godhead) as well as being a never ending loop (with a circle) to represent the infinite, never beginning, and never ending aspect of the godhead. The trinity is the center because God is the center of everything. 

Upside Down Kingdom: At the bottom you can see a kingdom which is upside down. I was first introduced to the "upside down kingdom" terminology by Donald Kraybill, whose book is of course titled, "The Upside-Down Kingdom." The book was revolutionary for me, and started me on a journey that would revolutionize my Christian thought and actions in the world. The concept is essentially that Christ's taught us an upside down way of living. The last are first. Slaves are free. The least are the greatest. Masters are to serve. Christ's way overturns the powers of this world not through aggressive force, but through sacrificial love. This is the foundation the world is built on. In fact, we see it in the Garden of Eden, for the first thing that happened when sin entered the world was that humanity recognized their nakedness. It was the first time they had looked to themselves, for before they had only looked to serve each other, God, and nature. The upside down Kingdom is God's way.

The Garden and the Tree of Life: It is on the foundation of God's upside down Kingdom, whose center is the godhead, that the utopia of the garden and the tree of life are built. 

The River: The river represents the streams of living water which flow forth from God's utopia. Jesus said that he is the living water, and it is he who brought the upside-down Kingdom to earth, bringing us restoration and salvation so we could live with him again in utopia upon our resurrection. But this river isn't just isolated to the Garden. Isaiah shows that this river flows forth from Christ, through his people, and out into the world. This is why the river flows out of the garden and extends to my arm. Through me - and all other believers - God moves through the world and brings life and restoration to his creation. He is making his enemies his footstool and he is calling others to himself, and he has chosen to use us as his ambassadors to do it. 

The Heart: This image is placed over my heart, as it is the godhead dwelling in me, through the Spirit, which transforms me and enables me to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. 

I often read the Bible with an air of arrogance. Sometimes I elevate myself above the foolish Israelites who, even after seeing God part the red sea or deliver them from empire, still choose to rebel against this omnipotent and benevolent God. At other times I am appalled at the Ancient Near East’s barbaric practices like that of sacrificing their own children to the gods. Clearly, I am so much better than they are. But perhaps there is no greater area in which my pride is pandered than when reading about ancient peoples and idolatry. How is it that people could be so ignorant and foolish as to attempt to house their gods in inanimate blocks of wood or stone?
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A few weeks ago, I read George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language.” Towards the end of the piece Orwell said something which slapped me in the face, as he revealed to me that I, in a way, am an idolater no better than those ignorant ancients depicted in the Bible. Orwell said,

“When you think of a concrete object, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to describe the thing you have been visualizing, you probably hunt about till you find the exact words that seem to fit it. When you think of something abstract you are more inclined to use words from the start, and unless you make a conscious effort to prevent it, the existing dialect will come rushing in and do the job for you, at the expense of blurring or even changing your meaning. Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one’s meanings as clear as one can through pictures and sensations. Afterwards one can choose – not simply accept – the phrases that will best cover the meaning, and then switch round and decide what impression one’s words are likely to make on another person." ​

​Three verses have long been troubling to me: Exodus 33:20, I Timothy 6:16, and John 1:18. Each of these verses declares that God cannot be seen, either because he is invisible and spirit, or because if we saw him we could no longer live. What is particularly troubling about these verses is that they seem patently false. Genesis 32:30 tells us that Jacob saw God face to face and Exodus 33:11 tells us that Moses spoke with God face to face. This is doubly troubling because the author of Exodus tells us that we can't live if we see God only 9 verses after telling us that Moses saw God face to face. 

Today in church the passage on Moses's inability to see God was brought up again, and a strange thought came to my mind. It struck me that not only did Moses and Jacob see God face to face, and arguably a few others, like Isaiah - but the New Testament tells us that humanity has now seen God face to face in Jesus. Jesus is the perfect representation and image of God (Col. 1:15 and Heb. 1:3), and Jesus told us that when we see him, we have seen the Father (Jn. 14:9). So humanity has seen God face to face, and we continue to see God in the life and teachings of Jesus. 

Many have seen God, yet we all have lived.

Click here for an audio/podcast version of this article. 

There are two things I particularly love about Reformed theology: its ability to drive one towards humility, and its emphasis on upholding the importance of doctrine. First, Reformed theology is perfectly equipped to drive one to humility through its doctrine - doctrine which demands introspection. The Reformed are well known for using the saying, "There but for the grace of God, go I." Due to the strong doctrine of total depravity, God's grace, and an understanding that our hearts are wicked and deceitful, Reformed believers have no grounds to be shocked when the most godly leader in the world falls, and no grounds to think that anyone is above any sin, even and especially oneself. There is a fear and trembling that Reformed doctrines should produce in our daily living, as well as a converse wonder and awe at the beautiful and extravagant grace of God. Reformed doctrines ought to drive us to humility..

Second, Reformed doctrines are equipped to drive us towards holding doctrine in high esteem. If humanity's problem is a looking to self and a forcing of God into the dark recesses of one's heart and mind, then the knowledge - the true and accurate knowledge of God and his son Jesus Christ, revealed in the Word, through the Spirit, ought to be core to our conversion and continued sanctification. Reformed faith should drive us to seek the knowledge of God in our theology, because right theology ought to cause us to become more and more conformed to the image of Jesus, who is the perfect image of God.  ​

The following sample of resources are some of the pieces which I've read or created while thinking through the issue of politics. I attempted to use a broad selection of authors, from conservative Christians to the secular, so you can get different angles. Regardless of where you land, my hope is that you'll begin to see the world through the eyes of the gospel first, and politics second (or tenth).