"God d--n America"

I mentioned Shelby Steele's book on Obama in a previous post. Steele has published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today that distills the thesis of his book, but gives you enough information to whet your appetite for more. You can get to the article here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120579535818243439.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

(Jed, I couldn't make out the instructions on how to do the hyperlink shortcut; if you or anyone else can e-mail or comment here with advice, please do so.)

I've had some sidebar thoughts over the last 48 hours that aren't outright political in nature, but do tie into the Jeremiah Wright motif, specifically his calls on God to "damn America" for its offenses, both perceived and real. First, and least important, let's be fair to Wright and concede that he wasn't using an expletive here. I think he may have at other points in other sermons, but my feeling is that he is using the term "damn" in a literal sense here. So that is the origin of my following reactions.

Growing up in a strictly conservative evangelical environment, I heard a lot of scathing denunciations of America's sins from a number of church pulpits. Furthermore, although the churches in which I participated maintained some cultural/lifestyle distinctives that the wider evangelical church world did not share, this particular pattern of calling out America's transgressions was not one of those peculiarities. To say it another way, even a cursory study of the preaching of evangelical leaders such as Billy Graham, D. James Kennedy, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and scores of others who could safely be characterized as mainstream members of American Christendom will show these same patterns.

Although, frankly, I don't always enjoy it, I am certainly aware of the need for warnings of the possibility of God's impending judgment on America and on the world, as a whole. I also believe that it takes courage for many preachers to do that; not everyone's personality naturally coincides with the conviction that is necessary for such messages. God called the prophet Ezekiel, however, to serve as a watchman and to warn the Israelite people of the dangers that lay ahead if they continued down the paths they were forging. This is an implicit portion of the duty of any preacher of God's Word, from that time to this.

The point where I begin to be troubled is when such sentiments are delivered, not with a mixture of sadness and, yes, anger (which is not always unwarranted) but rather with gusto, laced with rage. Keep in mind that rage is not always accompanied by dilated eyeballs, strained screams and foam-flecked lips. At times, it is very low key and determined.

I'm reminded of the days right after September 11 when most of us were united as a country in our sorrow and, I felt, determination to become a better people. Yet, there were still those who declared that God's judgment had begun and would continue to be poured out. I even heard of one acquaintance of mine who shall remain nameless who essentially urged God to "bring it on, and the sooner the better." It would be one thing if this were an anomaly from just 1 or 2 church people out there on the edge, but I'm afraid it isn't, although I hope and pray that such petitions are enough of a small minority that the rest of us overpower them.

When I hear of such reckless religious bravado (I refuse to call it spiritual), I want to ask those people if they think they will be exempt from whatever God's judgment involves, or if they feel their children will be. Throughout history, such has never been the case. German Lutherans who stood up for the Jews in Hitler's Third Reich suffered in concentration camps right along with them. Christians in the Great Depression and famines throughout history have felt the hunger pangs and watched their children starve along with the lowest sinners. Christians in Rwanda and Darfur have seen their own slain along with the druglords and pimps in the genocidal horrors of the last decade. Why should the United States in the 21st century be an exception to this pattern?

As we contemplate Easter and the price that was paid that we might live in an age of grace, could we urge the need for repentance and "weep between the temple porch and the altar" (Joel 2:17) as we warn of the danger of God's judgment? BUT, may we not also be mindful of the mercy of God that endures forever and never fail to hold out the possibility of healing offered by II Chronicles 7:14?