When you write a blog, people ask you questions (whether you are qualified to answer them or not). My next half dozen blogs are going to be public answers to questions I have received over the past few months. I can only share my thoughts and opinions in response; I do not presume to have actual answers that others should adopt as definitive. So, here goes. Q&A #1:

“You have written just enough about morals, ethics, values, and character to completely confuse me. You don’t directly write about specific politicians (generally), but it is crystal clear who you are talking about by the things you challenge, clarify, and explain. You don’t name Donald Trump (or members of his administration) often, but almost everything you write makes it crystal clear you not only disagree with him/them, but you dislike them. While I agree with you most of the time, I am confused as to what you are exactly thinking.”

First, I am not always clear as to what exactly I am thinking. But what I am very clear in my own mind, heart, and spirit about is that there are a set of standards by which Christians should live, should think, should commit time and energy to, and support in others. These are all biblical principles that have foundationally defined Christian ethics, qualities of Christian character, the core of a vital morality, and a reflection of Godly values. Here are a handful of these standards:

1. We believe that God is love. Historically and theologically this love has been defined expansively as including eros, philia, storge, philautia, pragma, and agape, so God contains, expresses, shares, and empowers the totality. What does this mean? Hate, prejudice, resentment, revenge, judgment, condemnation, and punishment are off the table. Accountability? Yes, those who harm others should not be allowed to do so. Loving someone does not always means accepting them just the way they are. Actions have consequences, and tolerating hate, violence, oppression, derision, and resentment is not acceptable for Christ followers. How we treat immigrants, other races and cultures, the poor, the less educated, the mentally and physically challenges tell us quite simply whether we are Christian or not.
2. We exist to do God’s will. What does this mean? Variously, to love mercy and kindness, to act justly, to walk with humility, to show compassion, to feed the hungry, house the unhoused, care for the sick, take care of immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, to act restoratively and justly with lawbreakers and the incarcerated, to not cheat/lie/steal, to commit to healthy and equitable community, and to allow God to manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – through us both individually, but more important communally.
3. We are the body of Christ. A true incarnational theology includes us. God has gifted each one of us, calls us to unity and mandates that we will continue to do in our world what God did through Jesus the Christ in his world. We cannot hate, cannot inflame, cannot condemn, cannot attack, cannot insult, cannot be selfish. These actions disqualify us as members of Christ’s body.

I’m not going to go further than this. If we acknowledge and accept these three theses, they are all that is needed to answer the question: “What does it mean to be Christian?” If you see people who fulfill these three standards, support them. If you see people who fulfill more of them than others, support them. No one is perfect. No person who pursues political ambitions will check every box. But those who lie, cheat, steal, attack opponents, commit or support acts of violence, name call, abuse others, stir up discontent, encourage bigotry and hate crimes, cannot garner our endorsement. We cannot vote for those who most egregiously violate the core values of the Christian faith.

Some will look at what I have written and determine that I am being disingenuous and am attacking our current administration. However, in order to do this, these folks will have to make the leap themselves, assessing that the thoughts, words, and actions of our current leadership violate and oppose the basic teachings of the Christian faith. I have said nothing specifically about political leaders, just people and leaders in general. Yes, I believe these are the principles that make it impossible to support our current governmental power brokers, but my standards are theological rather than political. Yet, we live in a world where theology and politics cannot be safely divorced. If our faith defines our values, yet our values have little to do with our politics we are in deep trouble.