Lesson 23: Summary of Biblical Stories
I wrote this series explicitly to examine biblical stories from the perspective of the American political situation. I wanted to test my perception that the Trump administration creates big problems for those who accept Christian teachings.
Lutherans are reluctant to speak against the political order because our founder taught a doctrine of two kingdoms. Supposedly, God rules the earth through the church, which proclaims the Gospel of love, and the government, which uses violent means to hold evil in check. Even though we can see the danger of maintaining an unconditional separation of church and state in the rise of the Nazis in Lutheran Germany, we are still very cautious about overstepping the boundaries.
Nonetheless, when many Christian leaders and groups very fervently express support for the Trump administration, it becomes necessary to test their positions against the biblical stories. This is especially important because the government is now engaging in so many cruel programs.
My first surprise was how almost all the ancient stories confronted some variation of the problems we face. They, too, had massive migrations because of natural disasters or political oppression. Continual wars also threatened genocide or deportation. The separation of the rich and poor presented serious concerns.
Almost every one of he stories opposes the actions of the Trump administration. The passages about the invasion of Canaan indeed have God commanding genocide, and there are instances when God’s anger threatens to kill masses of people. However, the biblical heroes convince God to have mercy, often arguing that his true nature is loving kindness and mercy. And the rest of the stories clearly maintain that this is indeed his true nature. His intention is to overcome violence with love.
In opposition to Trump’s policies, the biblical stories call for welcoming the stranger, caring for the needy, sharing with the poor, treating the foreigner as neighbor, granting women dignity.
Most of the stories were written by outsiders speaking truth to those in power. They challenge the political authorities of their time.
Everyone of the biblical stories we examined could be used to oppose the policies and actions of the Trump administration. This was so repetitious I tried to end the series on 3 or 4 occasions. Each time, a number of readers coincidentally told me they appreciated my relating the old stories to the modern age.
Inspired by these comments, I’m going to somewhat continue the perspective in the next series that will look at the prophets. Their writings make up almost half of the Old Testament. Yet our knowledge of them is pretty much confined to a few passages from Isaiah and Jeremiah. I think we’ll find they offer a helpful critique of the present situation.
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