Conflicting ideologies: Individualism vs. Collectivism

Listen. I love freedom. 

I love liberty. I love America and its hard-working values, and it gives me no pause to call myself a patriot.

Lately I've been feeling frustrated with those who seem to hate what I love about America, especially my fellow Christians. But God has been moving me toward a place of more understanding, where I can see the faults that exist in my own thinking, the dangers that lurk in being too black-and-white. 

I am naturally inclined more toward individualism than collectivism. I love living in a society when individuals are held accountable, where anyone can overcome their circumstances if they take hold of their lives with discipline and determination. But I recognize that this tendency in me can lead me down the wrong path if I let it, and there are valuable aspects of collectivism as well.

I believe that the good Christian will be able to see the nuance in this and let himself move closer to the middle ground. When looking at Jesus' example, it's beautiful how he approaches each person with respect and gives everyone dignity. It's inspiring that Jesus chooses not to view humanity based on their common faults, but loves and knows each of us completely and uniquely. And Jesus' compassion for the least of these, his commandment of dying to self and reconciling to our fellow man, should be of equal value to us. Our individual experience and our natural connectedness with other people need to exist in this tense middle ground if we are to be more like Jesus. 

Unchecked individualism breeds egotism and legalism. If I focus only on my individual experiences, needs, and desires, I will become the center of my own universe. I will become callous toward the suffering and the needs of others. I won't care how my actions affect other people, and I will validate my perspective at the expense of others. If I refuse to see how someone's circumstances impact their actions and choices, thinking only of their individual agency, I will have no compassion for those trapped in vicious cycles. I will be reluctant to forgive and quick to condemn.

Un-moderated collectivism breeds cynicism and moral relativism. If I validate everyone else's experience to the point that I see all perspectives as relatively true, and begin to assimilate all experiences into myself, I will become lost in a sea of contradictions. I won't be able to find a firm truth to stand on. If I harbor generalizations about groups of people, I will become quick to judge based on appearances, and ready to ascribe negative qualities to individuals that make up those groups, without even knowing them. When I don't see the trees for the forest, I will place more value on the good of the many at the expense of the outliers and the most vulnerable. I will align myself with corrupt systems, if it seems that by doing so I can achieve the common good.

Jesus cares for his flock, but he also cares for the individual sheep that make up that flock. When one sheep goes astray, what does Jesus do? He leaves the flock to seek out the one that is lost. If Jesus followed collectivism to the letter, he wouldn't be concerned about the one lost sheep out of 100. He would look at the remainder of his flock and say, 99%? That's pretty alright.

Conversely, Jesus shepherds the flock as a whole and desires for us to have unity within it. If he spent no time gathering his flock in the first place, there would be no community for his sheep. There would be no safety and security, no comfort in companionship and mutual encouragement. If Jesus was a die-hard individualist, he would leave the one sheep to wander alone, thinking hey, that sheep made its choice. 

The good in collectivism considers the impact of one's actions and recognizes the shared experiences of all human beings. The good in collectivism is able to connect the seemingly unconnected and have compassion on those whose lives are different from one's own. The good in collectivism desires unity and peace, knowing that in Christ our differences can work together for His glory. 

The good in individualism encourages self-examination and self-control. The good in individualism gives agency to all people, and approaches each unique person with hope, without prejudice or bitterness. The good in individualism detaches itself from worldly systems and seeks God's solutions. The good in individualism gives people the benefit of the doubt and forgives easily, knowing that each of us is an individual created and loved by God. 

Our lives as Christians need to incorporate all of these good things, joyfully embodying this tension--the tension between self and others, between rationality and compassion. That tension is where God lives, binding everything together in His paradoxical love and justice. 

I will always prize my freedom, which is why I'm so happy to live here in America, where so many people have dedicated their lives to protecting the individual rights and dignity of each person. Anything other than this would, I believe, be wrong. In a society where every individual is seen as just that, we have more practical freedom to do good for others, more freedom, even, to choose to express the good qualities of collectivism--and that is something I will never vote to give up. 

And yet, if I am to be more like Christ, I must be willing to see outside myself and value His cause above my own. Though liberty is a beautiful gift, the gift of eternal life is more beautiful. Though my freedom to carve out my own path is a miraculous opportunity, the God-given ability to deny myself for the sake of others is more miraculous. Though peace with my fellow man is sweet, nothing is sweeter than the otherworldly truth God speaks to me. 

And when it comes to it, I must choose to die for this truth, literally and figuratively. For without this truth there would be nothing good to save.

Vladimir Lenin had questions too

Pondering today, as I have been all week, what happens when we turn away from our Source to seek answers.

A question is posed

What can I write
in a world gone mad?

The thing is to shout,
to be heard
above the roar of them shouting,

shouting anger,
shouting the lies they've come to love
again 
and again

now here, now there,
now left, now right
now asking and answering
now half-hearted listening--
does anyone want to listen?

What is to be done?
Lenin asked the world
and the world answered, fight.
But fight for what?
The clouds didn't answer.
Maybe the earth would.

The earth seemed to say,
Dig.
Dig.
Dig and make new.
So they ploughed the earth and they made it rough,
they planted in it the tears of their fight,
they hoped, in the planting, to uproot the weeds.

But the new plants that grew were stronger than weeds,
stalks thick and bristles clinging,
not soft like the seeds
dropped with heartache in the dirt,
and no one knew what to do then.
What could be done?

Nothing but to finish what they'd started.
The tears had been planted,
the ground overturned,
the questions answered 
with grim finality.

The days marched on
and the frost sank down
and the weeds broke the earth
until one day the world was full of ghosts,

their bones become seeds, 
their memory
the whisper of failure--

all somehow telling the same story
that the world has gone mad

and we can't make it right.

An irrepressible conflict

It's a disturbing trend I've seen recently that in pro-choice rhetoric, pregnancy is commonly likened to slavery. 

Pro-choice ideology claims that women are oppressed by their babies, that pro-life people want to exert control over vulnerable women's bodies, and that anyone who defends life is essentially a modern-day slaveholder. There has never been anything more ironic than this ludicrous erroneous comparison. The abortion industry vilifies children and embraces the destruction of vulnerable innocents for the cause of convenience; that, in itself, is the definition of oppression and exploitation. 

It is, in fact, the logic of the abortion-defender that most closely resembles that of America's pro-slavery champions in the 1800s. 

Let's compare the two, shall we?

Pro-choice argument: Fetuses are sub-human, pre-human, not "people." They cannot speak, cannot hear, cannot see, cannot (up to a certain point) feel pain, and cannot form memories. They are unaware of their surroundings. Humans in the early stages of development are not as worthy of protection as adult humans, or even newborn infants. 

Slavery rhetoric: Slaves (i.e. Black people) are not fully realized persons. They have low moral intelligence and are uncivilized, unteachable, and brutish. Therefore, their lives are less valuable inherently than white lives, and they were destined to be subordinated. 

"In all social systems there must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life..." -James Henry Hammond, 1858

Pro-choice: The woman has authority over her own body, which includes the fetus inside her, and it is not immoral to use that authority however she pleases. The fetus is utterly dependent on its mother for life. The woman's power is an asset to her; it gives her permission, even the right, to dominate the fetus.

Slavery: The white slave owner has been given authority by God and by law over slaves' bodies, and so he is justified in using them however he pleases. His power, intelligence, and capacity give him the right to dominate lesser beings and "civilize" them.

"[The freed slave] would become an insufferable burden to society. Society has the right to prevent this, and can only do so by subjecting him to domestic slavery... We would remind those who deprecate and sympathize with negro slavery, that his slavery here... christianizes, protects, supports and civilizes him; that it governs him far better than free laborers at the North are governed." -George Fitzhugh

Pro-choice: Abortion is not murder. Murder is illegal. Abortion can't be called murder because it is legal and embedded in our society's way of life.

Slavery: Slavery is legal and embedded in the social structure of the United States and the world. Because it is widely accepted, it must not be immoral.

"...A race inferior to her own, but eminently qualified in temper, in vigor, in docility, in capacity to stand the climate, to answer all her purposes. We use them for our purpose, and call them slaves. We found them slaves by the common 'consent of mankind...'" -James Henry Hammond, 1858

Pro-choice: Unwanted fetuses will have difficult lives if carried to term and given up for adoption. It's better for them to be destroyed rather than suffer a life of poverty and adversity.

Slavery: If slaves are freed, where will they go? They do not have the skills or the capacity to care for themselves or build a quality life. It's better for them to stay enslaved, safe and provided for, than to be turned out into the street to fend for themselves.

"He the Negro is but a grown up child, and must be governed as a child, not as a lunatic or criminal. The master occupies toward him the place of parent or guardian... We presume the maddest abolitionist does not think the negro's providence of habits and money-making capacity at all to compare to those of the whites." -George Fitzhugh

Pro-choice: Abortion is a positive good--good for the mother and good for the unwanted fetus. Abortion relieves mothers of emotional hardship, financial burden, and social stigma, and saves the fetus from life in an unfair world. 

Slavery: Slavery is a positive good. It benefits masters economically and socially, and slaves are elevated by their usefulness to white people and their separation from their cultural roots. 

"But let me not be understood as admitting, even by implication, that the existing relations between the two races in the slaveholding States is an evil:–far otherwise; I hold it to be a good, as it has thus far proved itself to be to both, and will continue to prove so if not disturbed by the fell spirit of abolition... Never before has the black race of Central Africa... attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually." -John C. Calhoun

"... our slaves are hired for life and well compensated; there is no starvation, no begging, no want of employment among our people, and not too much employment either... They are elevated from the condition in which God first created them, by being made our slaves." -James Henry Hammond, 1858*

Pro-life advocates assert that none of this is true; all human beings are of equal inherent value, regardless of developmental stage, ability, or suffering, and abortion is an abomination because it destroys an innocent person and allows those with less power to be dominated by those with more. Likening pro-life people to slaveholders is like calling Frederick Douglass a racist.

In 1858, William Seward described the tension between abolitionists and pro-slavery forces as an "irrepressible conflict." Whether he meant the words to be prophetic or not, he discerned that things in the slavery debate could not continue the same way without boiling over. 

To my pro-choice friends: I love you. My intent in writing this isn't to declare war on you, but
to expose the lies we're being told by the abortion industry, and to ask you, boldly: when the lines have been drawn, on which side would you rather find yourself? It's not too late to start listening to the truth.

The time to choose is now. We are approaching another crossroads in our history--much like America in 1860, headed toward the emancipation of the slaves through Civil War--a crux in another "irrepressible conflict" between life and death, freedom and oppression. Those who plant themselves in opposition to the cause of life will one day find themselves relegated forever to the company of slaveholders, Nazis, and tyrants, their cheaply bought glory tarnished, and their names forgotten.

But we, the defenders of life, will find ourselves encouraged, strengthened, approved by God, and celebrated by future generations of free people.

*There is a plethora of sources on this subject. I used three of the most well-known pro-slavery speeches from the time period, but if you know how to work Google or the Library of Congress website, you can find many more. 

A happy (not)ending

My husband and I watched the Passion last night. He'd never seen it before, and afterward he stared wide-eyed for a long time, thinking about Jesus' suffering. 

It is not an easy thing to watch. It's nauseating, shocking, horrific. To see the flogging, the humiliation, the crucifixion of Jesus, even as a reenactment, is incredibly painful--especially considering that He went through all of that for us. A mother myself now, I can't even imagine Mary's desolation as she watched her baby suffer like that. It's almost too much to bear.

And it would be completely unbearable, if not for the death-defying hope that rings throughout the Passion story. 

Through the movie we had the opportunity to witness one of my favorite Bible stories, from Luke 23:

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

I went to bed last night burdened by sorrow for the barbaric treatment of my King, but humbled deeply by the notion that he endured it all deliberately, joyfully, knowing he could save himself but unwilling to do so and leave me to die in my sins. I was in awe again at his treatment of that criminal hanging next to him. That he could enter into a situation so grim and so painful, and imbue even the darkest of moments with pure hope and love and forgiveness, is beyond my comprehension.

Imagine that man, condemned to die. Lost to his sins, deserving of punishment. Imagine his hopelessness as they nail him to his own cross.

And then imagine the turnaround. Jesus reaches out a lifeline to him in his hour of need, and this criminal, unloved by so many, finds his life even as he's dying. In that moment, everything changes for him.

We are all that criminal on the cross. Hated by the world, trapped in our sin. And even now Jesus offers us the same love, the same grace, the same power to conquer death. If we reach out to him, we are saved and transformed. That's all it takes. 

I hope this truth becomes yours today, that the end of your life might be just the opposite--the beginning of a beautiful eternity. 

Things adults wonder about

If you've ever found a balloon with a message tied to it in your front yard, it might've been from my siblings and me. 

What happened to all those balloons we set free?

Balloons were a thing of childhood.
A treat from the dentist,
restitution for an hour of torment.
A stretchy-soft trophy,
tied with a ribbon on its rubbery stub tail
that squeaked when you caught it
between your freshly cleaned teeth.
It made you forget the taste of fluoride,
made your wrist feel floaty and free

It was tradition to let them go
before they turned to ethereal raisins, tied to our bedposts,
drooping sadly in the horizontal light of the morning

We'd scavenge a slip of paper
and etch a few words--
just a few, lest they add too much weight.
We'd roll them tightly so they couldn't escape
on the way to their accidental recipients.

Standing in the driveway we'd send the balloon messengers off,
watching them take to the clouds like buoys
and with them our imaginations.