The Democratic National Convention meeting in Chicago continues to dominate the news cycle this morning. Bill Clinton, Pete Buttigieg, and Tim Walz were the highlighted speakers, while Oprah Winfrey gave a surprise speech and Stevie Wonder, John Legend, and other celebrities appeared as well.

As the November 5 election draws ever closer, voters will obviously need to choose between the parties and their candidates. However, we will also choose between two electoral philosophies. Understanding them can help us frame the partisan vitriol of our day in a way that encourages our souls and empowers our witness.

Political “rights” and moral wrongs

One approach is to vote for candidates we believe will best serve our nation, irrespective of our personal needs and wishes. However, Americans obviously disagree as to what is best for America. For example, as an evangelical Christian, I support biblical morality with regard to abortion, euthanasia, and LGBTQ issues. Many in our nation clearly disagree with me.

A second approach is to vote for candidates we believe will most benefit us personally—those who promise to lower our taxes, raise our income, protect our rights, solve our problems, and so on. However, what benefits us may not benefit others. Raising your taxes to provide more governmental services for me is better for me than for you. Lowering my taxes may hamstring the government’s ability to provide such services to you.

And what some consider to be “rights,” others consider to be moral wrongs. For example, employing governmental means to advance elective abortion or LGBTQ agendas using my taxes for purposes with which I strongly disagree.

All this to say, the outcome of our election this fall will inevitably disappoint us. Even if the leaders we elect never fall into personal immorality, never lie to us, and never make decisions based on personal agendas rather than the common good, they will inevitably lead in ways with which some of us disagree. This is simply the way democracy in a pluralistic society works.

How should you and I respond to this fact?

An election is not a coronation

We are to pay our taxes and respect those in authority—by virtue of their position, if not their person (Romans 13:7). Some of us are called to run for public office as well.

And we are to pray for our leaders, whether we voted for them or not (1 Timothy 2:12). As Dr. Mark Turman and Kaitlyn Schiess discussed on a recent Denison Forum Podcast, praying for our leaders reminds us not to idolize them and helps us fight against the temptation to confuse our president for our King.

The former is as finite and fallen, as prone to sin and failure, as the rest of us. The latter is “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Timothy 1:17).

As my wife notes in her latest blog, an election is not a coronation.

David testified, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ our God” (Psalm 20:7). This was his personal commitment as well: “The king trusts in the Lᴏʀᴅ” (Psalm 21:7).

His example invites us to do the same today.

The key to helping our divided and divisive nation know the hope and grace of Christ is for us to experience and then model that hope and grace personally. Br. David Vryhof of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston asks:

Why would we choose to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us? Because that is the way of God. That is how God responds to those who resist God and choose evil over good. God never stops loving, never stops caring, never stops blessing—even when the creatures whom God has made respond to this love with indifference or opposition…

Only God’s love abiding in us can love in this way. Only God’s strength at work in our weakness can make us God-like in our words and actions…

Love as God loves, give as God gives, be merciful as God is merciful, surprise people by your generosity and kindness—and everyone will know that you are “children of the Most High.”

His wise words apply especially to the way we engage the political issues of our day amid the deepest partisan divisions since the Civil War. When we “surprise people by [our] generosity and kindness,” we serve a cause that will endure long after the election is over.

“Victory, Sir! Victory!”

The Duke of Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, ended a war that had waged for twenty-three years, stopped French attempts to dominate Europe, and helped advance the British Empire. However, historian Brian Cathcart reports that no one in London had any idea on that Sunday that the battle had commenced, much less that it had been won.

Monday’s papers carried reports that fighting had begun in Belgium. Tuesday brought news of victory, but the report mistakenly distorted an indecisive encounter two days before Waterloo, plunging the city into confusion.

It was not until Wednesday evening that messenger Major Henry Percy was able to bring the news to the governmental Cabinet. He then rushed to the Prince, dropped to one knee, and pronounced the words “Victory, Sir! Victory!” And all of England celebrated.

You carry news of the greatest victory since time began: the triumph of Jesus over sin, death, and the grave. Ten thousand millennia after the last election in human history is over, he will still be “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16).

When last did you thank him for this victory?

With whom will you share it today?

Thursday news to know:

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

• US economy created 818,000 fewer jobs than previously reported
• Italian divers find 5 more bodies, 1 still missing after superyacht disaster survivor’s ominous text message
• Gaza cease-fire talks put Iran attack on hold
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to end his presidential campaign
• On this day in 1911: Theft of “Mona Lisa” is discovered

Quote for the day:

“The church is not meant to call men and women out of the world into a safe religious enclave but to call them out in order to send them back as agents of God’s kingship.” —Lesslie Newbigin

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If you watched the Republican National Convention last month and are now watching the Democrats as they meet in Chicago, you could be forgiven for thinking the parties are living in separate countries.

According to Republicans, Kamala Harris and the Democrats would lead our nation to ruin at home and chaos abroad. According to Democrats, including Barack and Michelle Obama in their Democratic National Convention speeches last night, the opposite is the case. Both eviscerated Donald Trump while lauding Ms. Harris as someone who will fight for Americans.

Partisan politics are just one way that “reality” has become whatever we consider it to be. Here are more examples:

• The Church of England is dropping the word church in a quest for relevance. According to a new study, “modern-sounding” words such as community are now in favor.
• A major medical organization in the US has expressed skepticism about the long-term effects of sex-change procedures on minors. However, others continue to claim that they are safe and effective despite clear evidence to the contrary.
• The Arizona Supreme Court says a fetus can be referred to as an “unborn human being”; abortion advocates called the ruling “deeply disappointing.”
• Witchcraft has become a wellness fad.
• The word morals has been replaced by boundaries in our therapeutic society. According to one therapist, the latter “can be anything, include anything, and change depending on the person/situation/time. All that matters is that they feel good to you.”

Yesterday, we looked at ways our secularized culture commodifies people. Today, let’s consider ways it commodifies truth.

John Adams noted: “Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” Nonetheless, Satan loves to tempt us to conflate opinion with reality for two reasons.

We are unprepared for eternity

A luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily this week, killing leading figures in tech, banking, and law along with members of their families. This is just one example of the fact that all humans, whatever our cultural status, are mortal. Ignoring this fact leaves us unprepared for death when it arrives and eternity beckons.

This is one of Satan’s most subtle strategies in leading as many as possible away from heaven and into hell. If you don’t believe in either, you won’t seek to experience the former and thus will be consigned to the latter.

Nonetheless, George Clooney speaks for many when he says, “I don’t believe in heaven and hell,” as though his disbelief changes their reality. Imagine saying, “I don’t believe in Canada,” and assuming Canada therefore does not exist.

A cancer patient who denies they have the disease is only more likely to die from it as a result. Skeptics who deny that they need to be saved from hell will go there when they die (John 3:18). Perhaps today.

We are susceptible to damaging deception

Satan is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44) who comes to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). The former is one way he accomplishes the latter.

Historian Jon Meacham observed,

While we remain a nation decisively shaped by religious faith, our politics and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago.

Wall Street Journal columnist Lance Morrow describes some consequences of our opinion-based ideology. In what he calls an “inversion” of “previous biology, custom, and human nature”, he says,

Boys may be girls and girls may be boys, according to impulse or whim. Criminals are victims. Civilization is barbaric. The ambition of the progressive left has been to dismantle the previous America as being racist, oppressive, sexist, and excessively white. … The 21st century is an unusually dislocated time.

By contrast, “All the paths of the Lᴏʀᴅ are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Psalm 25:10).

Do we need more “steadfast love and faithfulness” today?

What was Jesus’ “primary concern”?

Bank tellers learn to detect counterfeit currency by spending time with the real thing. In the same way, spending time with Jesus in his Word enables us to know the truth that sets us free (John 8:31–32).

Our Savior modeled this principle in his personal life, beginning his mornings (Mark 1:35) and ending his evenings (Luke 6:12) with his Father. He prayed before he ate (Matthew 14:19), before decisions (Luke 6:12–13; Matthew 26:36), and in the midst of great suffering (Luke 23:46). The busier he became, the more he prayed (cf. Luke 5:15–16). And it was through this lifestyle of communion with his Father (Hebrews 5:7) that he was led and empowered to change the world.

Henri Nouwen noted:

“Jesus’ primary concern was to be obedient to his Father, to live constantly in his presence. Only then did it become clear to him what his task was in his relationships with people.”

What is your “primary concern” today?

Wednesday news to know:

• Israel military recovers bodies of 6 hostages in Gaza operation
• After yacht sinks, experts say Mediterranean growing more dangerous
• US birth rate hits new low

• • (For more on this topic, see How can God redeem America’s declining birth rates?)
• Fed officials uneasy about job market as they get ready for Jackson Hole
• On this day in 1959: Hawaii becomes 50th state

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The most vital question to ask about all who claim to be Christian is this: Have they a soul thirst for God?” —Martyn Lloyd-Jones

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If Joe Biden were his party’s nominee for president this fall, he would be speaking at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday. Instead, that honor goes to Vice President Kamala Harris, while Mr. Biden addressed the gathering last night instead. Frequently interrupted by chants of “We love Joe,” he pointed to his joint accomplishments with Ms. Harris as he passed the torch to her.

Have Democrats been unfair to the president? Joe Biden won his party’s nomination through its primary process, then resigned from the race on July 21. According to Robert Draper’s in-depth New York Times profile, he still feels anger and hurt toward party leaders who discouraged him from seeking reelection.

Said negatively: his political allies supported him so long as he was a means to the end of keeping the White House, then turned on him when they felt he could no longer serve this purpose.

Said positively: politicians must be elected if they are to serve. If, as Democratic Party leaders believe, their platform best meets the needs of the nation, it needs to gain power to do so. Running candidates who are most likely to win is a necessary means to this end.

Lest you think I’m being partisan, the same is true on the Republican side. Donald Trump was widely disliked in his party until it became clear that he would win the nomination in 2016. Over the years since, many of his political opponents have become his supporters. The same negative/positive calculus is in play.

“The arc of history bends toward justice”

I often cite the work of sociologist James Davison Hunter, whom I consider the leading evangelical interpreter of culture today. In his new book, Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America’s Political Crisis, he argues that America was formed within the tension between Enlightenment values—a belief in individual reason, deliberation, and neutral social institutions—and religious faith.

As New York Times columnist David Brooks notes in his response to Hunter’s work:

The Bible gave generations of Americans a bedrock set of moral values, the conviction that we live within an objective moral order, the faith that the arc of history bends toward justice. Religious fervor drove many of our social movements, like abolitionism.

However, as Hunter reports, America began growing less religious in the 1960s and started privatizing religious beliefs as a result. In response, American public life grew largely secular, especially among the highly educated classes. Moral relativism then supplanted religious doctrine.

How is this working for us?

“Loving things and using people”

The so-called sexual revolution of the era, coupled with the advent of birth control, soon spawned the normalization of no-fault divorce, pornography, homosexuality, and abortion. Same-sex marriage and society-wide LGBTQ advocacy followed, along with growing support for polygamy and euthanasia.

What these issues have in common is that they commodify people:

• Birth control enables unmarried people to have sex even with strangers with less fear of pregnancy, even though God created sex as a celebration of marital intimacy and childbearing (Genesis 2:23–25).
• No-fault divorce and polygamy undermine the relational unconditionality that God intends to characterize marriage (cf. Genesis 2:24).
• Pornography obviously objectifies the bodies of others for selfish pleasure.
• LGBTQ advocacy labels people by perceived gender and sexual orientation rather than calling them to celebrate their identity within biblical truth and morality.
• Abortion treats preborn children as objects to be killed and removed from their mother’s body as she wishes, even though God considers them sacred from the moment of their conception (cf. Psalm 139:16; Jeremiah 1:5).
• Euthanasia values life only to the degree that it serves utilitarian purposes to the individual or to society at large.

As you can see, making people a means to our ends is not limited to political parties. From Cain and Abel to today, it is a symptom of our fallen nature and drive to be our own god (Genesis 3:5).

And as the old gospel song says, “Loving things and using people only leads to misery.”

Why “God will make us good”

If our society is ever to move past the commodification and transactionalism that dominates our relationships, we will need a source beyond ourselves. We will need the power to choose love over lust, sacrifice over selfishness, forgiveness over revenge.

The good news is that Jesus, the one Person in all of human history who most exemplified such attributes, can recreate us in his “image” (Romans 8:29). His Spirit can manifest the “fruit” of his character in us: his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23).

How?

1. Settle for nothing less than Christlikeness: “As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:15).
2. Practice the presence of Christ through your day. Read and memorize Scripture; express gratitude for his gifts; pray for your needs. Imagine yourself in his presence, since you are (Matthew 28:20).
3. Submit each day to the Spirit, asking him to make you more like your Lord than you have ever been (Ephesians 5:18).

1. S. Lewis noted:

“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because he loves us.”

How deeply do you want God to “make you good” today?

NOTE: Do you ever lie awake at night, racing through the day’s events and tomorrow’s to-do list? If so, you’re not alone. Sleep issues impact millions of Americans. That’s why we want to provide you with a better way to end your nights: Janet Denison’s new 365-evening devotional, Wisdom Matters. Get your copy today.

Tuesday news to know:

• In a full-circle moment, former nominee Hillary Clinton speaks in support of Harris
• Blinken says Israel agrees to a US-backed proposal for a cease-fire and calls on Hamas to do the same
• 2 killed and about 100 evacuated by rescue crews as flash flooding hit parts of Connecticut and New York
• When and where to see August’s rare supermoon blue moon
• On this day in 1619: First enslaved Africans arrive in Jamestown, setting the stage for slavery in North America

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Character is what a man is in the dark.” —D. L. Moody

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