One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
This article was written by Pastor Vermon Pierre, a friend of CTCNA and pastor of Roosevelt Community Church in Phoenix, Arizona. It was originally shared with his congregation, and we are grateful for the opportunity to share it with you here.
There’s a lot of distressing news reports right now, but two that stand out to me are the reports on the arresting and detention of undocumented immigrants in the United States and how Israel is conducting its war against Hamas in Gaza. And I’m noticing some common tendencies among people, including me, in responding to these reports. One tendency is to find a way to dismiss it, to most often say to yourself, “This is bad, but probably not that bad.” It’s an instinct to immediately downplay every report you read or see to a degree that allows you to feel like you don’t have to say or do anything.
Another tendency, perhaps the most common one, is to immediately sort these news reports into the rigid categories or false dichotomies and absolutes our world has already set up for us. These are rigid categories like: This is just fake news, or this is just liberal media exaggeration, or this is just right wing or left wing propaganda. These are false dichotomies like: The only way to enforce immigration laws is through harsh treatment of undocumented immigrants vs we should not have any limits on immigration or laws against illegal immigration. Or false absolutes like: The only way to stop terrorism is through indiscriminate unrelenting mass military action.
I read a quote recently, where someone was remarking about one of our current news events and he said the following, “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” This statement has haunted me ever since I read it. Because, as someone who is very interested in and reads a lot of history, this statement has held true historically speaking. When the United States government was forcing Japanese American citizens to live in internment camps during World War 2, everyone largely looked away and went along with it. Now of course everyone looks back and admits this was wrong. But you could argue we do that because it’s safe to do it now, because now it’s the mainstream view. The same thing has happened when it comes to how we view segregation in the Jim Crow era of America, or how we understand the past treatment of Haiti by France and the West, or how we talk about the treatment of Jewish citizens in Germany in the years leading to and then during World War 2. During those times, most said nothing, did nothing. But now, many years later, everyone readily admits the many wrongs and evils that happened in those historical events.
There’s a lot that I’m still unsure about when it comes to all our current events. My instincts in general are to be more measured and analytical, and I don’t think that’s bad, it’s largely a gift in my line of work. But I do know this - that I can no longer look away or dismiss what I am seeing right now when it comes to the clear examples of harsh and dehumanizing treatment of many undocumented immigrants by our government. Or the brutal war strategies of Israel that have led to the starvation of ordinary Palestinians in Gaza. It’s bad and it’s sinful and it needs to stop. I don’t want to wait till 10 or 20 years from now when it will be more popular to say those things. I can’t and I won’t do this, and what has led me the most to this point has been this reminder - that I am a citizen of a kingdom that existed way before our current governments and institutions and nations and will exist far beyond our current governments and institutions and nations (Philippians 3:20-21). This kingdom is a heavenly kingdom, ruled by a God who I know as both my King and my Father because of his grace to me through Jesus. This God has now commissioned me to represent him, and his kingdom, in this world.
The more you see yourself in this way - as a citizen and representative of the kingdom of God - the more power you will have to resist the natural tendency to overlook wrongdoing and sin. The more wisdom you will have to see through and not limit yourself to the rigid categories and false dichotomies and absolutes our world gives us. The more Spirit you will have to instead speak according to standards of divine truth and justice and to find the answers out there that can lead to beauty and grace and love.
And so, may the Lord give me and all faithful believers all of this - all of the power, wisdom, and Holy Spirit we need right now. And may it make a godly difference in these situations that most need it.
