HASHTAG-DEBATE

Last night’s presidential debate (Oct 16, 2012) between Mitt Romney and Barak Obama was by far one of the most entertaining political debates I have ever seen.  The only thing that would have made it more entertaining would have been if the two had actually started throwing down on each other.  But as entertaining as it was, the real entertainment didn’t come from the television, but from the “twitter-sphere”.   Following the debate on Twitter had to have been the best television experience of the evening.  When Gov. Romney talked about “binders full of women” my computer went into absolute meltdown.  Likewise, when the president dissed the “gang-bangers” my twitter timeline absolutely exploded.  And if the tweets about Candy are any indication, the late night comedians are going to have just as much of a blast in their parodies of her as they will with R and O.  As one tweeter put it –“This debate wouldn’t be as fun without Twitter.”

In watching the debate and following the twitter feeds, though, I became acutely aware of a number of facts that we as Christians – and perhaps even non-Christians as well - can learn from this presidential debate.  I thought I might share a few of them.

  

1. We have lost our focus.

I wish I could have been able to filter the tweet of those who would call themselves Christian from those who claim no faith.  However, even if I could have, I don’t think the results would have been that different.  We place so much faith in our economy, our pensions, and our government and so little faith in our God. Colossians 3:1-3 says “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (ESV)   That is not to say that the economy and jobs and such are not important.  Indeed they are.  However, when we tweet that we are “standing on my couch yelling at the TV” as so many people tweeted during the debate, then we have clearly lost our focus.  Let’s make sure we have placed our faith in the right things.

2. Idolatry is alive and well in the 21st Century.

Between the energy independence discussion and Mitt Romney’s apparent lack of concern for the dead birds, the twitter-sphere erupted with earth-worshippers going nuts.  It never ceases to amaze me how the same people who rant and rave about animal rights and saving the planet regardless to the cost of society are the same people who give no thought whatsoever to killing an unborn human baby.  This is nothing more than unadulterated idolatry.  It reminds me of a recent episode of the TV show “BONES”.  Every week Bones emotionlessly investigates heinous murders using science and reason.  Rarely if ever is she moved by the tragic loss of life so long as her Spock-like brain can solve the mystery.  However, on a recent episode she absolutely loses it because a perp kills a tiger.  Her indignation is so great that Booth has to physically restrain her from doing harm to the bad guy.  Really, Bones?  It was a beautiful animal but how about some emotion for the people who died.  Sure, it is just a TV show, but TV reflects culture and our culture has clearly become idolatrous towards nature – at the detriment to those who have been created in the image of the one who created all nature.  Romans 1:25 says they “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (ESV) – so true indeed.  This is God’s planet and he has given it to us to steward – not worship.  Our command from the garden was to worship God and subdue the planet, but we instead attempt to subdue God and worship the planet.  Stewardship vs. Worship.  There is a difference.

3. The truth is as elusive as ever.

The biggest buzzword on Twitter during the debate was “fact-check”.  Everybody thinks their candidate was telling the truth and the other candidate was lying.  Everybody has some proof that they are right and the other side is wrong.  Who knows where the real truth lies?  All politics is spin and lies.  Again, that same episode of Bones comes to mind.  In the episode, Bones decides she would make a good presidential candidate.  All throughout the show, she made various claims about what she was going to do when she was elected president.  It was so bad, that her partner Booth had to remind her that the president is not a dictator that can do anything he/she wants.  At one point, some of her “promises” were challenged, to which she responded that in order to get elected, one must appeal to a broad range of voters, thereby necessitating the successful candidate to engage in lying to win their votes.  Ouch, so true in American politics.  It is no wonder that both sides were tweeting about the liar on the other side of the stage. Truth does not come from politics.  Truth comes from abiding (reading, living, and obeying) the Word of God.  In John 8:31-32, Jesus said “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  Here is the truth we really need to be concerned about… we really can’t trust anyone but God.

4. The debates really don't matter in the grand scheme of things.

If you believed some of the tweets last night, the outcome of the election is set in stone as a result of the debate.  In fact, there’s no reason to even have the election, because the debate settled everything.  The problem is tweeters from BOTH camps were saying this.   This may be a bit hard for us to swallow, but last nights’ debates will not change the outcome of the presidential election.  Was it entertaining?  Sure.  Was it informative?  Ehhh… that’s debatable (pun intended).  Will it be a determining factor for some voters?  Possibly.  In the end, however, the winner of the presidential election will not be determined by the debates.  In fact [WARNING: SHOCK FACTOR IMMINENT], the outcome of the presidential election will not be decided by you, me, or any other voter.  In Romans 13:1, Paul says that “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (ESV)  In other words, the outcome of the election is in the hands of God, not in the hands of the voters.  WAIT – don’t shoot me.  I am not saying we shouldn’t vote.  I am not saying we shouldn’t strive to influence our society and culture through all legal mean – including the political system.  We absolutely vote our conscious.  And you should be as involved in the political process as your conscious demands.  However, we cannot forget that God is Sovereign and that he has EVERYTHING in control – even the outcome of the election.  So study the issues and the candidates, pray about it, and then vote the way you feel God wants you to vote.  Then, whatever the outcome, trust Him that He’s got it.

The bottom line I got out of all the tweets from last night is that we clearly need a greater faith in God.  Trust God, not Romney or Obama (or Clinton, or Bush, or Regan or whoever you think is the best president of the last generation or so).  Only through our faith in God can we find true peace and contentment - regardless of the state of the economy or otherwise.  Oh, and if you don’t have Twitter, then you probably have no idea what I have been talking about and you missed a really good show last night…on Twitter, that is, not on TV.