Everyone Opposed to My Point of View is in the Pay of Evil

I am fortunate in my friends. They stick by me through my bad opinions (Romney can win!) and my monomaniacal study habits (Another book on James Garfield!).

My social media feed indicates there is another type of person out there who apparently thinks everyone opposed to their point of view is in the pay of Satan, the Koch Brothers,  or George Soros (depending on political preference). Having once made it into a Lyndon Larouche conspiracy site chart back when that was a thing, I understand the thrill of suddenly being part of a global conspiracy.

Maybe there is a global conspiracy, but generally ineptitude and disorganized wickedness accounts for most events. World War I? Vain men destroyed a glorious civilization almost absent mindedly. World War II? Vain men helped finish off what was left by ignoring evil, festering on their continent until the price was almost too great to pay.

At fifty-two, I have known people who worried about the Rosicrucian menace, the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, and fluoridated water. Students left school, Southern Californians fled the state, over impending apocalypse coming from a computer meltdown from Y2K. Behind all conspiracies on-line there always looms “the Jews.” You will note that of all the banks or finance companies to fear, “Goldman Sachs” ranks high . . .  I am dubious that “Gold and Jones” would be as fearful. On two different occasions in the last five years, a serious person has suggested I read that vicious forgery the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Let’s face it: rich people do enjoy a common global culture that often stinks of corruption and injustice. Big corporate media is biased. Twenty-years ago “same sex marriage” was not a thing, but now a state faces universal condemnation for doing what Clinton and Obama did eight years ago: defend traditional marriage. There were no new arguments, but elite opinion in America lurched in a new direction. We are supposed to follow.

And yet many of us will not and are not. Manipulation, even by the rich and powerful, has limits and one of those limits is moral reality. Being right (and in the global majority) is a good defense. Yet . . . the temptation to self-righteousness and conspiratorial thinking rises in me the moment I see how right I am (and I am right about some things!). This must be resisted, strongly, absolutely, resisted. Why?

Nobody is that right or has perfect motives for decisions. The poor are as wicked as the elite as any Revolution shows. The “right” can do as much damage as the “wrong.”

I have some friends who oppose my view of marriage and of vice. They are no more in the pay of evil than the rest of us though I think their opinion is very wrong. They have a wicked view, but in fact are otherwise decent. Nothing justifies the harm sin does, but my sin counts too. I am not denying some evils are worse than others with worse consequences, see hatred of Jewis people, as an example.

I am saying most of us have more than a speck in our moral eye.

So it goes.

We are all unrighteous.

Everyone opposed to my point of view is in the pay of evil.

How do I know?

Everyone who has my point of view is in the pay of evil.

This includes me.

The glory of Christianity is that we are depressingly honest about people: we are all messed up. Nobody is perfectly rational (not even Socrates!) and nobody has unmixed motives. Most of us do our best, but our best is not, after all, that great.

This is only depressing if denied, because there is (in Christianity) hope. We are broken, but God wants to make us whole. We are not perfect, nobody is, but we can get better. If we are honest, we do not have to abandon standards, causes, or idealism, but we do have to abandon “hero worship.” We are all unrighteous.

And so those who so easily see the defects in the Trump followers, or the Cruz followers, or the Clinton followers, are generally right. We are all a mixed bag. We do not need outsiders to manipulate us, we fool ourselves.

Is there hope? Of course, there is hope in God. There exists a reality outside of our mixed up human condition and if we refuse to engage in conspiratorial thinking about “them” we can win. No truth should ever be abandoned. We can defend truth with holy boldness, but with two humbling truths kept in mind. We might be wrong and we often do wrong things with the right we have.

Most people who oppose me think they are right. They are decent people who are (so far as I can tell) mistaken. Sometimes the errors they believe are dangerous and must be opposed forcefully. But they are people still. . . George Soros . . . the Kochs . . . the managers at Goldman Sachs . . . Secretary Clinton. . . Donald Trump. All of people are Christ bearers and I must love . . . even my enemies.

Everyone has given Jesus the kiss as did Judas. Everyone is in the pay of evil.

Jesus stands ready to heal and forgive. We must fear no evil for His rod and staff protect us. Jesus is Lord!