Don’t wait for the Deus ex machina
A Deus ex machina (literally in Latin, “God from the machine”) is something noted by film and literary critics. It is an improbable, artificial, or godlike device that resolves a plot that otherwise could not be unraveled through the working out of the dynamics already put into play during the course of the story. It is an unsatisfying plot device, and in the real world is a losing strategy for bringing salt and light to the world.
In 2008, my people — political conservatives and believing Christians — are waiting for and hoping upon a Deus ex machina. They are wrong to do so; they have been wrong to do so for some time, and have squandered a great deal of what might have been useful energy thinking that powerful forces working on their behalf, somewhere, out there, would intervene and keep us from a giant leap to the left of the political spectrum and away from the principles we both hold dear and think essential to freedom.
As an example of such misplaced hope, I am still getting e-mails from people I like — good friends among grassroots conservatives — telling me that the US Supreme Court is going to force President-Elect Obama to produce an original birth certificate, the idea being that such an order would naturally undo the historic drubbing my party just took in the election. Well, as far as I can find out, it isn’t true, and even if it was the result would potentially (if the conspiracy theories about Obama’s eligibility to be President were actually true) be horrific for our nation.
Here’s the thing: it is wrong, very wrong, for movement conservatives and particularly for Christians to hope that some unexpected, implausible, and miraculous plot device intervenes to turn this ship around when we had it in our power to be engaged and steer the ship in the first place, before it ever left port. Know this: there will not be a scandal that derails the Presidency of Barack Obama. If such a thing existed and were known before the election, that would be one thing, but we’re beyond that now. What many of you are hoping for, if I may be very blunt indeed, is for something to salve your guilt over not being engaged enough in the culture and political process to begin with.
I count myself among those feeling guilt. One can perhaps never do enough in a lost and descending world, but it is certainly true that simply blogging and posting the occasional YouTube video is not enough. Yet members of my own faith have spent energy this last year telling us that Christians ought not be trying to engage the culture. That’s nonsense. The so-called evangelicals who want to disengage from political matters from either embarrassment or impotence are simply tossing aside the futures, both temporal and eternal, of everyone around them for fear of not being applauded for their apathy.
Imagine this: your church sponsors missionaries to some remote tribe somewhere. You get a letter from those missionaries saying that a good portion of the tribe is interested in Christianity, embraces what they are hearing, and has asked the missionaries to help their neighbors stop their long-held tradition of endless homicide. How would you respond? Would your response be, “the Waodani have their cultural traditions, and it is none of our business?” Would your response be, “That looks hard! My approach to being the salt of the earth and light to the world is to stay away from the polls and not lift a finger to enlighten those who are killing themselves and don’t realize it.” How would you respond?
If you think that your response would be that you would act as the missionaries in the story told in the book “Through the Gates of Splendor” and the movie “The End of the Spear” acted, then good. That means that you are willing to sacrifice to keep the lost from eternal danger.
If you are a member of a congregation that is not selecting a member to run for something, some office, from local to state to federal, and getting behind that person with prayer and tangible support, then you are in a congregation that would say no to those missionaries and are waiting for the Deus ex machina in your own society. The warning signs were there years ago about America going far to the left. We didn’t act. The warning signals are behind us and the tremors are starting. The time to head off the dangers to liberty are gone. The time to fight the erosion of liberty is here.
If you agree with a conservative worldview, the time to declare that you are running for office is now. You will not be running, even should you win, to defend against the erosion of liberty — it is perhaps too late for that — you will be running and (should you win) holding office only to be a voice in the wilderness. Freedom of thought and belief will be eroding before your eyes, and your job will be to shout into the wind. If you decline to do so, it will only be worse, and in two years I might post something suggesting that you ought to run for office solely to be the last vocal historians of what once was.
Do not wait for the Deus ex machina. Don’t wait for the miracle. Act. Be the miracle.
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Posted by ArrMatey on November 12, 2008 12:00 am
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Conservatism, Constitution, Elections, Moral Relativism, National Security, News, Patriotism, Representative Government, Republicans, Secular Humanism, The United States of America, religion
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One Response to “Don’t wait for the Deus ex machina”
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Syndicate Me
Woah, good post. I hope people take heed.
Oldie but goodie:
A farmer is in Iowa during a flood. The river is overflowing, with water surrounding the farmer’s home up to his front porch. As he is standing there, a boat comes up, The man in the boat says “Jump in, I’ll take you to safety.”
The farmer crosses his arms and says stubbornly, “Nope, I put my trust in God.”
The boat goes away. The water rises to the second floor. Another boat comes up, the man says to the farmer who is now in the second story window, “Jump in, I’ll save you.”
The farmer again says, “Nope, I put my trust in God.”
The boat goes away. Now the water is up to the roof. As The farmer stands on the roof, a helicopter comes over, and drops a ladder. The pilot yells down to the farmer “I’ll save you, climb the ladder.”
The farmer says “Nope, I put my trust in God.”
The helicopter goes away. The water comtinues to rise and sweeps the farmer off the roof. He drowns.
The farmer goes to heaven. God sees him and says “What are you doing here?”
The farmer says “I put my trust in you and you let me down.”
God says, “What do you mean, let you down? I sent you two boats and a helicopter!”