And Now For Something Completely Different

I’ve been in one of my too busy to think jags for the past month or so, so blog posting has been in the back seat. Today, I’m in Dallas, Texas at the TYPO3 conference sponsored by the Web-Empowered Church (the 21st Century Strategies website and the Net Results websites are both TYPO3 sites), so blogging isn’t on the front burner either. So, I was having a conversation with Glenn Kelley, the head dude at Vine Hosting (who hosts our website – did I mention I’ve entered geek-world 2009?) and he suggested that during slow times like this that I should post some of my former writings. Once upon a time when I was a local pastor, I used to write a weekly column based on questions readers asked about “God, the church, the world, and everything.” I wrote weekly for seven years and produced over 350 columns that answered all sorts of questions, some better, some not. And so, now and again, I’ll be posting some of these columns. Because it’s a far stretch from church planting, coaching, consulting, transformation, or leadership training, I’ve created a new category called “Conversation Starters.” For those looking for something to talk about in small groups, these columns (posts) could be used to launch conversations. Or not. The good news is that if these posts aren’t your cuppa tea, then you can take a look at posts from other categories.

So, with that said, here’s the first conversation starter: Is God Politically Correct? I wrote this back just after the Politically Correct Bedtime Stories was published and a conversation in an adult Sunday school class prompted questions.

Is God Politically Correct?

This week’s question comes from an ongoing discussion in my adult Sunday School class that I teach: “Is God P.C.?”

For those out of the loop, P.C. means Politically Correct. Political Correctness is an attempt to politely and correctly “label” people, places, gender, etc. (for the ultimate on P.C. read James Finn Garner’s Politically Correct Stories fairy tales, bedtime stories, and holiday stories). It began with the de-genderizing of non-gender specific tasks, careers, and objects. Thus, we have utility covers instead of man-hole covers, fire-fighters instead of firemen, and so on. It had good intentions, especially in a society that still pays women some 30% less for many of the same tasks as men. But there are those who believe it’s a “little out of control” today which really means they’ve been pushed from their comfortability zone.

But is God P.C.?

Finding evidence for this question is a bit tough, since clearly the Bible was written primarily, if not exclusively, by men in a culture that was both patriarchical and ethnocentric. However, if we look at the accounts of how God relates with others we might pick up some clues.

First, the creation accounts (Genesis 1 and 2). How does God relate to the differing genders? In Genesis 1.26-27 when God creates the humans it was done with an eye towards equality: “Let us make adam [Hebrew, literally humans, non-gender specific] in our image, according to our likeness; so God created adam in the image of God, thus God created them; male and female God created them.” Both male and female were created in the same image the image of God. Score one for P.C. proponents.

When God became Emmanuel, literally “God with us,” in Jesus Christ, we have the best images of how God related to the differing genders. In instance after instance Jesus treats the women around him as equal heirs to the realm of God, quite unlike his male contemporaries. Jesus speaks with them and spends time with them (John 4; Luke 10.38ff), he defends them when they are wrongfully oppressed (John 8; Matthew 26), and he chose women as those to whom he first appeared following his resurrection (Matthew 28; John 20). Score two.

Okay, God may see and treat men and women as equals in this world, but what about the different nationalities?

Even in the Old Testament, at least from the beginning, there was some equality between the nations. In Genesis 10 (often called the table of nations) we see the nations coming from the single patriarch and matriarch Noah and Mrs. Noah. Abraham and his kin were supposed to be a blessing to all the nations (Genesis 22.18). And God bestows blessings on nations outside of Judaism (Genesis 17.20; Isaiah 19.25). Score three.

But the real lack of ethnocentricity of God is seen in the letters of Paul to the Galatians and to the Romans. Both books are full of texts that show God’s impartiality to all persons, regardless of their ethnicity: “God shows no partiality” (Romans 2.11); “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3.28). Four points.

In scripture we are all called to insure we keep from hindering anyone’s entrance to the realm of God. Indeed, we are warned not to cause any to stumble (Matthew 17.1-2) and unfortunately language is one of our prime trip-wires for offense.

Is God Politically Correct? God has gone to great lengths to invite all into a caring relationship and seems to find each person special. Since God would not hinder any from paradise, we have to conclude, yes, God is Politically Correct.