NEWS

‍Jesus said… “I am the way, and the truth, and the life." John 14:6

The dramatic happenings in the US in the last two weeks with Trump supporters violently breaching the Capital building in Washington, and the subsequent attempt to impeach Trump a second time, are spectacular but saddening to watch. How has this country, which prides itself as the staunch defender of democracy and leader of the free world become so polarized on so many issues that democracy itself is fundamentally threatened?

Apart from the fact that leadership in the US has always been strongly personality-based, and some leaders have abused their influence for political ends, the domination of social media and modern electronic communication in people’s lives has also much to do with this phenomenon. More and more people are choosing to follow only news feeds and chat groups that are like-minded to them. This has had the effect of spurring each other towards extremism of views and blinding themselves to opposing reasoning.  

It is alarming to see that US Christians are just as much wrapped up in the recent controversy as the rest of society. The insert is a photo of one of the rioters holding a Bible as he rampaged with others in the riot. Many Christian leaders have come out to denounce Trump for inciting violence, while other Christian groups are praying for him to regain the election victory which they believe to have been cheated out of their President.  Undoubtedly, this sort of intense differences of view would have caused tension and division within the church, just as the Hong Kong church has experienced in recent years over differences of view on the democracy movement there. How do Christians get into the same plight as the unbelieving society in becoming so confused about what the truth is? I think we have unwittingly been influenced by societal trends of selective hearing from sources that reinforce our pre-occupied ideas. There is growing reluctance to quest for factual truth and in-depth objective analysis of the issues on hand in accordance with biblical principles. Many US Christians have subscribed to exclusive partisan politics, personality leadership, pseudo-Christian political arguments and Christian nationalism. I pray that we, as Australian Christians, will not follow this trend.

The key verse in today’s sermon passage is Jesus’  famous words: “I am the way, the truth and the life”. They have profound significant for the whole of our lives. They also have a lower-level application in the matter of upholding truth in society in our daily lives as well. Only when we are mindful of our duty to discern factual and biblical truth, and uphold it as we function as salt and light of the world, that we are walking in His way and living out our new lives in a way worthy of our calling.