On Saturday, Glenn Beck staged a good event on the Washington Mall. He left his hot headed political rhetoric for an appeal to put God first and bring honor and truth back to America. Being optimistic, I accepted the event as his way of saying that he is through with the slander and hate speech for which he is famous.
Honor and truth are EXACTLY what this country needs to bring healing and reconciliation between warring factions in both the political and spiritual life of our country. A significant part of the word honor means that you will speak in a way that gives honor to who you are. The word honor also presupposes that you will do your best to honor other people even as they have opinions with which you disagree. Truth is also a great word for society today. Both sides of the religious and political spectrum speak untruth to outright lies in order to sway public opinion. If we in America can HONOR one another and ourselves by telling the TRUTH instead of half truths, and blatant lies, then our country would be moving in the right direction.
However, I highly doubt that Glenn Beck will get us to the place of honor and truth. In the past honor has not been a word that fits Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck, himself, has used the word "clown" to define himself. Clowns tend to find honor somewhat meaningless. Getting center stage and a good laugh are the focus. Not only has Beck devalued honor, his show on Fox has been filled with distortions of the truth on a regular basis. He also believes his own personal opinion is the truth while other people's opinions are lies. So when Glenn Beck hosts an event to restore honor and reclaim truth, I assumed that he was experiencing a conversion of sorts (see my previous blog about Glenn Beck). I talked in church about the Restoring Honor in America Rally, hoping Glenn Beck was telling the truth when he said that his event was ordained by God.
Unfortunately, in listening to Glenn Beck since Saturday, I am disheartened to see that he is not able to seek honor in his own life less than 24 hours after his rally. On Sunday, Beck challenged Obama's Christianity. This accusation both dishonors Beck and maligns Obama genuine faith. In today's television show, Beck did focus on the need for a spiritual conversion of our country. However Beck spent more time self aggrandizing and pointing out that he was being attacked by both the main stream and liberal media. I agree that he was attacked by some media, but I thought he was going to rise to a higher level than they. I was wrong.
In worship on Sunday, I asked everyone to thoughtful listen to how theological terms are used in politics. Be open to learn but also cautious. The best way to protect ourselves from being misled is to read the bible, pray, and discuss with one another what we see in the news and in the media. By reading the bible we will be able to tell the truth from lies and have a deeper and more meaningful faith.
Hosea 4:6 (NIV) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
James 3:1-5 (NRSV) Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
