Applying The Bible to Our Culture and World

These are the opinions of Jeff Phillips, pastor of an inner city Southern Baptist church in the heart of the bible belt. These views do not represent Woodfield Park Baptist Church, Ashley my wife, our 3 dogs or 3 cats.







Thursday, March 3, 2016

Looking for Reagan in a Reality TV World

I was a sophomore in High School when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter in a landslide victory during the 1980 Presidential campaign. I didn't follow politics then. I do remember my parents, staunch Republicans, were elated that the Carter years were finally done. I remember school getting out early when an assassins bullet struck him. I remember "there he goes again," the commercials in 1984 of a great Russian bear stalking, star wars missile defense, "tear down this wall," Iran-Contra, Grenada, and a few other things. I didn't start really following politics until Bush v. Clinton and Perot in 1992.

Reagan has become the symbol of what it is to be a Republican. It's been 27 years since he left office, yet his name is revered today like he was just leaving office next year. He's become an icon, and every Republican candidate since, except maybe an insurgent like Ron Paul, has invoked his name and legacy stating they are the one to return us to the days of Reagan. Today whether it be Cruz, or Rubio, or any of the others apart from Trump, they still make his legacy a central part of their campaigns. Cruz and Rubio are 45, meaning they were 13 when Reagan was elected. Call me a cynic, but I knew very few 13 years olds who were political wonks. Yet they claim more than the others that only they can return the country to the glory days of Ronald Reagan.

But is that really possible?

I look back to those days when I was a teen, and I see a country that doesn't exist anymore. No internet; cable TV was a new thing; no cable news; no talk radio; people got their news from Walter Cronkite, not Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly or Chris Matthews. People went to church, little league games and practices weren't scheduled on Wednesday or Sunday out of respect for this. During this era people watched Cheers, The Cosby Show, and 60 Minutes. Well, we still watch that.

In those days we had a clear enemy, the Soviet Union. No one knew what AIDS was, or Trans-genders.  Kids weren't shooting each other in schools, never even thought about it. Teachers could still spank a child, parents did as well. Billy Graham crusades were aired on Saturday nights. Bob Hope still visited the troops and announced the All-American football team. Bear Bryant still roamed the sidelines. People still wrote letters, and used encyclopedias.

It was a different world.

Everyone has a recollection of their "good ol' days." When examined, they are usually found as rife with problems as any other point in history. But things do change. The world has changed immensely since those heady days of the "era of Reagan." It happens. Fifty years before Reagan, the nation was in the midst of the Great Depression, few owned a car, or a house, or even a phone. Radio was entertainment; newspapers were king; airlines didn't exist; marriage was by and large for life; abortion wasn't even a blip on the radar, let alone Gay marriage.

Today is as different from the days of Reagan as the 1930's were the 1980's.

We cannot go back in time. Those days are never coming back, in fact, more radical changes to our lives are on the way. It's the way of mankind, and the world. Central themes traverse time. Evil still exists, sin still swallows the world. The "heart of man" is still as "deceitfully wicked" as when Jeremiah penned those words 2600 years ago. As Jesus said we'll always have the poor with us, and there will always be rich and poor here on earth. A sucker is still born every minute, politicians will still say anything to get elected, and promise a "chicken in every pot," maybe today a Big Mac. A few things never change, but most change dramatically over the course of a generation.

The days of Ronald Reagan are gone. We live in a reality TV world where coarseness and provocative behavior draws the limited attention spans we hold. We communicate in 140 characters or less on Twitter; base our opinions on sound bites instead of context; talk on Facebook instead of face-to-face; look at our phones instead of each other; download our music and movies; attend church to watch a preacher on a big screen. Reagan was a product of his generation, who survived the depression and World War II. We are a product of Vietnam; the Civil Rights movement; feminism; free love; "Greed is good;" a fetus isn't human; White House sex scandals; and parsing the meaning of the word "is."

For us as Christians, this election should be a lesson. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:20-23, "and to the Jews I became a Jew, that I might win the Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law, to those whom are without the law, as without the law (not being without the law towards God, but under the law towards Christ), that I might win those who are without the law; to the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospels sake, that I may be a partaker of it with you."

As Christians, in this reality TV world, maybe we'd be better purposed to be looking at what this election has revealed of the world that we live in, and how to relate to it, instead of looking for the next Ronald Reagan. Those days are as different from today as winter is from summer. Instead of filling our minds with the political squabbles of the day, and seeking a return to our "good ol' days," maybe we should heed the words of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 8:20, "the harvest is past, the summer is gone, and we are not saved!" That has not changed.