Take a breath — the Bible isn’t about today’s politics | Opinion
If you are reading this on your phone, laptop or in the app, you may be online a little. Maybe you have social media where you tweet on X or share with friends and family on Facebook. In recent years, that has gotten tough as people are quick to take offense and end friendships over the petty politics of the day.
I’ve got a story for you about just how crazy things have gotten. A couple months ago, a pastor named John Piper (@johnpiper on X) announced that he would be sharing the Bible line by line over the coming year. So yesterday he was in Leviticus and he tweeted this: “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as a native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
What ensued was a giant online meltdown, including all the usual threats of violence, name-calling and demands that the pastor be fired from his church because people assumed he was attacking Donald Trump and his immigration policies.
My lord, the Bible rarely offers absolute lessons about today’s politics, and they certainly won’t be found in one verse. The Bible offers lessons on how broadly Jesus defined our neighbor and what we owe that neighbor, but there are other lessons in the Bible, too — ones about obeying the law and giving the government what it is due that complexify the question of what the Bible means about undocumented immigration.
I don’t think there is often only one reasonable interpretation. Beware of people who tell you there is. Good people can differ.
My friend Erick Erickson (@EWErickson on X) had this to say: “Today, some on the Right are getting triggered by the very word of God. They read their political biases into a pastor quoting God’s Holy and inerrant word. It is a damning indictment on those offended and the idols they worship.”
I am alarmed that the social media mob mentality of the progressive left has spread to my friends on the right. I’ve been as supportive of Trump’s efforts to remove undocumented immigrants as nearly anyone on the center-right and I stand by all those columns. But rather than reacting to words from the Bible defensively, it is better to reflect on them in the peace of your own heart. I know I would benefit from that practice.
The Bible calls for some reflection and a focus on how you can live your life better. It is not a call to launch some giant scrum attacking a person who shared its words.
Sharing the word of God should be a safe move in any conversation. I think we all need to take a breath.
David Mastio is columnist for The Kansas City Star and for McClatchy Media.
