{"id":84662,"date":"2020-12-07T13:36:04","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T11:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=84662"},"modified":"2020-12-07T13:36:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T11:36:04","slug":"god-doesnt-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-doesnt-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"God Doesn\u2019t Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Text-banking for Greenpeace\u2019s get-out-the-vote campaign one afternoon before the US election, I got in deep with a Jehovah\u2019s Witness named Stephanie who claimed Jesus said not to be of this world. Therefore, she wasn\u2019t voting. I have to commend myself for being able to whip out a Christian Bible and tweak her interpretation of a certain gospel chapter\u2014and to throw in various other biblical references, Old and New\u2014without being insulting or aggressive. Although it\u2019s there in plain print, I refrained from using all caps to suggest that it\u2019s more likely that her savior actually told her to go<\/span> into<\/em> <\/span>the world and that the prophets had tirelessly instructed the people to seek justice, correct oppression, look after the orphan and the widow, and shelter the foreigner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most pressing, as stewards of the creation, we\u2019re not meant to stand by and expect God to take care of things while our civilization degrades it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stephanie\u2019s position may come from a religious extreme but reflects a more widespread contemporary mode of detachment. Psalm 62 largely appears to appease someone who wants to let God be in charge. S\/he waits for Him alone; no earthly matter shall disrupt the stillness (2-3). Adversaries can tear one another down like walls and delight in their own lies, blessing with their mouths while cursing with their hearts (4-5). But from the vantage point of God\u2019s high tower (7), all men, rich and poor, weigh less than wind (10).<\/span><\/p>\n

At the mention of<\/span> hebel<\/span><\/i> (wind, vapor, meaninglessness, vanity), we can hear Qoheleth sighing at the fortune the wellness and mindfulness industries have made from teaching people how to inhale acceptance of self and exhale acceptance of others. Get out of the world but be in your body, don\u2019t let anything distract you from focusing on your breath, etc. There\u2019s no God in that equation, yet there is a parallel between the permission to detach granted by self-care regimes and the psalm\u2019s retreat into the unprofaned refuge of the divine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Except even Qoheleth directed his listeners to eat, drink, and be of this world. And that is where Psalm 62 lands, for the LORD renders everyone according to their work (12). Our primary expectation (<\/span>tiqwati<\/span><\/i>, 5) can be from Him, and we don\u2019t have to let extortion, robbery, and the wealth gap consume us with rage (10).<\/span><\/p>\n

But God alone won\u2019t take care of our mess. We have to do the work. Activism created a backlash in 2020, and it helped Detroit, Atlanta, and Philadelphia flip their states blue.<\/span><\/p>\n

My work with Stephanie failed when after my sixth text she clarified that she still wasn\u2019t going to vote. I suppose that kind of power, to make her change her mind, indeed belongs to God (11).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, I did it in the spirit of mercy and steadfast love (12). Nevertheless, I persisted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image courtesy of the author<\/span><\/p>\n

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