Lord Acton, the 19th- and 20th-century British historian, is frequently misquoted as having said, "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely." What he actually said was less cynical: "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." It's a subtle difference: in exploring his perception of the inverse relationship of one's sense of morality to the degree of power that he attains, Acton left for himself the possibility of one in power beating the odds and remaining--generally, relatively, whatever--uncorrupted. (Imagine that--an idealistic British intellectual.)
It is an interesting testament to our age, I think, that he is so frequently and carelessly misquoted. (And not because it is a revelation of our lack of diligence in research... at least not now. That's a different post.)
My question is this: What is it that makes a man (generically and gender-neutrally speaking) choose the pursuit of power over respect? Why do people confuse these two? Why does a vulgar power play appeal to us more than the respect that comes from strong, thoughtful, and humble righteousness?
The reason this is on my mind is because of a current and very personal struggle that I was discussing last night with a friend. Here's the basic idea: I was an active member of a church for a while during my infancy as a Christian. A few months ago, the pastor of that church made a power play so large and blatant that it finally revealed not only the deception in his spiritual vision and his dealings with the church, but the spiritual and emotional abuse he inflicted on me and others like me.
For months now, I've been hoping that God would heal me from this betrayal. My faith has suffered. I've suffered. I still haven't truly worshipped since it happened. This man took my joy and my comfort, and I'm scared that I'll never have it back, if I'm being honest. And so back to the question at hand: What makes ANY man, much less a shepherd over Christ's flock, choose his own exaltation over the well-being of others? Why isn't it enough to be loved? Why isn't it enough to faithfully do the work we've been given? Why must we dominate?
The legacy of the Fall carried with it the chains of insecurity. From that moment, from the moment God's affirmation of our worth and perfection ceased to be sufficient for us, we were doomed to spend the time until Jesus returns painfully aware of the way we compare to other people. Now, God knows that these differences aren't differences in value. The way we value certain characteristics--wealth, appearance, charisma--is entirely foreign to Heaven. But since the Fall, apart from God, we have been running around creating these fabricated hierarchies to validate ourselves.
If you listen carefully, you can hear the gnashing of teeth.
We see this dichotomy between power and respect play out in history: Napoleon, Khan, Alexander. Gandhi, MLKJr., Mother Teresa. One group sought power ostensibly for power's sake; the other understood the power of ideas and action, and had no use for whatever power might have tried to attach itself to them. We remember one group for its conquests of land and civilizations; we remember the other group for its conquests of the mind and heart. We remember the latter because we feel they stood humbly for something universal, and never exalted themselves above that something. We like to imagine we could do the same.
We intellectually grasp one group's power. We grasp the other's in our heart.
So which is ultimately more attractive, and thus, more powerful: Ideas or Force? Love or Power? I regret to report that history is still playing out this question--apparently the answer isn't as clear as we'd like to think it is.
One quick illustration, then I'll close.
I remember watching Fox News in the lead-up to the Iraq War. I remember hearing analysts talking about the planned first phase of the assault, and calling it "Shock and Awe." The idea was simple, as explained to us by myriad right-wing pundits: "What you don't understand about Islam is that what these people REALLY respect is power. Force. The guy with the biggest gun." And so Shock and Awe was meant, I think, to demonstrate to everyone who thought this way that indeed the US had the biggest guns, and thus were more powerful than whoever they were currently following. Okay, mission: accomplished. So what?
I'm not a phenomenally intelligent person, despite what my friends may think. That said, I think that among the things I didn't understand at the time, and what many of these right-wing pundits don't understand (to be clear, those on the left aren't off the hook, either. We've all got work to do.) is the nature of the heart of man. The crazy and cruel thing about the Fall is that God left our hearts intact. We want the same things we've always wanted: love, respect, fellowship, belonging. But there's some sort of distortion filter thrown on each of us in the absence of God, and we find ourselves competing with instead of celebrating and loving each other.
I don't believe that what these "experts" said is true. I believe that regardless of which God you serve (including worldly gods, like materialism and esteem), the heart of every man desires and respects the same aforementioned things. And it's an awfully cruel trick the devil plays on us that causes us to break off into cliques and sects, red and blue, white and black, us and them. He may be winning the day, but he won't win the eternal struggle, that's assured. I take a measure of comfort in that. I hope you do, too.
As a post-script, I believe that when God heals me, I'll be able to bring myself to pray for my old pastor. I regret to say that I'm not a big enough man to do it right now, but I look forward to the day I am. I do pray for the hearts of the people who used to attend that church with me, and sometimes I even pray for my own. But I'm hopeful for all of us, including my deceived former pastor. I hope that he comes to find joy in serving the Lord diligently and humbly, and never again has the opportunity to choose power over respect. May we all be so lucky.
No comments:
Post a Comment