Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode we're asking the question, is it okay to kill a president? Now, this is prompted by an article I read in the Wall Street Journal recently that was connecting a recent assassination attempt on President Trump. You might have heard about it at a dinner. President Trump was attending to a growing trend called micro looting. Let me make the connection for you because it's really interesting and insightful. the would be assassin of President Trump, who was of course foiled in his attempt and has since been arrested and, and is facing pretty serious charges, wrote a manifesto. And in that manifesto, his claim, by the way, a 31 year old teacher let that roll over you. His claim was that when, systems fail, when those in power do what they should not, violence is actually morally permissible. In other words, this teacher was saying, what I'm doing is right because what they are doing is wrong. Now, that logic isn't exclusive because to people who try to kill presidents. Recently a couple of left wing, podcasters were receiving a lot of attention because of something called microluding. And basically they were saying is it's okay to steal from corporations. It is morally permissible to steal from corporations because corporations themselves are often stealing from people. In other words, because what the corporations do is wrong, you are morally justified in doing wrong to them. The Wall Street Journal article, had the title of When Rationalization Turns Deadly. Because what the writer Jonathan Alpert was asserting is that this kind of thinking can take us some pretty dark places. If someone does something I deem immoral, then I am justified in stealing or even killing them. Now this help makes me think of a particular line in the Bible. In the Book of Judges, it's a line that comes up over and over again. And what it says is, in those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. That's Judges 21:25. But it appears all over the book. And basically what Judges, the Book of Judges is about is about the moral disintegration of Israel. And what leads to their moral disintegration is this idea. Everyone decided for themselves what is right. Rationalization was the moral compass of the day. And in Judges, that takes them to some pretty dark places, just like justifying, stealing or even justifying trying to kill a president. The truth is that we need God. We need the moral judgments of God to help us understand what is right and what is wrong, what is good and. And what is bad, what is better and what is best. You see, because the ability to understand the moral implications of our actions requires omniscience. It requires you to know all, to see all, to play an action out to its tenth possible effect. understand how one action leads to another, and only God can do that. So, as God tells us, stealing is wrong, killing is wrong, independent of what anyone else does, he is telling us what will ultimately lead to our good and what will lead to our bad. And the reason I found this so interesting is not necessarily because someone listening to this podcast is likely to attempt to kill the president, or I hope, even to justify stealing from a corporation. It's more this. All of us are guilty of rationalization. All of us are guilty of saying, I know God says this is wrong, but in this situation, or because of what that person did, actually, I am justified. That rationalization can lead you to some pretty awful places. And just as it leads to a moral disintegration of a nation, it can lead to the destruction of your marriage, of your career, of your reputation, of your friendships. So the check against that is to let God's word speak to us and not the other way around. That when God says something is bad, we take him at his word. When he says something is good, we listen to him. No rationalization? No. What about no justification, no pointing the finger? Where are you and I guilty of rationalizing away our immorality? Well, today is the day of repentance, because I know we feel a long way from assassinating a president, but even if we never make it that far, rationalization will be just as deadly in your life and in mine. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC Apple, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!