The Lie of Fighting Against the Other Side

I have been watching as my friends become more and more entrenched and violent from their particular side of politics. This saddens me because I can’t imagine burning any of my treasured friends over politics. However, I don’t think I have to choose between the two. Here’s why:

Choosing A Side For War: A Demonic Strategy

The devil has a strategy that he has used over and over again throughout history. He creates two paradigms in opposition to each other and then tricks people into picking a side and fighting, seasoning the fray with injustice to inflame the controversy. A good example of this is the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians that has been raging for a hundred years. The big deception is that we can fight on any side and be on God’s side. Both violent sides are in Satan’s camp. God doesn’t grasp for power by punishing, dominating, forcing, or silencing. Instead, He gives power away by loving both sides. Jesus said it better than I can:

“You have heard that it used to be said ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’, but I tell you, don’t resist the man who wants to harm you. If a man hits your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If a man wants to sue you for your coat, let him have it and your overcoat as well. If anybody forces you to go a mile with him, do more—go two miles with him. Give to the man who asks anything from you, and don’t turn away from the man who wants to borrow.

“You have heard that it used to be said, ‘You shall love your neighbour’, and ‘hate your enemy’, but I tell you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Heavenly Father. For he makes the sun rise upon evil men as well as good, and he sends his rain upon honest and dishonest men alike.

“For if you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even tax-collectors do that! And if you exchange greetings only with your own circle, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do that much. No, you are to be perfect, like your Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:38-48 PHILLIPS).”

Resist Not Evil

The way to stay out of Satan’s trap is highlighted above, right at the beginning: don’t resist the man who wants to harm you. Or, as the King James Version puts it, “Resist not evil.” I have long contemplated the ineffectiveness of using the Ring of power—the grand symbol in Tolkien’s epic tale—to defend righteousness. Yet I have not thought of it in the context of what Christ says above. The apostle Paul says it again, just to underscore its importance (Romans 12:21). Resisting engages conflict and war, first verbally, then physically. Complaining, criticizing, resenting, and condemning are all negative forms of resisting and generate soul-destroying conflict. Responding to evil in this way inevitably allows evil to rule over us too. Domination is not God’s game.

Consequently, it is better to be for good than against evil. Taking a posture that is constantly “against” sows negativity in our lives and nurtures conflict. Don’t war against evil. Rather, celebrate goodness, both verbally and by example. Speak words that highlight goodness and truth, not in a combative way but with kindness, gentleness, and tactfulness that comes from the heart. By kindly and gently speaking our truth we will, like Jordan Peterson says so well, “bring order out of chaos through the power of truthful speech.”

It’s Impossible

Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? It is—in human strength. It takes Spirit-empowered effort for us to do this at all—to even know how to do it. It’s contrary to our natural instincts. I don’t know about you, but my natural instinct—my carnal heart—is to smack the idiot who is so ignorant as to disagree with me or mess up my neighborhood! However, this is my problem. I can’t blame it on those with whom I disagree and love to hate as the villain. I need a new heart, indeed, the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). I need a heart that truly loves, forgives, and trusts God with my very life, regardless of the course of my “enemy.”

If we see every human being as a child of God—a brother or a sister—then his or her class, religion, or political affiliation won’t matter. We won’t hate any more, even if sin-sick people actually abuse us. We will grieve for them and pray for them, but we will not lash out in violence, even the soft violence of telling somebody off.

“Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers all wrongs (Proverbs 10:12).”

The Sacrifices of Grace

A huge part of learning to be sons and daughters of our heavenly Father is learning to make the sacrifices of grace. Grace is costly, and few are willing to offer it in the real world of messy relationships. How the human heart desires vengeance—comeuppance, redress, retaliation—when wronged. We often call it righteous—righteous indignation—but it is not God’s righteousness. Nor His vengeance. God‘s vengeance is always and ever grace. In Satan‘s world the good guys punish the bad guys, the righteous punish the wicked. In God’s world the godly, God included, punish no one.

So our hearts are caught up in a contest between Satan‘s way of doing things and God’s way of doing things. Satan outrages us with political or religious injustice, trying to goad us into embracing his methods and justifying them. Our beastly reactions feel good and cathartic—as long as the people that we think are wrong are getting punished. Somewhere in the fray, Satan’s lies become our truth, and we become corrupted.

Only a constant, close walk with God can protect us from falling for these demonic tactics. Only a continuing dance with the Spirit can soften our hearts with forgiveness, kindness, gentleness, and peace so that we can love the unlovable. Then we can think the best of our antagonist. Then grace can take the place of blame, resentment, and mercilessness. Then the spirit of reconciliation can live in us, even through an unjust scourging. Then we can say with Jesus, “Father, forgive them.”

“It is mercy, not justice or courage or even heroism, that alone can defeat evil.”

– Peter Kreeft, The Philosophy of Tolkien

A Sick World

As the world more universally accepts Satan’s version of relationship and fewer dance the dance of peace with the Spirit, society will become more unjust. The beastly systems of the world gain power as the gentle presence of the Spirit of God is extinguished from heart after heart (Matthew 24:12). Love, the only antidote to fear (1 John 4:18), dies in the streets. Injustice, coercion, exploitation, and fear ramp up as God’s collective influence in the minds of men and women weakens. Yet there are some who resist. In the midst of the chaos, love still burns in the hearts of those who nurture its Flame. Everywhere else it will be extinguished.

Which Side Is God On?

In the end, we will see that God does not take sides. He is for all of us, and certainly not against any of us. That’s the whole point of love. It dances with whoever will play its game. Neither violent side is right because love is not violent. The lie that God takes sides is a great deception that can deceive even the very elect. Yes, it’s true, loving your neighbor—even when they are crucifying you—is more important than being right (1 Corinthians 13:1-3), and that right there is the difference between the saved and the damned.