Dr. Wayne Grudem, professor of Theology and Biblical Studies, shares on a recent letter written by him to an Anti-Trump friend on how the Christian can vote Biblically in this election.
Jon Meachum: The Constitution is a Calvinist Ducument. The Declaration was an Englightenment one
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/l6vXR5iqReE?start=786″ frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>me to this point so I I do think it’s12:33a it’s a good bright line to draw John12:37Jefferson knew that part and this is in12:40your book all these codes about12:42partisanship I mean he was pretty12:44dedicated to engagement and political12:47issues but what would he think of the12:49type of partisanship we have now at this12:52moment I think he would recognize it12:54honestly he once said divisions of12:58opinion have convulsed human societies13:00since Greece and Rome divisions of13:03opinion were the oxygen of a free13:06government I’m a skeptic of the a13:08prevailing scholarly view that the13:10founders had this vision of a one-party13:14one-party state and we would all be on13:17Olympus with powdered wigs and13:19solving problems they may have had that13:22vision we all had that vision and but13:26they understood reality oh if you if you13:28worry if you’re worried about or if youdoubt me about whether they understoodreality read the Constitution which isentirely about reality constitute ifJefferson was an Enlightenment documentthe Constitution is a Calvinist documentas looms we are all Despres sinful anddriven by appetite and ambition andwe’ve done everything we cansince then to prove them right so I13:55think you know this is a the Hemings the13:59story about Sally Hemings was first14:01publicized in 1802 and we with all love14:07and respect to a net we don’t know that14:09much more than that first piece doing it14:20wasn’t seen as a historical or cultural14:22document it was a partisan attack yeah14:25you know right and and continued during14:27that you know during his presidency and14:29in a few times afterwards there’s been a14:32big debate recently coming out of the14:34New York Times 16:19 project how much do14:37we need to revise our concept of the14:39founding of this nation do you think14:41that makes sense or has it gone a bit14:44too far the pendulum is historians have14:48been writing about this down for quite14:50some time but what we haven’t done as14:54much as to think about what that means14:55for us today14:56that the legacy of slavery is still with14:59us there’s a tendency there has been a15:01tendency on the part of many people to15:03say oh well we knew that but that’s over15:05I think that’s the that’s the15:07contribution of the magazine of 1619 is15:11not to tell us something many things we15:14didn’t know but to say there is a15:17connection to this that is continuing15:20you don’t get rid of hundreds of years15:23of slavery in a century or so and we15:26really don’t get going as legally full15:29citizens until 1965 the passage of the15:32vote15:32that’s not in the history you know15:35that’s a blink of an eye so they even in15:37total blink of an eye in history and15:39thinking that this stuff is all in the15:41past has been the problem and that’s I15:44think that’s what the project was trying15:45to do is to say no this isn’t over John15:50I was struck I believe it was the15:54remarks at the signing of the Civil15:56Rights Act and in July July 2nd 196416:00Lyndon Johnson grounds his remark at the16:04bill signing not on Philadelphia but on16:07Jamestown it which which I was struck by16:11talk about a complicated figure well you16:16know were the Democratic nominee for16:19president is a 77 year old white man who16:25was the vice president of the first16:28african-american president incredibly16:30loyal and eulogized Thurmond and16:33Eastland you know so well if you’re16:36looking for simplicity if you’re looking16:38for straightforward figures good luck16:42I don’t know who they would be I think16:46what an it just said is absolutely16:47essential I have a theory16:49aboard Walter with this I think16:51privately actually that we’re only a 6016:56year old nation right the country we17:01have right now the polity we have which17:04is soon going to be majority diversity17:07whatever phrase it is was really created17:11in 1964-65 not only with the Civil17:16Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act but17:18with the Immigration Act yeah which17:20totally changed the nature of the17:24country and so no wonder this is so hard17:28no wonder we’re having such a ferocious17:30white reaction this is kind of the 1830s17:35in a way and so it’s not to excuse it17:40but I do think it explains it a little17:42bit and this idea of Prague17:45and I know it sounds tinny to people and17:48look if you look like me you can talk17:49about progress right I’m the boring Lee17:52heterosexual white southern Episcopalian17:54right I mean things tend to work out for17:56me in America so I stipulate that but18:00but it’s simply the lesson of history18:04that we are in fact a better country18:09than we were yesterday doesn’t mean18:12we’re perfect doesn’t mean we stop up18:15but our are enough of us devoted to18:21doing all we can as citizens and as18:24leaders to try to create a country that18:27more of us can be proud of and if we are18:30then let’s get to it yeah and and I18:34would throw in women the changing role18:37of women from the 1960s and this is18:39that’s a good point I wouldn’t I agree18:42with 60 years again a short time in18:47history where everything everybody’s18:49sort of in place it’s like Ken Burns18:51said that he found it difficult to call18:53talk about the Golden Age of baseball18:56and there were no black players in the19:00major league how do you how do you do19:02that and this is a similar situation19:04where you have blacks legally allowed to19:08vote and those rights are protected I19:11mean there’s issues with voter19:12suppression but sort of on paper19:14equality is there and it’s hard is19:17wrenching for people who have had you19:20know power who are used to a certain19:23hierarchy a certain way things are were19:25or they think about their grandparents19:27or good old days it’s hard to get used19:29to all of that and so you’re right19:32there’s no wonder that there’s a people19:33Annette gordon-reed Jon Meacham thank19:37you for joining us to be here19:42[Music]19:50[Music]19:53you
A Game for Our Time
The eerily contemporary morality of HBO’s Game of Thrones
it went anti-Tolkien. Indeed, if you dared to call their creation “Tolkienesque,” the esteemed deceased English author might well rise from the grave in protest.
.. In Tolkien’s tales, magic is of paramount importance, the good is very, very good, and the evil is obvious and horrifying. Tolkien was a veteran of World War I, and he’d seen his own Mordor. The descriptions of the Black Land have eerie echoes in the blasted earth and industrial destruction in the trenches of the Western Front. In Tolkien’s time, great good faced great evil (often against seemingly overwhelming odds), and great good triumphed.
.. His work instead calls back to an earlier time, to the struggles for dynastic succession in old England. Loosely based — very loosely — on the Wars of the Roses, his books pit warring families against each other
.. This game has but one rule, “You win or you die.” The politics are gritty, good men are hard to find, and honor and virtue are often rewarded with swift death.
.. Perhaps fearing that the show would flop without a little extra help, HBO used its full premium-cable powers to lard it up with graphic sex and violence.
.. Martin’s books aren’t for the squeamish, but HBO took the lewd elements to the next level. Comedians and critics even coined a term, “sexposition,” to describe the show’s habit of using extended sex scenes as a mechanism for explaining plot points and developing characters. In family-friendly social-conservative circles, the word went out: HBO once again was using sex to sell, and Christians especially shouldn’t be buying.
.. But by the end of season six, the show was an unstoppable ratings juggernaut, watched by upwards of 25 million Americans each week. It’s arguably the most watched show on television today.
.. Season seven (out of eight) starts on July 16, and its ratings will likely surpass everything but the NFL playoffs. A true cultural moment is at hand.
.. the show’s creators have accomplished what few television or film producers have ever achieved — they have improved upon classic books and have, quite simply, mastered the art of storytelling.
.. they cast the multiple important roles perfectly, and they have shown a knack for delivering during the big moments. The plot twists, betrayals, and epic battles aren’t just watchable, they’re rewatchable. In fact, classic clips garner millions of views on YouTube as fans go relive the highlights in much the same way that Patriots fans no doubt relive the last five minutes of Tom Brady’s epic comeback in Super Bowl LI.
.. The story itself matters too, and in many ways it is the right story at the right time, holding up a mirror to modern American sensibilities and showing the consequences of modern American morality.
.. In Tolkien’s world the stakes are immense, the moral battle lines are clear, and victory actually means victory, the end of a distinct evil force. In this respect, as noted above, Tolkien was a man of his age.
.. Martin’s can feel like a treadmill of conflict where squabbling lords and ladies ignore looming threats and greater dangers for the sake of momentary advantage in a seemingly never-ending battle for control. The stakes can seem small — what’s the real difference for humanity between Lannister or Targaryen rule? — but the conflicts are still intense.
.. Whereas the typical high-fantasy novel might end after a hero defeats her enemies and frees entire cities’ worth of slaves, in Game of Thrones, Martin (and the show’s creators) ask, “What comes next?” And the answer, instead of a glorious celebration of freedom and liberty, is a period of chaos and vengeance.
.. Whereas the typical high-fantasy novel centers on the most honorable of heroes and writes him to victory against insurmountable odds, in Game of Thrones, the honorable hero loses his head unless he’s honorable and shrewd or honorable and violent.
.. Think of it as Calvinism without Christ — natural human depravity unleashed. The realities of human nature mean that evil is very, very evil, and good is also touched with the weight of sin.
.. Certain timely themes emerge, perhaps most salient among them the constant, vivid reminders that the ends do not justify the means.
.. Indeed, Martin has revealed a key truth — that pursuing virtuous ends by vicious means can so transform a person that the ends themselves change. Virtue is redefined, and ultimately virtue is lost.
.. The characters are obsessed with settling scores and vindicating their honor.
.. In fact, even the evilest of characters have their own tales of woe. They can always find a murder or a conflict or an act of defiance that justifies the next vengeful act. Just as in real life, evil has a reason for its rage.
.. While watching, one can’t help but be reminded of Christ’s admonition that even his followers should be “wise as serpents.”
.. A conservative can’t watch the show without understanding that it is, at times, almost shamelessly Burkean: Disrupt the established order at your peril.
.. several of the great houses launched a rebellion (“Robert’s Rebellion”) to depose a mad king. By any measure, it was a just war against a homicidal maniac
.. I suspect we won’t see anything like the collapse of Mount Doom in Return of the King. Maybe we’ll get justice, but it will likely be angry justice, and when the series ends, the last person on the Iron Throne will wear the crown uneasily, knowing that she (or he) left a trail of bodies on the path to power and that those souls not only cry out for vengeance but have living descendants who hear their call.
.. At issue was the question of political tactics. Did the “high road” work anymore? Don’t the nice guys always lose, and when they lose don’t the virtues they believe in ultimately lose as well?
.. an increasingly amoral society, unmoored from its traditions and full of entitled and ambitious men and women who compete for power with unrestrained viciousness. Does that sound at least vaguely familiar? Is it any wonder that Game of Thrones resonates in the modern American heart?
.. It will still have too much sex (though HBO has limited the lewdness as the series has grown more popular)
.. it will give us something else as well — a lesson that entitlement and rage have a price, and that justice gets lost when victory is the only goal. Perhaps the true rule of the game of thrones isn’t “Win or die” but rather “Win and die.” The quest for power, unmoored from virtue, is the doom of us all.