I'm actually kind of excited for this episode. I have always found GW (as I'm going to call him through this recap) fascinating, regardless of where I agree or disagree with him. I hope Oprah is respectful!
G.W. Bush
In the two years since leaving office, GW has been working on his memoir, Decision Points; it releases today and you can buy it here on Amazon. Oprah asks about the moment he stepped on the airplane to go home to Texas after seeing President Obama sworn in. GW says that he was reflecting on the gift of a peaceful transfer of power in our nation, and joined his mother and father (whom he "love"s and "adore"s, respectively) and his wife, Laura, on the helicopter. He says he was honored to serve our country for 8 years. He said he felt relaxed, uncertain of what to expect post-presidency, and ready to go home.
Obama and Labels
GW talks with Oprah about one of the sacrifices you make as president: the complete loss of anonymity. He says that he has zero desire to return to the limelight and we're never going to see him criticizing Obama. He loves our country, he says, and wants to see his successor succeed. Oprah discusses the negative labels put on him, and asks him which one was the worst, and he tells her that they all pretty much become the same. He says it was far harder to see his father be criticized back in his term than it was for GW himself. Oprah inquires about the attack on his intelligence, and he says it didn't bother him. It bothered his daughters and his wife, but he tells Oprah, "I knew what I was doing," and that, essentially, had he become caught up in the criticism he couldn't have done his job as a leader.
Quitting Alcohol
The book is called Decision Points, because it is about every major decision he made as president. His first and most important decision came at age 40 and it was to stop drinking. He said it was crowding out his affection for his wife and daughters and it was a breaking point for him to realize that he loved alcohol because he loved how it made him feel about himself. He recalls a story of being inebriated, and the way in which alcohol loosened up his tongue; alcohol made him a fool. Once, while drinking, he asked an older woman what sex is like after 50, which humiliated his family. He does joke that, while governor of Texas, the woman sent him a note after his own 50th birthday saying, "Well, what's the answer?" Suffice it to say, GW believes that had he never quit drinking he never would have been president, nor could he have led and made the many decisions he did.
9/11
Upon finding out about the attacks, GW recalls intentionally choosing to continue the lesson he was doing in a second grade classroom in Florida. He says that he chose to remain, to leave calmly, because, "the nation would be in shock. The president could not be." He knew cameras were on him the entire time and his desire was to gather the facts and address his nation, now a country under attack, as a leader focused on how to proceed. He says that he had expected his presidency to be about domestic policy, but that he awoke on September 12, 2001 with a policy now focused on war.
Oprah asks GW about that day, and he says that he originally felt angry, a sense of, "How dare they!" But then he looked at the children and felt that his role was to protect them, to keep his cool and lead well. He wanted to go home to DC, and so he overrode everybody's advice--the Secret Service, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, etc--and went back home to DC. He explains that there was absolutely no way that he would give the enemy of seeing the Commander in Chief of the United States hiding out and addressing the nation from Omaha, Nebraska. Oprah asks if he was ever personally afraid, and he says that he never was. He was afraid for the nation, but he's fatalistic about his own death: when it's time to go, it's time to go.
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Oprah inquires about Iraq, saying that in his book GW states that upon there being no WMDs (weapons of mass destruction; basically, nuclear weapons) found in Iraq, it gave him a sickening feeling and that it still does. GW says that everyone thought he had WMDs, from the intelligence agencies to most everyone who later criticized his decision to go to war. He says that in the post-9/11 era, an enemy with WMDs who might use those to equip an enemy who might attack us was simply looked at completely differently than before 9/11, when we likely wouldn't have engaged in war. He says that you could not let a threat materialize, and Saddam Hussein was a threat. GW says that he still feels sick about there being no WMDs, but that when Hussein was removed a team did find that Hussein had amassed the equipment to make WMDs.
Basically, Bush's point is that had he known there were no WMDs he doesn't know if he would have declared war because he didn't have that luxury. However, in the book he says that people criticize you on the decisions you do make but often ignore the decisions you don't make. He feels the Iraq war was for the best still because had Hussein remained in power then today the world would be a less safe, less stable place. and 25 million Iraqis would still be under the thumb of a "brutal, ruthless dictator" and that his point is that the world's a better place with him gone.
Oprah asks if GW thinks he was misled about the WMDs, and he says no. He says that Hussein wanted everyone to think he had them, and deliberately chose to mislead the investigators searching for them. He lied to and convinced many in his own administration that he had WMDs. Oprah quotes the statistic that 4,421 of our troops are now dead because of the war and asks how heavily that weighs on him. GW says that it weighs very heavily because a decision he made affected people's lives in such a disruptive way. However, he feels that it would weigh more heavily on him if he had cared more about his own political standing than completing the mission he committed to. He tells the story in his book about standing before the wife and children of a soldier who died (presumably in Iraq), and the wife handed him a note that said, "John did his job. Now you do yours."
Hurricane Katrina
Oprah asks Bush about Katrina, and GW says that he made a mistake by not landing when he flew over the devastation left behind. At the time, he chose not to land because he knew that if he did, then the focus would shift from the delivery of resources to keeping him safe. He was concerned about facing criticism for disrupting the flow of resources, so he chose to only fly over. He sees in retrospect that the picture of him looking out the window and flying over gives the impression that he didn't care enough to land, but he says it tears him up because he cared very much.
Bush clarifies that the role in responding to emergencies is on the shoulders of the governor; when he was Governor of Texas he didn't want the federal government responding. He met with the governor of Louisiana, and he told the governor in person to give him the authority to send in federal troops. Oprah says that reading Decision Points helped her understand the situation, because most people don't understand the way local, state, and federal government works. Bush's hands were tied because he needed an executive order from the governor declaring an emergency and asking for help before he could step in. Upon asking her to declare the emergency, she said she needed 24 hours.
Oprah asks why, after sitting in a meeting with the mayor of New Orleans and the governor all bickering and pointing fingers and blaming one another, GW didn't basically say, "That's it, I'm taking over." Bush explains that, without the express permission of the governor, he was only allowed to send in unarmed troops. At the time he was hearing reports of rape, murder, and gunfire so he wasn't going to send in troops without the ability to defend themselves. Knowing now that many of those reports were exaggerated and untrue, he says had he known this then he would have sent them in.
The Racist Accusation
Oprah says that in the book, GW also writes that he didn't make the wrong decision, he simply didn't make the decision soon enough. He says he could have done a better job, but that what really irritated him was the accusation that he was stalling because he was a racist. Bush is visibly upset when Oprah recounts Kanye West's accusation that Bush didn't care about black people, and he says, "That really hurt." GW tells Oprah, "You can disagree with my politics but don't ever accuse me of being a racist."
Oprah asks if GW understands how him flying over and looking out the window at mostly poor Black people could lead to the perception that he is racist, and he says no. He can understand people thinking he just didn't care, but the accusation that it was because he was racist is absolutely disgusting and still gets him worked up to this day (and as he says this, he's very animated and his face is rather red). He says it's one thing to say, "He could have done a better job, but you don't call a man a racist." He says he feels his heart is confident on that matter.
Family Chat
Around the Bush family, GW is known as 43 and his father is known as 41 because they were the 43rd and 41st presidents, respectively. Oprah sits down at their family summer home, Walker's Point in Maine, where five generations of the Bush family have spent their summers. GW is with his mom and dad, and says that he simply adored his dad growing up. He loved his mom, too, but she was more of the enforcer so he liked to test her. He says he has his daddy's eyes and his mother's mouth, and Barbara jokes, "You should be so lucky." Father and son agree that spending time together in the Oval office after GW became president was incredibly powerful. GW says that his family loves each other and supports one another and that matters far more than political criticism from the outside.
Sarah Palin (and More Obama)
Oprah tells Bush, back in the studio, that his brother Jeb says he supports Sarah Palin's probable presidential candidacy in 2012. Oprah asks GW if he thinks Sarah Palin is "the one" for the Republican party. Bush says he's not a political pundit, and a lot will happen between now and the nomination. Oprah quips, "I'm not asking you to pundit, I'm just asking your opinion." GW quips right back, "You're asking me to wade back into the swamp!" Bush says he's keeping his opinions to himself and that's why he's not said anything about Obama, because the last thing people need is a former president out there opining about things. A current president's job is hard enough without everyone saying what he should be doing.
The Economy
Oprah talks about how Bush wrote the book intentionally so that we could be inside his head, seeing the decisions he had to make. He makes clear that he did not see the economic downturn coming. He did see the problems with the risky investments that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were making. He asked congress to reform it and they refused to. He jokes that it's important to keep that bit of history straight. Bush defends his decision to give taxpayer money to Wall Street, though it killed him to do so since he felt Wall Street caused the mess. He feels, however, that it was the right thing and that it stopped the country from going into an all out depression.
10 Years Ago
We see a clip of Oprah sitting down with GW 10 years ago, when he was last on her show in 2000 as a presidential hopeful. Oprah asks what Bush now would say to that man, and he says he'd tell himself that serving as president is a honor. He'd also tell him to never sell his soul for politics, to have a set of principles that are inviolable and to refuse compromise them for popularity's sake. Bush says he's grateful that he never did sell his soul in order to be popular. She asks if writing the book was difficult and he says that it kept him occupied. He jokes that many people didn't think he could read, let alone write. Oprah thanks him for his time and we're out.
Gospel Filter Review (GFR)
This was a great episode. It was really interesting for me to get insight into a president's mind. I can't imagine the pressure on a man who is considered to be one of the single greatest sources of influence on the entire world. It was also a poignant reminder, seeing how funny and relaxed and personable Bush is, that a president--or any incredibly famous person--is simply a person, just like us. Sure, few of us have ever even seen an estate like Walker's Point in person, let alone had the kind of family wealth to spend summers there. But George Walker Bush, regardless of public perception, regardless of how much of the criticism was "fair" or not, is a son, a husband, a father, and a child of God just like every other human being.
The biggest thing that I want to address is government and authority, and the Bible's teaching on both. The Bible tells us very, very clearly in Romans that we are to honor and respect governing authorities because God put them in that role. Here is that passage from Romans, italicized emphasis mine.
In both cases, the men faced death. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were given the opportunity to stand before the king and deny God in order to save their lives, and they refused. Nubuchadnezzar was so into himself that he was outraged that they wouldn't worship him.
This includes respect. Whether you felt like life ended or began when our presidential administration transitioned to President Obama, both Bush and Obama were put in place by God. We need to honor and respect Jesus in how we honor our government. There are many politicians I do not like nor do I inherently respect the decisions they make nor how they present themselves. However, God has chosen to allow those people to be in places of influence and I agree with President Bush--it is not my place to opine about how they could do their jobs better. I can pray for them and I can show my opinion when I vote.
Full disclosure: generally speaking, I lean conservative. That said, I personally am equally disgusted with both Democrats and Republicans, and quite frankly, if my choice was between Obama and Sarah Palin, I would choose to not vote. I cannot in good conscience vote for someone with policies like Obama's, namely his policies on abortion. Though she is pro-life, there are many, many reasons I could never with good conscience vote for Sarah Palin. I tell you this not to air my opinion and attempt to sway yours, but because the truth is that these things are just what I said: a matter of conscience. I know and respect Christians who did and will vote for Obama, and others who love Jesus and do support Sarah Palin. My aim is not to tear down either of them, nor any other politician. They are where they are by the grace of God, whether I like it or not.
Additionally, regardless of whether someone knows and loves Jesus, politicians were created by God in His image and just as I would never speak ill of a close friend because the Bible tells me to abstain from gossip I shouldn't run my mouth and criticize politicians. Fame and position does not remove nor exempt Biblical commands about building people up, praying for our enemies, and letting our speech be seasoned with grace. Yes, we can disagree with policies. We can privately cringe when we hate the direction a president leads our country. We can love or hate a decision, such as the one's Bush spoke of today (war in Iraq, Katrina, etc). But it is absolutely a sin to rip apart a president with our tongues. It was a sin of people to rip apart Bush, it is a sin for people to rip apart Obama, and it's a sin for people to rip apart Sarah Palin. And that's hard because I don't like Sarah Palin, nor how she chooses to conduct herself, but that does not give me the right to make declarations about her character.
Again, the issue here is submission to authority, namely government. Ultimately, we worship God in how we respond to government. I hate the way much of our tax money is spent, but we worship Jesus by paying our taxes. I do not agree with some of Obama's decisions, nor did I agree with all of Bush's policies, but to attack their character is not godly nor worshipful. I'm disgusted when Christians who say they represent Jesus bash those in leadership roles instead of praying for them and seeking how they can best honor God in the midst of their displeasure. The way Bush was treated, and now the way many are treating President Obama, is wrong, and Romans tells us that those people are bringing judgment on themselves.
So, pray for rulers. Ask Jesus to help you worship Him by honoring them when they frustrate and aggravate you, turning to him with why you're really upset. Let's be honest--the reason we detest authority is deeper than their decisions. Often the decisions of leaders, particularly our government, threaten things that matter to us. I'm frustrated when my local government makes decisions to basically punish people who have cars because we need our car and we don't have a lot of money so the value judgment of leaders to take more of our money because we drive a car threatens my idol of security. I'm less angry with the actual decision or decision makers and more upset that my desire to protect "our money" is being threatened. It comes down to my trust in Jesus, whether or not I believe that He'll provide and take care of us regardless of how much money the government takes from us. I can rant and rave against the people who enact the policies, but ultimately it's a heart issue, a worshiping Jesus issue.
This is heavy stuff, but it's practical. The Bible is practical! Honor the government. Submit to them. That includes how we think and talk about our leaders. We don't have to like them, we don't have to like their policies, but we are accountable to God and He is in control anyway! So, I hope that people don't just soften to President Bush because they understand him better, understand his decisions better, but because hearts turn toward Jesus and worship Him by honoring their former president... and their current one.
Up Tomorrow
G.W. Bush
In the two years since leaving office, GW has been working on his memoir, Decision Points; it releases today and you can buy it here on Amazon. Oprah asks about the moment he stepped on the airplane to go home to Texas after seeing President Obama sworn in. GW says that he was reflecting on the gift of a peaceful transfer of power in our nation, and joined his mother and father (whom he "love"s and "adore"s, respectively) and his wife, Laura, on the helicopter. He says he was honored to serve our country for 8 years. He said he felt relaxed, uncertain of what to expect post-presidency, and ready to go home.
Obama and Labels
GW talks with Oprah about one of the sacrifices you make as president: the complete loss of anonymity. He says that he has zero desire to return to the limelight and we're never going to see him criticizing Obama. He loves our country, he says, and wants to see his successor succeed. Oprah discusses the negative labels put on him, and asks him which one was the worst, and he tells her that they all pretty much become the same. He says it was far harder to see his father be criticized back in his term than it was for GW himself. Oprah inquires about the attack on his intelligence, and he says it didn't bother him. It bothered his daughters and his wife, but he tells Oprah, "I knew what I was doing," and that, essentially, had he become caught up in the criticism he couldn't have done his job as a leader.
Quitting Alcohol
The book is called Decision Points, because it is about every major decision he made as president. His first and most important decision came at age 40 and it was to stop drinking. He said it was crowding out his affection for his wife and daughters and it was a breaking point for him to realize that he loved alcohol because he loved how it made him feel about himself. He recalls a story of being inebriated, and the way in which alcohol loosened up his tongue; alcohol made him a fool. Once, while drinking, he asked an older woman what sex is like after 50, which humiliated his family. He does joke that, while governor of Texas, the woman sent him a note after his own 50th birthday saying, "Well, what's the answer?" Suffice it to say, GW believes that had he never quit drinking he never would have been president, nor could he have led and made the many decisions he did.
9/11
Upon finding out about the attacks, GW recalls intentionally choosing to continue the lesson he was doing in a second grade classroom in Florida. He says that he chose to remain, to leave calmly, because, "the nation would be in shock. The president could not be." He knew cameras were on him the entire time and his desire was to gather the facts and address his nation, now a country under attack, as a leader focused on how to proceed. He says that he had expected his presidency to be about domestic policy, but that he awoke on September 12, 2001 with a policy now focused on war.
Oprah asks GW about that day, and he says that he originally felt angry, a sense of, "How dare they!" But then he looked at the children and felt that his role was to protect them, to keep his cool and lead well. He wanted to go home to DC, and so he overrode everybody's advice--the Secret Service, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, etc--and went back home to DC. He explains that there was absolutely no way that he would give the enemy of seeing the Commander in Chief of the United States hiding out and addressing the nation from Omaha, Nebraska. Oprah asks if he was ever personally afraid, and he says that he never was. He was afraid for the nation, but he's fatalistic about his own death: when it's time to go, it's time to go.
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Oprah inquires about Iraq, saying that in his book GW states that upon there being no WMDs (weapons of mass destruction; basically, nuclear weapons) found in Iraq, it gave him a sickening feeling and that it still does. GW says that everyone thought he had WMDs, from the intelligence agencies to most everyone who later criticized his decision to go to war. He says that in the post-9/11 era, an enemy with WMDs who might use those to equip an enemy who might attack us was simply looked at completely differently than before 9/11, when we likely wouldn't have engaged in war. He says that you could not let a threat materialize, and Saddam Hussein was a threat. GW says that he still feels sick about there being no WMDs, but that when Hussein was removed a team did find that Hussein had amassed the equipment to make WMDs.
Basically, Bush's point is that had he known there were no WMDs he doesn't know if he would have declared war because he didn't have that luxury. However, in the book he says that people criticize you on the decisions you do make but often ignore the decisions you don't make. He feels the Iraq war was for the best still because had Hussein remained in power then today the world would be a less safe, less stable place. and 25 million Iraqis would still be under the thumb of a "brutal, ruthless dictator" and that his point is that the world's a better place with him gone.
Oprah asks if GW thinks he was misled about the WMDs, and he says no. He says that Hussein wanted everyone to think he had them, and deliberately chose to mislead the investigators searching for them. He lied to and convinced many in his own administration that he had WMDs. Oprah quotes the statistic that 4,421 of our troops are now dead because of the war and asks how heavily that weighs on him. GW says that it weighs very heavily because a decision he made affected people's lives in such a disruptive way. However, he feels that it would weigh more heavily on him if he had cared more about his own political standing than completing the mission he committed to. He tells the story in his book about standing before the wife and children of a soldier who died (presumably in Iraq), and the wife handed him a note that said, "John did his job. Now you do yours."
Hurricane Katrina
Oprah asks Bush about Katrina, and GW says that he made a mistake by not landing when he flew over the devastation left behind. At the time, he chose not to land because he knew that if he did, then the focus would shift from the delivery of resources to keeping him safe. He was concerned about facing criticism for disrupting the flow of resources, so he chose to only fly over. He sees in retrospect that the picture of him looking out the window and flying over gives the impression that he didn't care enough to land, but he says it tears him up because he cared very much.
Bush clarifies that the role in responding to emergencies is on the shoulders of the governor; when he was Governor of Texas he didn't want the federal government responding. He met with the governor of Louisiana, and he told the governor in person to give him the authority to send in federal troops. Oprah says that reading Decision Points helped her understand the situation, because most people don't understand the way local, state, and federal government works. Bush's hands were tied because he needed an executive order from the governor declaring an emergency and asking for help before he could step in. Upon asking her to declare the emergency, she said she needed 24 hours.
Oprah asks why, after sitting in a meeting with the mayor of New Orleans and the governor all bickering and pointing fingers and blaming one another, GW didn't basically say, "That's it, I'm taking over." Bush explains that, without the express permission of the governor, he was only allowed to send in unarmed troops. At the time he was hearing reports of rape, murder, and gunfire so he wasn't going to send in troops without the ability to defend themselves. Knowing now that many of those reports were exaggerated and untrue, he says had he known this then he would have sent them in.
The Racist Accusation
Oprah says that in the book, GW also writes that he didn't make the wrong decision, he simply didn't make the decision soon enough. He says he could have done a better job, but that what really irritated him was the accusation that he was stalling because he was a racist. Bush is visibly upset when Oprah recounts Kanye West's accusation that Bush didn't care about black people, and he says, "That really hurt." GW tells Oprah, "You can disagree with my politics but don't ever accuse me of being a racist."
Oprah asks if GW understands how him flying over and looking out the window at mostly poor Black people could lead to the perception that he is racist, and he says no. He can understand people thinking he just didn't care, but the accusation that it was because he was racist is absolutely disgusting and still gets him worked up to this day (and as he says this, he's very animated and his face is rather red). He says it's one thing to say, "He could have done a better job, but you don't call a man a racist." He says he feels his heart is confident on that matter.
Family Chat
Around the Bush family, GW is known as 43 and his father is known as 41 because they were the 43rd and 41st presidents, respectively. Oprah sits down at their family summer home, Walker's Point in Maine, where five generations of the Bush family have spent their summers. GW is with his mom and dad, and says that he simply adored his dad growing up. He loved his mom, too, but she was more of the enforcer so he liked to test her. He says he has his daddy's eyes and his mother's mouth, and Barbara jokes, "You should be so lucky." Father and son agree that spending time together in the Oval office after GW became president was incredibly powerful. GW says that his family loves each other and supports one another and that matters far more than political criticism from the outside.
Sarah Palin (and More Obama)
Oprah tells Bush, back in the studio, that his brother Jeb says he supports Sarah Palin's probable presidential candidacy in 2012. Oprah asks GW if he thinks Sarah Palin is "the one" for the Republican party. Bush says he's not a political pundit, and a lot will happen between now and the nomination. Oprah quips, "I'm not asking you to pundit, I'm just asking your opinion." GW quips right back, "You're asking me to wade back into the swamp!" Bush says he's keeping his opinions to himself and that's why he's not said anything about Obama, because the last thing people need is a former president out there opining about things. A current president's job is hard enough without everyone saying what he should be doing.
The Economy
Oprah talks about how Bush wrote the book intentionally so that we could be inside his head, seeing the decisions he had to make. He makes clear that he did not see the economic downturn coming. He did see the problems with the risky investments that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were making. He asked congress to reform it and they refused to. He jokes that it's important to keep that bit of history straight. Bush defends his decision to give taxpayer money to Wall Street, though it killed him to do so since he felt Wall Street caused the mess. He feels, however, that it was the right thing and that it stopped the country from going into an all out depression.
10 Years Ago
We see a clip of Oprah sitting down with GW 10 years ago, when he was last on her show in 2000 as a presidential hopeful. Oprah asks what Bush now would say to that man, and he says he'd tell himself that serving as president is a honor. He'd also tell him to never sell his soul for politics, to have a set of principles that are inviolable and to refuse compromise them for popularity's sake. Bush says he's grateful that he never did sell his soul in order to be popular. She asks if writing the book was difficult and he says that it kept him occupied. He jokes that many people didn't think he could read, let alone write. Oprah thanks him for his time and we're out.
Gospel Filter Review (GFR)
This was a great episode. It was really interesting for me to get insight into a president's mind. I can't imagine the pressure on a man who is considered to be one of the single greatest sources of influence on the entire world. It was also a poignant reminder, seeing how funny and relaxed and personable Bush is, that a president--or any incredibly famous person--is simply a person, just like us. Sure, few of us have ever even seen an estate like Walker's Point in person, let alone had the kind of family wealth to spend summers there. But George Walker Bush, regardless of public perception, regardless of how much of the criticism was "fair" or not, is a son, a husband, a father, and a child of God just like every other human being.
The biggest thing that I want to address is government and authority, and the Bible's teaching on both. The Bible tells us very, very clearly in Romans that we are to honor and respect governing authorities because God put them in that role. Here is that passage from Romans, italicized emphasis mine.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
[Romans 13:1-7 ESV]Paul says emphatically that God is who we are honoring when we honor rulers in authority over us. We see in the Book of Daniel that we aren't supposed to sin against God by honoring a governor; in chapter 3 three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refuse to bow down and worship a golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. They chose to disobey the king because they would be sinning against God if they obeyed his orders. Again, in chapter 6 with Daniel himself, he disobeyed a law from King Darius that he wasn't allowed to pray. Daniel needed to pray to and worship his God, and he wasn't going to obey a law that wouldn't allow him to do so.
In both cases, the men faced death. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were given the opportunity to stand before the king and deny God in order to save their lives, and they refused. Nubuchadnezzar was so into himself that he was outraged that they wouldn't worship him.
Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
[Daniel 3:14-18 ESV]They were thrown into a furnace, literally into a burning fire. The fire was so hot that the guards outside the furnace died when they threw the three men in, yet here is one of my favorite things in the Bible:
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.
[Daniel 3:24-26 ESV]Guess who was walking around with the men? Jesus! For those who don't know, King Darius reluctantly had Daniel thrown into a den of starved lions overnight, and yet the next morning he was basically snuggling with them like giant kittens. God doesn't always save people from death when they choose to honor him--sometimes people suffer and die for choosing Jesus over the government. But in the case of these four men, he did. Regardless, the point is that we honor Jesus by honoring the government unless the government's demand is that we dishonor Jesus.
This includes respect. Whether you felt like life ended or began when our presidential administration transitioned to President Obama, both Bush and Obama were put in place by God. We need to honor and respect Jesus in how we honor our government. There are many politicians I do not like nor do I inherently respect the decisions they make nor how they present themselves. However, God has chosen to allow those people to be in places of influence and I agree with President Bush--it is not my place to opine about how they could do their jobs better. I can pray for them and I can show my opinion when I vote.
Full disclosure: generally speaking, I lean conservative. That said, I personally am equally disgusted with both Democrats and Republicans, and quite frankly, if my choice was between Obama and Sarah Palin, I would choose to not vote. I cannot in good conscience vote for someone with policies like Obama's, namely his policies on abortion. Though she is pro-life, there are many, many reasons I could never with good conscience vote for Sarah Palin. I tell you this not to air my opinion and attempt to sway yours, but because the truth is that these things are just what I said: a matter of conscience. I know and respect Christians who did and will vote for Obama, and others who love Jesus and do support Sarah Palin. My aim is not to tear down either of them, nor any other politician. They are where they are by the grace of God, whether I like it or not.
Additionally, regardless of whether someone knows and loves Jesus, politicians were created by God in His image and just as I would never speak ill of a close friend because the Bible tells me to abstain from gossip I shouldn't run my mouth and criticize politicians. Fame and position does not remove nor exempt Biblical commands about building people up, praying for our enemies, and letting our speech be seasoned with grace. Yes, we can disagree with policies. We can privately cringe when we hate the direction a president leads our country. We can love or hate a decision, such as the one's Bush spoke of today (war in Iraq, Katrina, etc). But it is absolutely a sin to rip apart a president with our tongues. It was a sin of people to rip apart Bush, it is a sin for people to rip apart Obama, and it's a sin for people to rip apart Sarah Palin. And that's hard because I don't like Sarah Palin, nor how she chooses to conduct herself, but that does not give me the right to make declarations about her character.
Again, the issue here is submission to authority, namely government. Ultimately, we worship God in how we respond to government. I hate the way much of our tax money is spent, but we worship Jesus by paying our taxes. I do not agree with some of Obama's decisions, nor did I agree with all of Bush's policies, but to attack their character is not godly nor worshipful. I'm disgusted when Christians who say they represent Jesus bash those in leadership roles instead of praying for them and seeking how they can best honor God in the midst of their displeasure. The way Bush was treated, and now the way many are treating President Obama, is wrong, and Romans tells us that those people are bringing judgment on themselves.
So, pray for rulers. Ask Jesus to help you worship Him by honoring them when they frustrate and aggravate you, turning to him with why you're really upset. Let's be honest--the reason we detest authority is deeper than their decisions. Often the decisions of leaders, particularly our government, threaten things that matter to us. I'm frustrated when my local government makes decisions to basically punish people who have cars because we need our car and we don't have a lot of money so the value judgment of leaders to take more of our money because we drive a car threatens my idol of security. I'm less angry with the actual decision or decision makers and more upset that my desire to protect "our money" is being threatened. It comes down to my trust in Jesus, whether or not I believe that He'll provide and take care of us regardless of how much money the government takes from us. I can rant and rave against the people who enact the policies, but ultimately it's a heart issue, a worshiping Jesus issue.
This is heavy stuff, but it's practical. The Bible is practical! Honor the government. Submit to them. That includes how we think and talk about our leaders. We don't have to like them, we don't have to like their policies, but we are accountable to God and He is in control anyway! So, I hope that people don't just soften to President Bush because they understand him better, understand his decisions better, but because hearts turn toward Jesus and worship Him by honoring their former president... and their current one.
Up Tomorrow
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