Questioning the Conventional Narrative to the End of Reforming America

October 31st was Reformation Day, and those of you unfamiliar may be interested to take note of some of the visuals of Martin Luther’s various diatribes against Rome from five centuries ago. Be warned, several are both shocking and disturbing. Yet, on some level, I note that we forgive the reformer because of what his objections produced in the revival of Christian faith and life in the West via Protestantism.

But speaking of protests and reformation, Dr. Oz has now received the endorsement of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in his race to be the next Republican Senator from Pennsylvania. Do note that this particular newspaper, one of the largest in Pennsylvania, also endorsed Trump’s re-election bid in 2020.

Not also that America seems to be getting more such men these days. Trump, Musk, Maher, and Dr. Oz all were formerly much more liberal in their outlook, demeanor, and positions. Yet increasingly they sound and position themselves like conservatives. And what about when such men do have a change of heart and mind? Will we allow it? Are we ready to forgive, where necessary, their past indiscretions and vulgarities, if at a certain point they come to their senses regarding a more existential crisis confronting the American people on the Left, as the positions they previously held are increasingly taken to their logical conclusions?

It’s not hard to find compelling reasons why, whether we’re talking about the change of heart in recent years, or the importance of being merciful to potential new allies – or at least co-combatants – who were formerly at-odds with us. Yet it is also not hard to come up with reasons we would withhold our support, as many did with regards to former President Trump in 2016 and 2020.

Consider, however, for instance, the young woman Chloe Cole’s recent testimony before the Florida Medical Board regarding their need to ban “gender affirming” procedures like reassignment surgery and hormone therapy where minors like she was when she was prescribed both are concerned. 

Or consider the piece recently published at The Atlantic proposing “pandemic amnesty” for how people treated one another over the past two years. And while you’re at it, take a look at the report from ProPublica and Vanity Fair about how COVID likely was, in fact, released from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology in late 2019.

Then catch this article by The Intercept highlighting documents leaked from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on how they’ve been working with Big Tech to censor American citizens online. Or take a look at this story from The Epoch Times explaining that FCC guidelines don’t allow TV or radio broadcasters to air the explicit sexual content being taught to our kids in America’s public schools.

Thereafter, take note of the sorry state of journalism today, as Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Boreing highlight the marked lack of curiosity concerning the official narrative concerning the recent attack on Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, right before important mid-term elections next week.

Perhaps you will conclude from these stories, as I have, that there is a growing recognition of the need for comprehensive reformation and revival in America. Whether we are ready for that, or what it entails – that is another question. And how will we answer it?

In summation, my hope is that we see God’s kindness as an incentive for repentance – both personal and national – concerning those sins against Him and one another which displease Him and forestall the blessings of Heaven. But if we would give the Almighty reasons for renewing His grace on us, we must bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and not settle for cheap grace – whether where our own behavior is concerned, or where our way of extending forgiveness to the demonstrably penitent relates to restoring the ties that bind.

Cheap grace, as German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer used the term in the run-up to the takeover of his country by the Nazis, can take the form of behaving in a persistently ungodly way, then saying “grace, grace” as if we should sin all the more that grace might abound all the more. Yet I would say that cheap grace can also mean that we only forgive men, however repentant they are, when their sins are small, or never bothered us much anyway. Therefore, the truer test of whether we appreciate and emulate the graciousness of our Father in Heaven is to be found in moments like the one we Americans find ourselves in now, when we must decide how to relate to opportunities for repentance – both on our parts, and on the parts of those around us.

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