Blogging Bridges: Moral High Ground?

In ch.11 of Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges discusses pride.

While some kinds of pride are far from respectable, there are a variety of subtle forms. Bridges discusses pride of correct doctrine, pride of achievement, pride of an independent spirit, and one that I'd like to discuss here - pride of moral superiority.

This is an election year. In fact, we've already had over a year of election coverage and by the time November rolls around the election cycle will have been nearly two years long. That's a lot of political news, and that's a lot of division between red and blue, Republican and Democrat, conservative and progressive. As "values voters" are courted by politicians, religious divisions are also exploited.

This is the perfect environment to grow pride. Especially the pride of moral superiority.

To understand how blinding pride can be, I point you to this earlier post. Here, I'd like to instead just paint an "election year picture" of someone who remarkably avoided the pride of moral superiority. That person is the prophet Daniel -- someone who was, in fact, morally superior to those around him! And yet this did not produce pride, but grace.

I've always been amazed by Daniel. In Daniel chapter 2, you'll see that Nebuchadnezzar was on the verge of killing all the magicians, enchanters, and sorcerers of the land. They could not solve the puzzle of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. However, Daniel was given the interpretation by God.

Think about it: To have all these pagans executed by the king would have been a tremendous boon to the "religious right." And their hands were clean - it was the king's decision, not theirs. Daniel and his friends would have complete hegemony in all things religious.

And yet...

Here's what Daniel says: "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation" (Daniel 2:24).

What was he thinking? Why didn't he let them go down in flames so that the truth could march on, unhindered?

Well, that's a good question, so let me ask you: what do you think gave Daniel this attitude? Why didn't he let the "wise men" (a technical term for these soothsayers) be killed, given that they were the religious opponents of the day?

If we can answer these questions, we'll be on our way to being positive representatives for the gospel during this election season. Our mindset should be one of love toward those with whom we disagree, and a desire to witness to the truth through lives marked by mercy.