People often come to me asking for help in making difficult decisions . Usually they have already weighed all the pros and cons , but are hesitant to do anything because they don ’ t want to make the wrong choice . When I ask who judges whether a choice is right or wrong , they often tell me that it is God . So the question shifts from “ How do I figure out the best thing to do ?” to “ What does God want me to do ?”
We human beings are pretty insecure sometimes , especially when dealing with uncertainty as to what to do . It is difficult work sorting through all possible courses of action , having to settle on one , and still not being certain what will come of it . Many of us would much rather have someone ( e . g . God ) tell us the “ right ” choice so we can forgo all that work ( and let someone else take the responsibility for the outcome ).
Many religions are adept at “ helping ” people attain certainty . Religions tend to claim they speak for God , the definitive judge of right and wrong . So if people do what the religion says , they don ’ t have to worry about making a wrong decision . Terms like “ intrinsic evil ” are used to label wrong choices , while rules , laws , and doctrine are used to label ( mandatory ) right choices . Of course the price people pay for this certainty is the forfeiture of their right and responsibility to make their own moral decisions . But we can never ethically shirk our responsibility to make our own moral decisions .
The same thing can happen in politics . It is hard work sorting through all the issues facing us as a country , and coming to some level of understanding that will guide us in urging law makers toward the best course of action . So it is tempting to see our job as simply electing our favorite person and letting them take responsibility for everything that happens after that . This can easily devolve into
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blindly following and defending that person regardless of what he / she says or does . This idea probably motivated some people to criticize protestors after this last election , calling them whiny sore losers that should just shut up . The implication is that their job was only to vote , and since their person didn ’ t win , they have no more rights or responsibilities for voicing which direction the country should go .
God has given us human beings divine wisdom as a guide to all good . But the catch is that each of us has a part of that wisdom , often called collective wisdom . If you or I choose not to offer our piece of that divine wisdom because of apathy , fear , or self doubt , the direction we need to go as a people becomes less clear . If you or I let some religion , elected official , or party platform speak for us , we again deprive others of our unique piece of the divine wisdom , and we end up with only a few people ( or one person ) making decisions for all . If you or I don ’ t listen to what others have to offer because they are different than us , or because we see them as enemies somehow , we miss their piece of divine wisdom , and may lose our way , ending up in division , mistrust , and violence .
We have a moral and Spiritual responsibility that we cannot delegate to anyone else . This moral responsibility is to make sure that every person ’ s piece of wisdom ( including my own ) gets included in the public discernment of where we need to go . Only by trusting this divine wisdom with which God has gifted us ( which means trusting each other ) can we ever hope to find our way through all the complicated issues facing us . Only this divine wisdom can draw us together in the common task , which in our faith tradition is called building the reign of God . W