In the other night’s third US presidential debate, Clinton and Trump were at it again. If you didn’t listen in, you didn’t miss much mud that hadn’t already been slung. Lord have mercy on America.

In my last post I focused on previous comments made by Trump and compared those to the Sermon on the Mount. I do something similar in this post, this time focusing attention, not on Clinton’s horrifying comments about matters of sexuality, gender and life[1], but on something small Clinton said that was actually [falsely] profound:

I think it’s really up to all of us to demonstrate who we are and who our country is, and to stand up and be very clear about what we expect from our next president, how we want to bring our country together, where we don’t want to have the kind of pitting of people one against the other, where instead we celebrate our diversity, we lift people up, and we make our country even greater.

America is great, because America is good. And it really is up to all of us to make that true, now and in the future, and particularly for our children and our grandchildren.[2]

Now if Clinton meant by “good” Americans are nice people, in many cases I’d agree, I know a lot of amiable Americans. However, what she really meant (which is the naive and optimistic view of humanists) is that humans (in this case Americans) are intrinsically good and that given the right conditions they would truly flourish as good moral beings. Yet, if this were the case [which it is not] America would be much better than it is by now surely, given the time, resources, etc, it has had at its disposal. America is not “one nation under God” nor do they in their totality act on their slogan “in God we trust”; therefore how can it be said “American is good”?

In contrast to Clinton Jesus said, “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Why would he say that if humans were already essentially good or perfect? It is because Jesus acknowledged elsewhere, “No one is good except God alone.” (Mk 10:18). We are not morally good from the outset and can only become so by receiving Christ’s imputed righteousness (2 Cor 5:21) and so receive the sanctifying gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Thes 5:23). It is only then that by God’s grace we can be viewed with favour in His sight, and be so transformed so that when we meet Him He may have mercy upon us and say, “well done good and faithful servant.”

Let’s not be spiritually naive and keep pretending; but spiritually wise in accepting God’s solution for our evident sin.

The Lord’s Sweetest Blessings,

Pastor Chris

[1] Clinton is a huge supporter of the LGBTI agenda and pro-choice.

[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/us/politics/third-debate-transcript.html?_r=0