Zelensky or Putin?

It’s happening again. People are taking sides—the same old sides they always take.

Political liberals are flying Ukrainian flags. It’s the same virtue signaling as before. They are accusing conservatives of being Putin fans. You have to wonder if Donald Trump was in office if the sides would be reversed.

It is easy and dangerous for Christians to get sucked into these types of political debates. Biblical wisdom and ethics do not fit into the binary formula of today’s political landscape.

The world is not as binary as news pundits right and left would have you believe. Even the political landscape itself is not binary. Hunter Biden’s laptop implicated Joe Biden in collusion with the Chinese, who seem presently to be in collusion with the Russians, who are led by Putin, who Biden is calling a war criminal.

The world is a complicated place. There are varying political forces within these nations like China and Russia that are also in conflict with one another. Americans typically think of India as our friend, yet that nation is leaning toward Russia in this war.

So how are Christians supposed to think about what we are seeing in the world? Here are just a few things to remember as you read or watch the news.

Value and pursue truth, even if it is inconvenient.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)

Don Johnson’s article on Friday dealt with the issue deftly. We not only need to be discerning of the truth, which means taking the time to actually research and find out, it also means being careful to be purveyors of falsehoods through sharing articles and by other means.

This is not as easy as it might seem. Even the fact-checkers are sometimes liars. We have to assume that there is more than what we are reading on the surface. It also means that we have to very careful not to quickly accept something to be true just because it confirms what we believe to be true. This is called confirmation bias and it is dangerous for believers especially because it can undermine the truth by supporting it with falsehood.

Life is precious. Justice matters.

Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God, He made man. (Genesis 9:6)

God condemns murder but the Bible is not completely anti-war. That is a difficult pill to swallow.

Israel went to war—even at God’s command. The Age will end in war when Jesus returns as the Conqueror. There are things that are more important to me than my life. This is worth dying for. The cause of Christ is more important than my life, the souls of people are more important than the bodies they indwell.

However, that does not mean that life is not precious. Every human being is created in the image of God and God Himself has determined that taking human life is a very serious and sobering thing. From the expulsion of the first murderer to the establishment of capital punishment, God treats the taking of human life as one of humanity’s gravest sins. So, when we see innocent civilians targeted and lives lost, God does not approve, and God will hold human governments—even our own—responsible for being careless with the lives of the innocent.

God is a God of justice and the taking of lives, the abuse of the innocent, the theft of property, is a stench in his nostrils. He demands human governments be ministers of justice and He will personally hold those accountable who violate His divine standards of justice.

Not all “Christians” are Christians—not all political allies are “good guys.”

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be [a]accursed. (Galatians 1:8)

The Russo-Ukrainian War is being called a Holy War. Part of the thinking is the separation between the Russian Orthodox and Ukrainian Orthodox Church and many holy sites situated in Ukraine. Also, Putin sees this war about the moral corruption of the west. Russia has banned same-sex marriage and has refused to let trans people adopt.

However, because some Russians claim the title “Christian” and because they hold traditional Christian views on morality, does not make them Christians and it does not make this conflict justifiable. The Russian Orthodox church does not teach true salvation in Jesus Christ any more than the European Catholics or American Mormons do. Traditional conservative moral values can be misused as a means for injustice. We make a horrible mistake if we believe that someone who opposes what we oppose is one of us—or is even truly our friend.

Politics and war often mean siding with people who are not exactly everything we might want them to be. That is the nature of the world in which we live. But when we do form alliances, we cannot and must not make saints of all our friends.

In the present conflict, neither Putin nor Zelensky is a saint. I think most Christians would side mostly with Zelensky since Putin is clearly the aggressor, but Zelensky is also guilty of persecuting his political opponents. Just because he has befriended the West does not make him spotless—or even sorta clean.

If we put it in a biblical context—were Nebuchadnezzar and Ahasuerus good guys or bad guys?  It depends upon which chapter you are reading.  White and black hats do not fit easily into those stories.

People forget that Joseph Stalin was an ally in World War II but an enemy both before and afterward.  The future Anti-Christ will be a wildly popular “good” guy that will seemingly bring peace to the world. Both Dems and Republicans will probably love him.

The cause of Christ matters most.

. . . meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. (Colossians 4:3-4)

Our greatest concern is the cause of Christ in Ukraine–and in Russia for that matter. There are people in both countries without Christ. They need to know Him, and this conflict is closing doors in both countries. That is truly something to mourn. We must pray that the gospel will be declared freely and powerfully.

Genuine believers in both countries are suffering sickness, hunger, harm, and even death. Our hearts, prayers, and even support when possible should be with God’s people as they suffer. Like in the American Civil War, it is quite possible that true believers are raising arms against one another in the field of battle. This is a tragedy indeed.

May God protect and bless His own.

Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.