Is there anything President Obama or the members of Congress can do to make ObamaCare work? There’s one reason I’ve not heard anyone yet give. Liberals will laugh, but maybe it will at least give Christians something to chew on.
Just this week I read that the President is identifying certain groups he can target to enroll in ObambaCare. He hopes their premiums will underwrite the cost of caring for the sicker older population. Some Republicans, on the other hand, think that other things besides an outright repeal can improve ObamaCare.
The reason I am skeptical that any of these things will work is because of my recent reflections, as a Christian, on the nature, character and ways of God. I understand that for non-Christians such reflections are irrelevant, but have they become irrelevant to Christians, too?
Christians believe that the God of the Bible is the Creator. Therefore, putting aside the question ofhow he created, it would seem that what he created had to have been created consistent with his nature, character and ways. Otherwise it would have been “out of character” for him and what he created could not have glorified him.
But if God’s creation was to be consistent with his nature, character and ways, then it would follow that we, who are part of his creation, would “operate” best if we operate consistent with his nature, character, and ways. It would also follow that to do the opposite would be to invite trouble.
If those things are true, then Christians (or anyone serious about the question of God) need to ask: “What do we know about the nature, character and ways of God?” There is not enough space to cover that in depth, but here are three examples.
One of the first things Christians would say is that God is triune in nature, which means there is diversity within the unity they call the Godhead. And within the Godhead there is delegation — a distribution or division, if you would — of function.
Consistent with that thought, we find God saying “let us” make man “in our image,” and having done so, God delegates to mankind the responsibility to rule over creation by continuing to fill and to form it.
Consistent with this thought, we later find Moses killing himself trying to judge all the people single-handedly. The advice he gets is to delegate, which is “good” advice because it’s consistent with the nature, character and ways of God.
Then comes Jesus, who, before he returns to the Father, says that “authority” has been delegatedto him. He then tells the disciples he is delegating that authority to them to go and make disciples of the nations, interestingly, the earth as more fully filled and formed.
Delegation and distribution of authority work because it is consistent with the nature, character and ways of God.
We get that when it comes to businesses. The business entrepreneur, who never learns to delegate, finds that the business into which he has poured his life is dying. We say that’s just a reality of sound business principles, but perhaps it’s a “reality” and “sound” because it’s the nature of the way things are.
Could the same principle that applies in business – rooted, in my opinion, in the nature, character and ways of God – also apply to how mankind operates civil government and the programs it spawns?
If so, then what is the fundamental nature of ObamaCare? The temptation is to say it is a health care/insurance delivery system. But that is its object. Its nature is a concentration of power; it is centralization.
If that is true, then maybe it’s not just contrary to the principles of our founding fathers that limited and distributed authority; it’s contrary to the nature, character and ways of God.
And if that is true, maybe we need to ask if the architects of ObamaCare will succeed any better than those who tried to build the tower of Babel?
David Fowler