The Pursuit Of Power

Disclaimer: I’m not an Obama supporter; I’m a Singaporean for goodness’s sake! However, this guy said something that really stirred the inner recesses of my heart

People often ask why I liked Superman that much. I kept telling them its a symbolic representation of the power I wanted from God, but I never really did explain it thoroughly.

Well, like any other idealistic youngster, I wanted to change the world for the better. It took no doctorate or religious brainwashing for me to realize that the world is screwed up. I am sick of the injustice present in the world. I cannot stand by and permit evil to take its course. My conscience would not allow me to commit inaction. I should not, I will not and I must not. In that aspect, I totally agree with Bonhoeffer.

“If I see a madman driving a car into a group of innocent bystanders,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer explained to his sister, “then I can’t, as a Christian, simply wait for the catastrophe and then comfort the wounded and bury the dead. I must try and wrestle the steering wheel out of the hands of the driver.”

The German theologian, a pacifist, was attempting to convey why he had joined with others to plot an unsuccessful assassination of Adolf Hitler. The most extreme ambition is to attempt revolution. Bonhoeffer tried and failed and was executed on April 9, 1945, as a result.

Perhaps I might need to start a revolution, create a revival, raise a riot, by any methods, using any means. I do not fear hard work, but I only fear helplessness in stamping out evil.

Hence I came to a conclusion. To have any visible and impressionable impact on this world, we will need power. We will require as much power as possible, as much power as we can get and we cannot be ashamed to ask for it. Without it, there can be no hope of a change. No hope of a significant change.

Therefore I strived for power, or positions of power. I wanted to be a politician; perhaps I can redirect a country. I wanted to be rich businessman; perhaps currency can readjust the world’s trajectory. In that sense, I would love to be an “Obama” - Someone who asked for power so that he can change the world.

“…because good intentions were not enough. We’re not fortified with political power… and political will.“
-Barack Obama’s Speech in Youngstown [1.00-1.08]

However, as I mature in Christ, I have come to understand that secular power is not enough. Policies cannot change our human condition. Legislation cannot stop us. Economy cannot save us. Education cannot mould us. We are still greedy for money, unkind to the minority. We are still committing murders, starting wars. We are still poor in spirit. I have come to realize, what we need exactly is actually the redemptive power of Christ. If you know the history of this term, you would know its irony from its usage by the predecessors. Yet my limited vocabulary can express it in no other forms.

Christ is our “Final Solution“.

~ by Zachary on February 21, 2008.