For God’s Sake
Three seats on the Florida Supreme Court became vacant at the beginning of the year due to an amendment requiring the justices to retire at age seventy. The three justices affected by the amendment – Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince – are part of a liberal majority that has existed on the Florida Supreme Court for over two decades. A new amendment that raises the mandatory retirement age from seventy to seventy-five will go into effect in July of 2019.
To be clear, I do not believe that the political convictions of conservatives and liberals neatly align with “biblical” and “unbiblical” respectively as some Christians would suggest. In the outworking of both ideologies, some biblical principles are trampled on as others are upheld. The question is what principle should take priority. I am reminded of an American Church History class in seminary. Having reached the era of slavery in America, the professor gave the class over to an open forum on race. There I learned that my African-American brothers shared my deep sorrow over legalized abortion, but for them the issue of racial discrimination was the higher priority. Each of us would describe ourselves as conservative.
The battle ground is that of ideologies. Republicans have long complained that the Florida Supreme Court has been used for judicial activism. Democrats now fear this conservative-heavy court will favor extreme ideologies. As I have come to understand it, the foundational difference between liberal and conservative ideology is that, in the liberal mind, a society is bettered through government initiatives, whereas the conservative believes that a society is bettered by bettering the individual. I know the power of a changed life. My own life was radically changed and continues to change because of the Spirit of God’s transforming work in me. When people change for the better, society changes for the better.
My hope for the Florida Supreme Court is that they will respect the scope of their authority by applying the law and not writing new ones. I hope that it will be a compassionate court, but a just court as well, a court where the law is upheld. I recognize that compassion and justice together cannot always be achieved, and I have respect for anyone willing to sit in that judge’s seat and wrestle with such matters. I would not want that responsibility.
To my fellow Christians, whether liberal or conservative, we must remember to pray for those in positions of authority “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:2b-4, ESV). Too often, our mouths are opened in criticism of them and not opened enough in prayer for them. And, let us bear in mind that there is only one Judge who is perfect in righteousness, only one Judge whose judgements are perfectly just, the Lord Jesus Christ. His is truly THE supreme court, and the only court where justice is guaranteed.