Only the Strong Survive: Well, Maybe Not Always
A few days ago, Comedian Amy Schumer stepped out of her funny woman role long enough to make a few pronouncements about the state of our country. She was lamenting the fact that her candidate of choice failed in the recent presidential election. That, of course, is nothing new. We all sing the blues when our fervent selection is denied. Schumer went a bit further, however.
She called those who firmly resided in her camp, smart, and those who voted the opposite way, weak. I’m not sure how she would react if pressed on these overgeneralizations, but I hope she would at least back off a tad.
“18% of us are smart…”
The most recent tabulations find that there are slightly over sixty million weaklings in the USA. Fortunately, over sixty million smart people balance them out. As we examine these results, we can see that Schumer has set up the classic Brains v. Brawn argument (or in this case, Brains v. Lack-of-Brawn). Upon further review, however, I suspect that Amy was referring to weak as in weak-minded.
Currently, there are about 325 million people in these United States. It’s comforting to know that at least 18% of us are smart enough to keep us afloat. Some would ask how I know that 18% is enough. I’m glad they asked.
In Genesis, the Lord visited Abraham. God told him he was about to destroy the city of Sodom. Old Abe was distraught by this development and pled the case for the not-so-fine folks of that burg. He finally asked if ten good people were enough to prevent the destruction of this municipality. The Lord finally relented and said, sure. If we can find that many, we’ll spare the joint.
The intelligentsia numbers over sixty million.”
Unfortunately, in that case, ten couldn’t be found. In our case, however, we’ve got over sixty million who number among the intelligentsia. We will undoubtedly be spared from the wiles of the weak. Hooray for the smart people, Amy!
On the other hand, the Apostle Paul told us that God uses the foolish to shame the wise and the weak to confound the strong. If that’s true, to which of these groups are we to turn? Who actually holds the key to our salvation?
Well, let me tell you. There’s good news in all of this. Our salvation does not lie in the wiles of the weak or the cunning of the wise ones. It lies within no ordinary human begin (wise or otherwise). Our salvation lies in Jesus. Calling each other names is just not going to help. Working together for solutions to our problems might actually be a viable alternative.
On a side note, I’m not sure how Amy views the 600,000 who voted for third party candidates (not to mention the scores of millions who didn’t even bother to vote). It seems they are the actual smart ones since they’re the only ones not being called names and being labeled for good or ill (at least by Amy).
[Dave Zuchelli is a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and is currently the pastor of Smith Chapel, in Great Falls, VA.]
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