There is a distinctly biblical approach, but you won’t see it very often in our society.
Governments do their best to provoke and agitate; it’s systemic. They claim otherwise, but the entire culture of Western democratic government service is fundamentally hateful. All it takes is one day of working in a government office to feel it. At the very least, you’ll walk away with a lingering sense of schizophrenia from the subconscious compartmentalization effect that comes with all government service. Sometimes you’ll hear or see a self-conscious statement to the effect that you simply cannot respond to things in that office as you would anywhere else in this world. Most government “servants” have no idea how imposing government is to the rest of us, how utterly hateful it is, and would deny it if we said so.
Those whose government job is some form of enforcement are the worst. So rarely is any them actually sensible that it is remarkable when they are. Okay, many can be sensible within limits, when training doesn’t dictate a specific response. Most of their activities are scripted; they train endlessly on following various branching tracks. They are taught to spot cues in human behavior that demand which path they follow in their scripts. Psychology alone would teach you to stay away from those cues and disrupt their scripts. That requires you take some of their courses and understand things better than the typical trainees. While yours truly is probably in a position to take that route, I’m pretty sure most of God’s servants don’t share my background.
From a management angle, the whole idea with this kind of training was something adopted from military training doctrine: commoditize to one-size-fits-all. That is, since the quality of recruits is declining — another part of the globalization agenda (see John Taylor Gatto) — it was necessary to change training so that it accommodates a far lower human average. This way, both the military and police could take advantage of the institutionally planned degradation of human development. There is a much larger pool of recruits all equally amenable to dumbed-down training. Any shithead can be a cop.
For this reason, no one should be surprised that many cops are shitheads. In some locations, that was always true, but the industry as a whole has been trying to eliminate the differences by lowering the entire baseline. Uniformity is possible only from a far lower floor. At one time, a significant measure of localization in police standards meant that a great many cops were pretty decent folks with a will to act on what was generally considered higher morals. They used to be members of the communities they served. Their image was hijacked by the not-so-nice cops for a long time, but now that proportion has shifted dramatically, even as the propaganda has kicked into high gear. Almost every cop is likely to be a shithead and we aren’t allowed to speak that truth about any of them without serious political pressure falling on our heads.
Granted, you may be acquainted with decent folks who also bear a badge at times, but don’t forget that compartmentalization business. Also, don’t forget the herd instinct and forceful orthodoxy for those who are “in the club.” Few unions are more corrupt than police unions.
So much for the background of reality; this is what we face.
If you know anything at all about politics, you know better than to imagine the system can be pushed hard enough to change any of this. The system at its best is what spawned this problem in the first place. It’s only getting worse because people with a strong moral consciousness have begun to flee all forms of government service.
What’s left is for us to ride out the storm. Yes, this will all come apart; some of the agitation for change currently being mostly frustrated will eventually result in serious bloodshed, back and forth, until things break down and stuff really changes. We have no idea what that will look like, but it doesn’t take much historical knowledge to see that something is sure to break sooner or later. Maybe a lot of things will break here and there, and not everything at once, which means an even rougher ride.
The official script for every encounter calls for adrenalin. Consciously or not, the police are trained to provoke fight-or-flight. The only alternative is cowering. None of this is on our menu, though. Serving Christ means we aren’t part of that system. You don’t have to have my background to understand God’s power in such situations.
The first step is to shed the rights-based thinking. That’s a Western myth, alien to Scripture. There’s not doubt a lot of folks will read it back into the Bible, but it’s completely absent from any of the cultures of the Ancient Near East (ANE). The whole Bible is written from the perspective of ANE feudalism with zero “human rights” and an awful lot of moral responsibility to our Creator. Don’t worry about your rights; focus on your calling from God. He owns you flat out and allowing someone else to oppress you or take your life is always a possibility. Embrace your mortality and stand serene.
The second step is operating from a position of moral strength. Chances are you are way above them, but you don’t need to rub their faces in it. They’ll know as soon as you show no agitation. Cops operate on a much lower level and they have lots of switches you can flip, but I can’t describe for you one where you can simply switch off your adrenal glands. Climbing above the level of the flesh is a lifelong occupation of chasing Christ’s glory. You’ll have to become self-aware enough to know what God would have you do to prepare, but it will take you much more time and attention de-conditioning from Western mythology than the cops spend pushing themselves down to that lower level. You are on God’s business at all times and when you encounter some officious annoying shithead, you can’t act as their training demands. You represent a higher authority, and it’s more important for you to focus on it than to insist they recognize it. There’s nothing wrong with gracefully meeting their demands, but showing a calm serenity will empower you and weakens the Devil’s hand working through them.
The third step wraps around the other two: Stay on mission. Your mission is never a matter of mere activity, but is always first and foremost a matter of how you reflect the glory of Christ in how you do things. The mission is Christ’s glory; the method is shining His glory into human awareness; the means is how you deal with people. While Westerners cannot comprehend the full meaning of sacrificial compassion, some part of them will aways recognize it when you bring it forth. Any encounter, expected or otherwise, is part of your mission and requires your full compassionate attention. The people who need His love most are those who manifest it least.
Finally, don’t imagine that you can script your part. That’s not the same as having no character or habitual response. Scripting represents an artificial guide, acting a part that is not really you. Plan ahead to be magnanimous toward those who have no idea just how high you rank in Creation. Humility is powerful. Don’t come down to their level, but remain free to do the best you know as a representative of Christ. As always, don’t swallow some crap from organized religion about what these terms mean. Most churches are a part of the same system we eschew in following Christ. Don’t strive to avoid what the system wants; don’t worry when divine priorities appear to coincide with what idiots want. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Rather, base all your expectations on something far higher than this world, expectations God revealed long ago, which remain ever pertinent because God doesn’t change.
It’s the world that changes constantly; we have to reflect Eternity.
