The fruit of the Spirit is peace

"Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). "Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:5-7).

Probably it was the tension over the upcoming healthcare vote that led me to post the above on facebook: the words, though, address every situation, not just the healthcare bill. The fruit of the Spirit is peace. Clearly it is the will of God that we should not be troubled about anything. "Let not your hearts be troubled" was what Jesus said; "Be anxious for nothing" were Paul's words.

But about the disquiet occasioned by the healthcare bill. From what I can discern many were on edge because they thought this bill would somehow take away our freedom. As absurd as it may seem, comparisons were made to Stalinism and Nazi Germany. One big issue seemed to be the new requirement that people purchase health insurance.

But it occurred to me this is nothing new at all: we've been required to buy car insurance for decades (unless you didn't own a car), and no one ever thought anything of that. And families with low income will receive a subsidy to help them buy the insurance.

Unjust? UnAmerican? Unconstitutional? There is, in fact, a strong element of justice about it. Before, if you didn't buy health insurance because you were healthy, and then if you did get sick, everyone else had to carry the burden of paying for your care. And that's one of the main things that made the current system untenable, that messed it up. Now, everyone will have to at least do a little bit to carry their own weight, but graduated according to one's ability to pay.

In many ways this new law will create freedom, not take it away. People will be free to change jobs. You will be free to keep your house if you get sick, and not have to sell it, because now your medical insurance policy can't be dropped by your insurance company.

I think the concerns about abortion were originally reasonable but they were addressed in the Senate version by the segregation of funds. Other protections were added to the law, and at the end Obama agreed to make the executive order that sealed the deal. But even without those protections, I think anyone who really wanted an abortion was already getting one, so the new law would have changed nothing.

With the last minute changes, even Bart Stupak signed on. Yet someone shouted "Baby killer!" at Stupak. In the end it was clear that there was nothing that could have been done to satisfy those who opposed the bill because of abortion, or who were using abortion as a way to kill the bill.

David Gushee noted that "There are two deeply pro-life measures in the bill ... Establishment and funding of programs to support vulnerable pregnant women and thus prevent abortion from the demand side [and] Increase of the adoption tax credit and a provision to make it refundable so that lower income families can access the tax credit."

When you think of the many bad things that are corrected by this law, and how many people it will help, we should rejoice.