In the emerging church circles I’m exposed to there’s no shortage of hypocrisy… don’t let them fool you. You’ll hear Christ-following hipsters bemoan the GOP-supporters of the traditional Evangelical churches… citing that Christ is our hope, not politicians (okay… yeah that’s quite true). Yet those same folks inexplicably and hypocritically support government solutions to problems that aren’t governmental… and even get giddy over their own political harbingers of social justice… like the first coming of the second messiah, Obama. *rolls eyes*
You’ve heard me decry this idiocy before… and you’ll hear it again and again. I can’t stand the lack of rational thought that permeates nearly every half-arsed notion coming from the religious left (who are the perverted people-of-faith of the political left… same smell, different clothes). Taking money from citizens in order to turn around and “solve” societal problems in the name of “social justice” (read secular humanism) is about as far from Christ-following as prime rib is from motor oil.
I know Christians… even pastors… who have written off politics as a vehicle for positive, Scriptural change. They criticize previous generations of Christians who put their trust in certain leaders… and they have retreated into their own circles of influence at their community level (or even into their own small exclusive church circles – although they won’t admit that). How cute that the same emerging voices critical of previous churches who didn’t “engage the culture” are actually doing the same thing themselves. And how cute that they would actually CALL others to do the same with politics… although what they are really doing is trying to dissuade traditionally GOP-supporting Christians from supporting conservative candidates while supporting left-leaning pols out the other side of their mouth.
So… about politics… guess what boys and girls — politics is part of our culture. So guess what? We are called to be engaged in politics.
I’m not saying don’t be involved in your tighter circles of influence (I oculd say community but it’s been such a tortured, tired word lately devoid of real meaning). I’m not saying put your faith in political leaders rather than Jesus. What I’m saying is obey your calling to be engaged… and participate in the political process because that it obedient and ultimately effects us, our children, our culture and our ministries we support. This is common sense that most children know so I shouldn’t have to say it again. Even if it means that all you’re doing is being educated on the major political issues, reading your Bible (both red AND BLACK letters) to see where God stands on the issues, and then voting appropriately based on Scripture (which means you didn’t vote for Obama) then do that. At the VERY LEAST do that… because as a Christian it is your duty. It could be as simple as 1st Peter’s call to respect government, but there’s plenty of Scriptural support for intelligent political involvement as part of a Christ-followers holistic engagement in culture.
Apologetics.com is a great, great site that if I had my way I would force people to listen to (like an Obama speech to schoolchildren). They just had a wonderful podcast on this topic: Apologetics.com – Christianity, the Church, and Government
Why is it that many Christians who decry Christian political involvement (read Tony Campolo types) because power and politics are tools of Satan, then go on to argue for government solutions to global warming and health care? Do they really want Satan and his tools cooling our planet and running our health care? Perhaps a more balanced approach is needed.
Should Christians be involved in government? Isn’t Christ our hope not politics? Is any influence of Christian thought on the state a violation of the separation of church and state? In this episode of Apologetics.com radio, Dean Donald McConnell of Trinity Law School, Doug Eaton, and Lane Chaplin discuss several questions that pertain to the Christian’s role in government and the governments role in Christianity.
I'm a Christ-follower, compelled by my faith toward reason, which points directly toward conservatism. This world's daily onslaught of lunacy offends my intellect and senses, so this is my venue to blow off steam.
I dislike a lot of the emerging church stuff because of their fuzzy theology. But quite honestly, I think that whatever criticism made could be leveled at both sides of the political fence. I would have to take issue that Christian automatically equals conservative Republican. Really I would have to say they are both right about some things and wrong about others. And that we will never fully “fix’ the world. Both sides are guilty of believing that. Liberals from a more social justice angle; conservatives from a more morality based angle. As long as one is aware of that fact, I don’t know that I can say across the board that Jesus is a conservative republican. In fact, if it were not for the issue of abortion and possibly gay marriage, I would say that Jesus might just have more in common with the democrats on a lot of issues. But what you are right about Steve is that universally people seem to have a tendency to “flip flop”. They change the externals, but never deal with the core issue. The core issue in this case being we will never fix this fallen world through human means. BUt unless you want to withdraw from trying to better it in any way, you make do with the fallen world systems as best you can. Truth is NO political system is going to be fully biblical. Both are going to be prone to failure due to human nature. Which actually, at least in my case, points far more towards the gospel than if we humans could make some system solve the problems of the world.
i like the politics which is really very good for our society and development
thanks
I agree with breaking news. we need politics for our society. and thanks about the site Apologetics.com
As an Australian with many European friends, I just have to laugh. Or is that sigh?
In America you have people who are unemployed because they are practically blind, because they can’t afford a $10 grand operation. Here in Australia the same surgery is covered by medicare. They get the operation, and then get out and get a job and start contributing to society.
But that $10 grand operation was done by “THE GOVERNMENT!” BY SATAN! Ummm, chill dude. You’ll live longer. What would you prefer, them sucking down on unemployment or out there working and contributing to society? Or here’s one for you. What if it was just a single mother? She’s not working, but raising a kid. Blind. So she’s sucking down on countless charity sources and welfare and generally not able to raise her kids the way she should. $10 grand fixes that and she’s able to raise her kids and be an economically valuable person again, raising the next generation.
Your dysfunctional health system is joke with some of the highest costs and yet lowest outcomes.
http://one-salient-oversight.blogspot.com/2005/11/socialised-medicine-ideology-or.html
If just calling government health care “SATAN” somehow does it for you, then I’m not impressed and will not be engaging this blog in further conversation. If, however, you think you can justify such a rationale, then maybe I’ll stick around.