Tuesday, September 30, 2008
So, What Have You Joined?
Justin Taylor quotes Tullian, quoting his forthcoming book, with this:
Identity politics is coming to rule our church politics and our national politics. In churches we see it in the continued fracturing and break-aways and even in the current fights over gay ordination and marriage. In national politics we have seen it in the politics of race of the last few decades, and we saw it in spades this election cycle in the furor surrounding Mitt Romney's Mormonism.
What I find most fascinating is that Tullian's argument is that as Christians we are called to NOT be tribal. In fact, it could be argued that such is one of the great messages of the New Testament. Christ exploded the tribalism of the Jews and brought salvation to the world.
So what are the implications of that when applied to our nation's politics? Is it OK to be tribal in the election of a president when it is not OK to be tribal in how we conduct the business of the church? Of course not!
Which leads me to one inescapable conclusion. The religiously based tribalism that has been witnessed during this election cycle is not simply un-American, it is un-Christian.
The arguments have been dressed up in all sorts of seemingly suitable clothes. "It's not religion, it's the 'changes of heart.'" And yet, every politician changes their mind from time-to-time, so why does it matter with this candidate? Well, becasue it plays to the fact that because most Christians think Mormon doctrine is false, they think Mormons are false. They begin with a presumption that error and lie are the same thing, and that is something that is tribal, not reasonable.
You know, in the end tribalism is about condemning people to hell when we should be inviting them to heaven. To me the question is a simple one. What would Mitt Romney have done as president of the United States that would have harmed the nation any more than any of the other candidates? Even holding errant doctrine? Didn't they ALL hold errant doctrine? (Consider the near blood curdling debates the blogosphere has seen between charismatics and cessationists and now we have a charismatic VP candidate. Based onthe level of rhetoric in those debates, Palin will be in hell very shortly)
And so, what was accomplished by the efforts to stop Romney? Well, based on my discussion with many Mormons, they now distinctly see a "NOT WELCOMED" sign posted on the door of pretty much every evangelical church in the nation.
Now how is the true gospel going to reach them under those circumstances? It really was unchristian, wasn't it?
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There’s a major difference between having a tribal mindset and a missionary mindset. The highest value of a tribally minded person is self-protection. They ask questions like: Since I feel the safest around those who are just like me, how can I protect myself from those who are different than I am? So they intentionally surround themselves with people who think the way they think, like the things they like, and despise the things they despise. As a result, they live with a sense of superiority, looking down on those who are not like them (for half my life I was convinced that surfers like me were far cooler than anyone on the face of this earth).Tullian is, of course, writing about mission and evangelism but I want to analyze this politically a bit.
In contrast to a tribal minded person, the highest value of a missionary minded person is not self-protection but self-sacrifice. A missionary minded person is a person that exists, not primarily for himself but for others. She is a person that is willing to set aside personal preferences in service to those whose preferences are different than hers. Missionaries are people who are willing to be inconvenienced, discomforted, and spent for the well-being of others. The Gospel of Jesus Christ demands that we be missionary minded, because the gospel is the story of God sacrificing himself for others.
Identity politics is coming to rule our church politics and our national politics. In churches we see it in the continued fracturing and break-aways and even in the current fights over gay ordination and marriage. In national politics we have seen it in the politics of race of the last few decades, and we saw it in spades this election cycle in the furor surrounding Mitt Romney's Mormonism.
What I find most fascinating is that Tullian's argument is that as Christians we are called to NOT be tribal. In fact, it could be argued that such is one of the great messages of the New Testament. Christ exploded the tribalism of the Jews and brought salvation to the world.
So what are the implications of that when applied to our nation's politics? Is it OK to be tribal in the election of a president when it is not OK to be tribal in how we conduct the business of the church? Of course not!
Which leads me to one inescapable conclusion. The religiously based tribalism that has been witnessed during this election cycle is not simply un-American, it is un-Christian.
The arguments have been dressed up in all sorts of seemingly suitable clothes. "It's not religion, it's the 'changes of heart.'" And yet, every politician changes their mind from time-to-time, so why does it matter with this candidate? Well, becasue it plays to the fact that because most Christians think Mormon doctrine is false, they think Mormons are false. They begin with a presumption that error and lie are the same thing, and that is something that is tribal, not reasonable.
You know, in the end tribalism is about condemning people to hell when we should be inviting them to heaven. To me the question is a simple one. What would Mitt Romney have done as president of the United States that would have harmed the nation any more than any of the other candidates? Even holding errant doctrine? Didn't they ALL hold errant doctrine? (Consider the near blood curdling debates the blogosphere has seen between charismatics and cessationists and now we have a charismatic VP candidate. Based onthe level of rhetoric in those debates, Palin will be in hell very shortly)
And so, what was accomplished by the efforts to stop Romney? Well, based on my discussion with many Mormons, they now distinctly see a "NOT WELCOMED" sign posted on the door of pretty much every evangelical church in the nation.
Now how is the true gospel going to reach them under those circumstances? It really was unchristian, wasn't it?
Technorati Tags:romney, mormon, tribal, christin, evangelism
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