Thursday, March 12, 2009
Being a Christian In Politics
Hugh Hewitt recently interviewed J.P. Moreland on being a Christian during an Obama administration. Based on the results of the last election Evangelicals are rethinking political involvement on all sorts of fronts and this conversation was part of it. Sadly, I think Moreland's essential approach is as much a part of the problem as it is a part of the solution. Here is a couple of key quotes:
There is far more the Bible does not talk about than it does. Does the Bible talk about taxation policy in a republican governmental system like ours? Certainly not explicitly, and to stretch exegesis to that point is to practically defy the definition of the word. The Bible, for the most part teaches us in broad brush strokes - generosity, compassion, selflessness, these are Biblical lessons. I have a hard time finding anything in Scripture on the specifics of an invasion of Afghanistan.
So how does one bridge the "secular/spiritual gap?" Because indeed, I agree in principle that we are supposed to do just that.
The answer lies, I believe not in forming dogma, but in forming people. Return to the question of what are the lessons of scripture. They are about becoming people in God's image. People in God's image are given to be kings and queens over creation. Consider God's direction to Adam and Eve before the fall.
WE - you and I - are the secular/spiritual bridge. If we take the lessons of the Bible, as well as God's other forms of revelation, and allow them to remake us into the people we were created to be, we will need not the specifics. As people transformed truly into God's image, we will devise the specifics adequately, if not excellently.
Pastors should indeed encourage political involvement. But more they should encourage that people involved in politics be people saved by Christ, inhabited by the Holy Spirit and, and transformed by God's immeasurable grace.
Anything less is not the gospel - it's legalism in Christian form.
Technorati Tags:christian, politics, transformation
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
I think that Christians believe the Bible has something to say about everything. The Bible has something to say about science, it has something to say about sex in marriage, it has something to say about money. Well why wouldn’t the Bible has something to say about the state?Let's look at each one of those quotes in turn.
[...]
HH: Do you think pastors will get into trouble…I mean, they’re all going to say to you, that’s very nice, but I’m going to have my Democrats leave, and they’re going to take their contributions with them, and then they’re going to call the IRS and I’m going to get audited. And I just as soon talk about the Beatitudes, and not connect them up to voting.
JPM: Well, if you keep doing that, then what you’re creating is a secular-sacred split in the lives of your parishioners. They can allow Jesus Christ to have something to say about their private spiritual lives, but Jesus Christ is not allowed to say anything when it comes to their public life. I find that kind of discipleship to be completely unacceptable. If as a Christian, and those who are listening aren’t Christians need to understand, that those of us who are Christians want to seek to follow Jesus as best we can with all our flaws and all of our problems, but that’s our goal. It would follow, then, that we should want to follow Jesus throughout all of life including life as citizens of the state if the New Testament and Old Testament teach on that, and it does.
There is far more the Bible does not talk about than it does. Does the Bible talk about taxation policy in a republican governmental system like ours? Certainly not explicitly, and to stretch exegesis to that point is to practically defy the definition of the word. The Bible, for the most part teaches us in broad brush strokes - generosity, compassion, selflessness, these are Biblical lessons. I have a hard time finding anything in Scripture on the specifics of an invasion of Afghanistan.
So how does one bridge the "secular/spiritual gap?" Because indeed, I agree in principle that we are supposed to do just that.
The answer lies, I believe not in forming dogma, but in forming people. Return to the question of what are the lessons of scripture. They are about becoming people in God's image. People in God's image are given to be kings and queens over creation. Consider God's direction to Adam and Eve before the fall.
Gen 1:27-31 - And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, {I have given} every green plant for food"; and it was so. And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.God gave them dominion, but He did not give them instruction - he relied on that bit of Himself that He placed in them to guide them on the specifics. They were told to multiply - which implies there would be many more people and organization of those people seems implicit. God does not dictate to them how that organization is to occur, He specifies no rules. (I love the way this is illustrated in C.S. Lewis' sci-fi book Perelandra, if you want another way to approach it.)
WE - you and I - are the secular/spiritual bridge. If we take the lessons of the Bible, as well as God's other forms of revelation, and allow them to remake us into the people we were created to be, we will need not the specifics. As people transformed truly into God's image, we will devise the specifics adequately, if not excellently.
Pastors should indeed encourage political involvement. But more they should encourage that people involved in politics be people saved by Christ, inhabited by the Holy Spirit and, and transformed by God's immeasurable grace.
Anything less is not the gospel - it's legalism in Christian form.
Technorati Tags:christian, politics, transformation
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
