Saturday, August 9, 2008

The Politics of Jesus, Really?



Warning:
Some people will be offended by this post.
This not an apology, simply a warning.

After months of prayer and study in the area of politics, I have come to some very painful conclusions about American Society in general, and the nation's politics in particular.
All these thoughts came to a head when I was driving back from an event with a friend of mine. My friend is everything I am not. He is a dispensationalist, he is in the Army, he is an athlete.
As we were talking about life and faith, the subject of politics came up. As he was talking about the war in Iraq, and discussing the experiences of some of his friends serving over there, I was literally sick to my stomach. As I gently suggested that killing people might not be loving your neighbor as yourself, he jumped to the old Testament to defend himself.
As we were talking, I was struck by several things about the general response of Christians to politics.
While many people have prophetically demonstrated that Christianity and Christ himself should not be inherently associated with a certain political party, I wonder if American Christianity has substituted one political ideology for another. I think that politically Christians have separated themselves in four distinct categories.
First, there are a great many Christians who have become fed up with this world, and who have decided that they will not get involved politically. These people tend to think of themsleves as "Libertarians" and favor being left alone. This is not to say that they are actually Libertarian in their political ideology, but that they simply do not want to be bothered. These people tend to live in (or come from) small towns and rural settings, and historically tend to be extremely conservative theologically.
Second, there are many Christians who see the great evils of our modern world, and think that they can be changed by a simple "moralizing of America." These people tend to vote along Party lines (almost always Republican or Libertarian) and major on issues like Abortion and Gay Marriage. These people tend to come from smaller towns and cities, and are historically conservative in their theology.
Third, there are a growing number of Christians who see the great evils of our modern world, and think that they can be changed with Government programs and more social activism. These people tend to be younger, they tend to be from cities and larger urban areas, and they are historically moderate to liberal in their theology.
Before I present the fourth view, i want to comment on each of three previous views. Each one of them has strengths and weaknesses and each one can teach the others something about the truth. Where the ultra conservative, "leave it alone", gets it right is in the area of responsibilty. They realize that our ultimate hope as Christians is not in this government, but is instead found in the cross and resurrection of our Savior. The weakness of that view is that it abdicates responsibility for social concerns, and simply views the world as an "evil place not worth saving".
The Second view correctly sees the importance of defending truths like the Sanctity of Human Life, and the God given order of Marriage. What this view fails to do is remember that government in not the responsible party for the moralizing of our nation, and that God cares about other social issues, not just babies and gays.
Like the Second view, the Third view correctly sees the importance of defending truths like the importance of people, fighting against poverty and disease, and correctly sees a need to address social concerns with the Gospel. What the "liberal" view fails to account for is the importance of all human life, including those yet to be born into this world. They neglect certain issues, in favor of others. This view also puts too much faith in the government, and in many ways, downplays the role of the church in local community ministry.
Honestly, what are American Christians to do? With these three different perspectives, how can a Christian rightly view the government? What should define the Christian witness in the political arena? I would humbly suggest an alternative to the three common views.
I believe that as Christians, we should be responsible citizens, who seek the good of our nation.
I believe that we should actively campaign for social issues, but that our campaigning should not simply rely on the government, but that individual churches should work beyond government programs to work for the good of the society. As Christians, we are called to be counter-cultural. We are called to speak out against the rampant corruption of big business just as much as we are called to speak out against the murder of millions of unborn children. We are called to speak out for peace, just as much as we are called to speak out for a biblical few of men and women. This political ideology extends beyond Democrat or Republican, beyond Libertarian or interventionist economics. This ideology extends to the whole of the created order. We are called to be children of light. Not simply standing by while the government does what it wills, nor waiting for salvation from the government, but prophetically speaking into society as children of God.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting to know.

The Vision?

The vision is Jesus: obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people.
You see bones? They are an army.
And they are free from materialism. They laugh at the markets.
They hardly care! They wear clothes like costumes:
to show and to tell, but never to hide.
They know the meaning of the Matrix; the way the West was won.
They are mobile like the wind; they belong to the nations.
They need no passport.
People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free, yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.

What is the vision?
The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes.
It makes children laugh and adults break and cry.
It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers choose to lose that they might win, one day
the great "Well done" of faithful sons and daughters.
Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night.
They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards
and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"

And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history shaping
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is screaming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing...
This is the sound of the underground.

And the army is disciplined.
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrades at arms.
The tattoo on their backs boasts "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their eyes.
Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them?
Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them?
And this generation prays like a dying man with groans beyond
talking, with warrior cries, sulphuric tears
Waiting. Watching: 24 - 7 - 365.
Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules.
Shaking mediocrity from its cozy little hide.
Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs,
laughing at labels, fasting essentials.

The advertisers cannot mold them.
Hollywood cannot hold them.
Peer-pressure is powerless
to shake their resolve
Material clothes matter not
Would they surrender their image or their popularity?
They would lay down their very lives,
swap seats with the man on death row;
guilty as hell.
A throne for an electric chair.
With blood and sweat and many tears,
with sleepless nights and fruitless days,
they pray as if it all depends on God
and live as if it all depends on them.


Their words make demons scream in shopping malls.
Don't you hear them coming?
Here come the frightened and forgotten, with fire in their eyes.
Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history shaping
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is screaming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing...
This is the sound of the underground.