My pastor and I have a friendly tiff going on. He says that Jesus was strictly a-political; therefore, Christians should abstain from politics completely. I say that Jesus challenged violent, poverty-inducing, socio-political structures throughout his life and ministry; therefore, Christians have a duty to advocate for peace and to speak out for the poor and the oppressed. Both of us are hardheaded, and neither of us cedes much in our debates, but we always walk away as friends, because at the end of the day there's a key component to the discussion that we both agree on: The Bible is not a public policy manual!
I realize that might feel like an outrageous statement to some. After all, the first five books of the Bible are commonly referred to as the "Books of the Law." These books contain legal codes that governed the every-day life of the ancient children of Israel, ranging from personal hygiene to how to prosecute thieves and murderers. Furthermore, the Hebrew prophets railed against the kings of their day for making "unjust laws" and "oppressive decrees" (Isaiah 10:1), implying that there is such a thing as an unjust law -- and woe to the legislators who write them!
Over and over the Scriptures reveal a God who cares deeply about the poor, the widow, the orphan and the alien, yet strangely, the man who Christians believe embodies the will of God in action (Jesus) refused to take sides in the bitter partisan divisions of His day. Jesus welcomed both zealots and tax collectors as members of his inner circle. And when two brothers asked Jesus to solve an inheritance dispute, He responded by saying, "Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?" (Luke 12:14). If Jesus intended his followers to establish themselves as the moral guardians of society, He had a funny way of showing it.
The pattern continues with the Apostle Paul. The indisputable case for followers of Jesus not involving themselves in judging those outside the Church comes from a passage in I Corinthians 5:12-13, where Paul says, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the Church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside." Paul clearly established a demarcation between Christians judging matters within the community of believers (allowed) and matters outside the community of believers (not allowed). At the very least, this suggests that Christians who think they can impose what they perceive as "biblical values" on secular society are -- more often than not -- wrong. There's simply no way to translate the Bible into concrete public policy, at least not without a considerable degree of ambiguity.
For example, most of my conservative friends are convinced that they have a biblical mandate to outlaw abortion and gay marriage, even though abortion is only mentioned once in Scripture, and the reference is -- oddly -- the Prophet Jeremiah cursing the man at his mother's side for not aborting him! (Jeremiah 20:14-18). And gay marriage was hardly an issue on the radar in biblical times. The Laws of Leviticus prescribe a massive redistribution of wealth every 50 years by canceling people's debts and restoring property to original owners, yet many Christians are convinced -- right or wrong -- that justice for the poor is a matter of individual charity alone, and that anyone who suggests otherwise is duped by the devil. And while we're talking about what's biblical and what's not biblical, why isn't anyone suggesting that America as a nation love its enemies and turn the other cheek?
Come to think of it, maybe my pastor is right for refusing to use the power of the pulpit to trumpet a political agenda. I live in San Juan County, New Mexico, a place where the average evangelical pastor is about 20 degrees to the right of Rush Limbaugh. Yet, at Sunrise Christian Church, I've never heard a sermon that could be misconstrued as a cleverly disguised political endorsement -- and the congregation is better off for it.
Because my pastor refuses to drag the church into the bitter divides of the culture war, there exists a wide diversity of political and theological persuasions within the congregation. People can walk into church and feel genuinely welcomed as they are, without having to conform to some mind-numbing group think. As a member of the worship team, I look out into the congregation every Sunday and see people with vastly different political, cultural and theological beliefs, all worshiping God. It's refreshing!
Pastor David, even though I tease you with my Talking Tom app, telling you that neutrality always benefits the oppressor and never the oppressed, the reality is I'm glad that you've created an atmosphere at the church where nothing is more important than Jesus Christ and him crucified. As you know, my wife and I and our two boys are moving to Albuquerque this year. Thank you for being there when we needed it the most.
We're really going to miss you.
Follow Aaron Taylor on Twitter: www.twitter.com/aarondtaylor
How can common sense allow humanity to gorge on waste and excess while Millions starve? Read the two greatest commandments as given by God in the Old and New Testament. Yes there is Justice and all will be given opportunity to express what was done with their Public Policy while on Lifes Journey!
The comments in the brackets are mine. It is obvious that a discharging uterus is an abortion in this case: the bitter water has some ingredient that has caused the woman to abort.
I'm not a Lutheran, but have benefited greatly from a (primarily) Lutheran view of "the Law." The law has three purposes: to restrain chaos (maintain social contract), to let us know we are imperfect (sinners), and to instruct how to love our neighbors. Public policy only addresses the first: murder and theft are illegal, for instance, because crime is bad for society.
Christians (or anyone, for that matter) who are using legislation to try to enforce desirable thoughts or behavior are treading a well worn and futile path. You may see brief gains in some areas, but the human heart is evil enough to figure a way around any law. Laws should be just: oppression, murder, theft are still to be opposed, but because their existence is pernicious, not because we have hope for some sort of Star Trekian utopia and certainly not because if we just do enough good things, God will smile on us.
Peace be with you. Peace be with all creation.
They are against helping the poor get healthcare, they are against "entitlements" for the poor unless it's an entitlement that helps them like Medicare. They spew lies, hate, and judgement against others. Just recently, Franklin Graham, who palls around with hate filled Sarah P, was making judgements about the Presidents faith. It's disgusting.
..against the poor getting health care ? who ran the hospitals and clinics long before the great society ?
ran them long before there was medicaid ?
same for your statement on entitlements.
etc.
it's disgusting that ignorance abounds and continues to spread via these blogs.
How do you define what is hate, and what is love, unless you make judgments about behavior?
Aren't you just a little bit queasy about infanticide - the killing of babies that survive abortion? The President voted 3 times against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act that passed unanimously 98 - 0 in the Senate. He voted for infanticide. How hateful is that.
same way tbey cry about bigotry and racism.
Assume that the federal government has somehow decided to put the following up to a simple majority vote: we will establish Christianity as the official faith of the country, support Christian legislation, and Christian principals will dictate public and foreign policy. How would you vote?
This is honest, intellectual curiosity.
There is a God. The Bible is His law, and His words. Those who believe and belong to Him, will listen, and obey. Those who don't want to believe will reject the Bible as false while never having opened it, never looking at the evidence. If believers see politics differently from those whose only law is the law of self, that's as it should be.
While human politics is based on the premise that society must be changed in order to change people, in the politics of the Kingdom of God it is people who must be changed in order to change society for the better.
Joe Stalin murdered 20 million of his own people. Mao Tse Tung, who said "our god is none other than the masses of Chinese people", murdered as many as 50 million of his own countrymen. Hitler, who claimed to be Christian, was deeply into the occult. He and the SS would retreat to a castle where one of them would be killed, and they would attempt to divine the future through the disembodied head. It's hard to imagine any single event in history more evil than the Holocaust. These kinds of things are where the law of self leads.
Cicero said "Religion is ‘indispensable to private morals and public order … and no man of sense will attack it."