firstly, i apologize... if you happen to be one of the six or seven people who reads my site on any kind of basis, it may seem that i talk a little much about politics and the Church. however, it's a tender wound on my soul and i therefore feel compelled to comment on a few current happenings.
recently, in DC, there was a Values Voters Summit (about which i already have reservations, but that's for another time) which was scheduled by the Family Research Council. at this summit, there was a debate between Jim Wallis and Richard Land about the influence the Christian faith should have on public policy. Jim Wallis is often called 'progressive' and Richard Land is often called Conservative, but he's really a Fundamentalist.
i realize that much of what i say may be a direct result of disagreement upon semantics. yet, words are, largely, the basis upon which we think or believe. words shape our lives in ways that all of us will probably never fully realize or appreciate.
i digress...
i believe that should 'influencing public policy' become a focus of faith it easily becomes the focus of faith. all too easily. many think, "if only we had someone in office that was a Christian. then we wouldn't have so much sin in our country/we could be a Godly country." i struggle to believe that God is concerned with sin in our country. He's concerned with sin in humanity. i firmly believe that Believers should stop caring so much about America and start caring about people.
Richard Land believes the exact opposite of me when it comes to politics and faith. Richard Land believes that the end of 'more poverty' can be achieved "if [single] mothers would marry the fathers of their children." that's a verbatim quote. he also believes that the United States military is responsible for all freedom on this entire globe; whatever its form and wherever its location. he goes further to say that anywhere there is dignity in being a human, one need only thank the United States military and their courage. he also believes that God has a "special claim" on America, falling short of calling America God's chosen nation.
i am not an American Christian. i used to be. but, i never will be again. i am a believer in Christ who happens to have residence in America.
public policy and civil authority cannot be a focus of ours...
Christ will be Lord no matter who gets elected, no matter what legislation is passed, no matter which justice is confirmed into the Supreme Court, even if a Democrat gets elected, even if a Republican gets elected, even if they say students can't celebrate Christmas parties in public schools, even if judges aren't allowed to post the Decalogue in their court rooms, even if they drag us into the streets and kill us for believing and living that Christ is Lord.
nothing in could happen in or to our government that will ever change that... whether it be 'against' Christianity or 'for' it. we cannot make Christ more Lord by being a Godly nation.
2 comments:
check out greg boyd's sermon series entitled "the cross and the sword". you can find it online pretty easily. he also wrote a book based on those sermons entitled "the myth of a christian nation". you will like what he has to say.
"If tribulation is a necessary element in redemption, we must anticipate that it will never cease till God sees that world to be either redeemed or no further redeemable. A Christian cannot, therefore, believe any of those who promise that if only some reform in our economic, political, or hygenic system were made, a heaven on earth would follow...
Hungry men seek food, and sick men healing none the less because they know that after the meal or the cure the ordinary ups and downs of life still await them. I am not, of course, discussing whether very drastic changes in our social system are, or are not, desirable; I am only reminding the reader that a particular medicine is not be mistaken for the elixir of life."
-C.S.Lewis, The Problem of Pain
I agree.
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