The Church and Politics

Several people have sent me an interesting article in the New York Times entitled, “Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock”. It is about a mega church pastor in Minnesota who says that “the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.” People have asked me what I thought of this. My response is somewhat mixed.

First, some of the things that Mr. Boyd says make me a bit nervous. His connection with Brian McLaren (author of A New Kind of Christian) and the emergent church make me nervous (more on that another day), as well as his connection with “Open Theism”. Open Theism is a theological movement that borders on heresy (some might argue that it crosses the border and is heresy).

One of my problems with Mr. Boyd’s comments is that he seems to want the church to talk only about “spiritual” matters and not the messy, mundane issues of politics, economics, and warfare. However, I believe the division of life into the sacred/secular or spiritual/material is a false dichotomy.

A Christian world and life view covers everything. Jesus is Lord over all, not just religious matters. So, as Christians, we are called to apply a Christian mind to everything, not just those things that we label spiritual. We need to apply biblical thinking to such issues as abortion, marriage, homosexuality, war, immigration, poverty, welfare, education, etc. We should not avoid topics simply because they are political hot buttons. In fact, we have an obligation to train Christians to think biblically about all of life. If our faith is not relevant to these issues, then our faith is not relevant at all.

Having said that, here are my concerns, in no particular order:

I am bothered by the whole language of “culture war”.

I do not see any model in the New Testament where Christians were called to reform the moral character of the Roman Empire. We change the world, not by reforming their morals, but through the gospel. It should not be the agenda of Christians to take over so that we can force our agenda on a reluctant world.

Leslie Newbigin writes, “How is the throne itself to be shaken? Only by the power of the gospel itself--announced in word, embodied in deed [and in the Christian community] ... The victory of the Church over the demonic Power of the Roman imperial system did not begin when Christians seized the levers of power: it was won when the victims knelt down in the Coliseum and prayed in the name of Jesus for the Emperor. The martyrs did not displace the emperor with swords, but rather through them the entire mystique of the Empire, its spiritual power, was unmasked, disarmed, made powerless.”

There is nothing wrong with Christians using their influence. That is a good thing. There is also nothing wrong with Christians being savvy. Again, that is a good thing. Jesus says that we are to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves. However, we are gravely mistaken if we think that the tools of this world are the tools of the kingdom.

Here is the key to Christian involvement. As Christians, one of the things we should do is get involved everywhere we can. We are called to be salt and light in the culture. So, as a church, we often have encouraged our people to be involved in the community. One of the things I am most proud of the people of UPC is how involved they are in serving the community. You cannot go to any community function without seeing UPC people there. I want to encourage this. We need to get involved in every aspect of our community. That is part of our mission.

However, we do not do this to keep the pagans from taking over. We do not get involved so that we can force our agenda on others. We are not seeking to grab the reigns of power for ourselves. Instead, we get involved to serve. We are seeking to be salt and light in a dark and decaying world. The strategy of the kingdom is to come and die for others, to come and serve others.

Jesus ushers in His kingdom, not on a warrior’s horse, but on an executioner’s cross. The reason is, it is only through His suffering, only through His death, that He can bring about the kingdom of God.

The central problem of the world is sin. The only way Jesus could conquer sin is by letting sin and death get the upper hand on Him. On the cross, He took on the sins of all who would hope in Him. There, by facing death, He was able to conquer sin and death. Because three days later, He rose again from the dead.

This does not mean we become pacifists or do not engage in the issues of our culture. We have a duty to fight for those who cannot stand up for themselves. That is why I believe we are obligated to stand up against oppression of the weak, whether it is in the form of racism, protections for the poor, or saving the unborn. Christians should be involved in politics, but we must not think this is the means of bringing the righteous reign of Christ.

It bothers me that some positions are stated as “the Christian position” when there is debate among Christians on those issues.

Why is it on every Christian “Scorecard” before the election, they have issues like gun control? While the right to bear arms is in the Bill of Rights, the Bible never addresses that issue. Also, would it have been anti-Christian to oppose the invasion of Iraq? I supported (and still do) President Bush on this. However, many conservative biblical-theological scholars questioned whether or not such an invasion fit the criteria for a just war. I don’t think your support or non-support of the war should be a litmus test for your faith or your commitment to Jesus. In fact, I think these are the very topics that Christians should be debating openly and honestly as we seek to bring every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

What about economic issues? Is the Christian position always for less government intervention into the market? Is the Christian position always for lower taxes? If you believe in total depravity, wouldn’t that also mean that you believe that there should be some checks against corporate abuse of its employees and consumers? Shouldn’t our doctrine of sin lead us to conclude that market forces alone will never prevent the rich from oppressing the poor? Again, we should be discussing these matters openly within a biblical framework.

I am bothered that we cherry pick the injustices that upset us.

Here is a recent example. At the General Assembly of the PCUSA (the mainline Presbyterians), they did two noteworthy things. 1) They now allow the ordination of openly homosexual men and women as pastors, and 2) they now allow for some redefinition of the Trinity. Here is a quote from a USA Today article on this: “The divine Trinity — "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" — could also be known as "Mother, Child and Womb" or "Rock, Redeemer, Friend" at some Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) services under an action Monday by the church's national assembly.”

Mother, child womb? Rock, Redeemer, Friend? Are you kidding me? What amazes me is that people seem to be more upset that there will now be gay pastors than they are that the doctrine of the Trinity has been destroyed. Which is the more egregious error?

We even are selective in what sexual sins outrage us. I know that I personally would be more upset if my child had a gay teacher than I would be if she had a teacher who was living with her boyfriend. Why? Both are sins and, for most children in our churches, the likelihood of them falling prey to sexual temptation with a member of the opposite sex is far greater than them falling prey to sexual temptation with the same sex. Which is the more dangerous model, a gay teacher, or the teacher living in adultery?

Why is it that we rarely talk about the dangers of greed, when it is far more prevalent than homosexuality? If a kid goes off to school to study theatre, she will get dozens of warnings about the liberal agenda of those in the arts. If a kid goes to get her MBA so that she can work on Wall Street, no one says, “Watch out. Greed will kill you.” Greed and covetousness are killing more families than homosexuality. Yet, we do not get nearly as agitated about them because they are culturally acceptable sins.

Until recent years, you did not hear of many significant evangelical movements where people were passionate about caring for the poor (Thankfully, that is beginning to change). The only Evangelicals who seemed passionate about this were usually those who were part of our token “left-wing” (Ron Sider, Tony Campolo). Marvin Olasky is one of the few “right wing” evangelicals who writes passionately about this subject. Why aren’t there more? The question is, why are we more upset about sexual issues than we are about the poor? Remember, Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned for their treatment of the poor (Ezekiel 16:49).

It bothers me that we sound judgmental rather than gracious regarding certain sins.

As a Calvinist, I believe that, unless God’s grace had gotten hold of me, I, too, would be condemned. That means I can never look down my nose on anyone with any sense of moral superiority. I am not a Christian because I am morally superior or because I was smart enough to turn to God. I am a Christian because God got hold of me. I am a trophy of grace. Furthermore, every person I meet is a potential trophy of grace. I cannot hate them for their sin because I am no better. If I think that I am morally superior, then I don’t get the gospel.

When Jesus encountered the woman caught in adultery, He did not go into a rant about the evils of fornication. While he called her to repentance, He did not castigate her for being the dregs of society. The same is true regarding his encounter with the woman at the well in Samaria. If we could respond to people who are in slavery to sin the same way that Jesus did, I think our impact on the culture would be far greater. Grace does not mean saying that sin is okay. However, those who have been transformed by God’s grace are always humble in the way they regard fellow sinners.

For example, there are two different ways that one could preach on abortion. You can “play to your base”, as they say in politics, or you could tone down your rhetoric and preach on abortion with the intent of winning over those who disagree with you. That is what I try to do in my messages on abortion.

I believe that the culture war is the wrong tactic for our culture.

Regardless of whatever America was in her past, America is not a Christian nation today. Our culture is truly secular to the core. Because we live in a secular society, our lives today are more similar to the Jews living in exile, like Esther and Daniel, than they are to the people living in the days of Moses, David, or even the days of Elijah and Elisha. We are not in a Christian nation. We are in a secular society. So, we are like the Jews who living in the exile or the Diaspora and the Christians of the Roman Empire.

You may think that the people of “the other” political party are godless, corrupt, and morally bankrupt, but we have yet to see a political leader as anti-God as any of the emperors the early Christians faced. None of our cities are as morally bankrupt as the culture that the Jews lived in during the exile or the Christians in the Roman Empire (Okay, maybe New Orleans and Las Vegas).

Because of this, I believe the model for how we live as Christians in our culture should be taken from the exilic Jews and the Christians of the New Testament. What does this mean? The exilic Jews and the early Christians did not rail against their culture. The ancient Jews worked to get along in their cultures while retaining their own cultural distinctives. In the same way, we are to live in our culture, but not buy into its values or its morals.

Also, the early Christians were subversive. They did not try to seize the levers of power in order to bring a revolution. However, they brought a revolution. All of Western Society was shaped by their sacrifice. They overthrew the culture by working within it rather than openly attacking it.

As Christians, we are called to be agents of transformation. That is part of living out the kingdom. But, we must be wise in how we do so.

I love America. However, I do not believe America is God’s chosen nation. Rather, the church is.

Because of this, I do not believe the purpose of a worship service is ever to praise America but to praise God. The church is an international entity. Any Christian from any nation should always feel like he is with family when attending our worship services. So, we do not sing songs in praise of America or pledge our allegiance to the flag in our church services. We pledge our allegiance to God. We can say the pledge and sing patriotic songs at any number of civic events, but the church is not the place for them.

Certainly, we should pray for our leaders. The Bible commands us to do so. However, that command applies to Christians living in Russia, Japan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia just as much as it applies to us in America. We should pray for justice around the world as well. That is why I believe it is appropriate to pray for our troops. We want to see just and stable societies established in Afghanistan and Iraq. We also long for our friends to be safe as they serve overseas.

Yet, we must not confuse the agenda for America or our particular political party with the agenda for the church.