Tag Archives: politics

Discussion

Christians, Silence, and Protest

1 Comment

8:58 AM Good morning, cyber geeks of the world. I feel a need to respond briefly to the pushback I’m seeing in the evangelical world against the federal government’s incursion into our personal affairs through reading our private emails, monitoring our website usage, etc. One of the essays I read yesterday made much of our “Founding Fathers” and their concern about government “overreach and abuse.” The author suspected that had the Founders lived in the 21st century they would have called a new constitutional convention to “deal with the erosion of our freedoms.” I’ve also noticed a sort of cynicism toward “silent” Christians who sit idly by and say nothing. One author said that “there will simply be no privacy unless someone speaks up. That someone should be Christians.”

I understand where these evangelical patriots are coming from. America once seemed invincible. After all, we were founded on principles of personal liberty and a high work ethic. When our freedoms are being eroded, we Christians cannot remain silent.

Or can we?

Continue reading Christians, Silence, and Protest →

Discussion

Was America Founded as a Christian-Agrarian Nation?

8:52 AM Last night I was perusing some of the agrarian websites and was surprised to see that the argument is still being made that our country was founded as a “Christian-agrarian” nation. I empathize with this view. After all, I am an agrarian. But if I am honest with myself, this seems to be exactly what Jesus and others in the New Testament are ruling out. To the best of my knowledge, nowhere in the New Testament do we find anything that comes close to supporting an agrarian lifestyle. Every person who has pledged allegiance to live in the way of Jesus has to wrestle with the issue of what they will become apologists for. I cannot judge the motives of those who espouse an agrarian lifestyle as being “biblical.” But neither can I claim to understand how they can reconcile this point of view with the constant kingdom focus of the New Testament. Yes, I enjoy the agrarian life. On our farm we have

  • processed our own chicken
  • slaughtered and butchered our own beef and goat meat
  • raised our own vegetables
  • canned our own fruit and jam
  • fertilized our fields with natural manure

Yet I want to say that this doesn’t mean I’m an apologist for agrarianism as a “Christian” lifestyle. Jesus can use us wherever we live and however we live. In short, I want to be known as an apologist for the Gospel, plain and simple. Why, I even wrote a book on this subject. I urge all of us to live for the upside kingdom of God by leveraging whatever we have for the Gospel, whether or not you ever you get your hands dirty working in God’s good earth.

(From Dave Black Online. Used by permission. David Alan Black is author of Energion titles The Jesus Paradigm, Christian Archy, Why Four Gospels?, and Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions?)

Discussion

The Church, Christians, and Politics

7:02 AM Memorial Day is fast approaching. Years ago Jacque Ellul warned us that the greatest danger to liberty in Western society proceeds from the military-political state born of a dream of utopian perfection on earth. It seems clear to me that Ellul has touched on something of very great importance. As one who rejected out of hand the para-Marxist realism of my practical theology professors in Basel, I find it just as easy to part company with those on the theological right who argue that evangelicals should inject Christianity into politics. A close reading of the Gospels would show that the opposite is true. Continue reading The Church, Christians, and Politics →

Discussion

Is There a Distinctively Christian Political Position?

6:10 AM Most of you are aware of my conviction that there is no distinctively “Christian” position on political issues. In this light, it seems to me that in principle there is no inconsistency in being a Christian and voting for a non-Christian (or a Mormon) for political office. (I’m not saying I would do this, only that I see no inconsistency in acting this way.) As I pointed out in my book Christian Archy, followers of Jesus aren’t called to get (overly) involved in political causes or disputes. Continue reading Is There a Distinctively Christian Political Position? →

Discussion

The Jesus Candidate – Again

7:23 AM Good Sunday morning, one and all. The verdict is in, I see. Rick Santorum is the Jesus candidate. Once again, we’ve managed to feed our self-fulfilling prophecies and assuage our self-doubts. Pat on the back! Oh, I wonder what Perry is thinking. After all, he’s a real evangelical Protestant. So far he hasn’t spoken out, but the bottom is clearly out of the boat.

I wonder if this is what Jesus had in mind when He said, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

It matters little to me that some Magisterium in Texas has anointed Santorum or that the evangelical subculture prizes conformity above all else. Allegiance to any human institution or political party is not faith. It is misplaced faith.

Let’s stay focused on the King.

(From Dave Black Online. Used by permission. David Alan Black is author of Energion titles The Jesus Paradigm, Christian Archy, Why Four Gospels?, and Will You Join the Cause of Global Missions?)

Discussion

Crowning the Jesus Candidate for President

NPR ran a story today that caught my eye: Evangelical Leaders Struggle to Crown a Candidate. Apparently Republican leaders are trying to come up with a “Jesus” candidate for president. It seems that few things are as important to the Religious Right as getting their man in place politically. Now, of course society needs good leaders making policy and directing our affairs. But as believers, we can never be sure “our” candidate is also God’s. Continue reading Crowning the Jesus Candidate for President →

Links

Dave Black – Thoughts on Election 2012

Dave Black has posted an essay at Dave Black Online, giving some of his thoughts on the 2012 election in the United States. He begins:

Most of you are aware of my conviction that there is no distinctively “Christian” position on political issues. In this light, it seems to me that in principle there is no inconsistency in being a Christian and voting for a non-Christian (or a Mormon) for political office. (I’m not saying I would do this, only that I see no inconsistency in acting this way.) As I pointed out in my book Christian Archy, followers of Jesus aren’t called to get (overly) involved in political causes or disputes.

Read his entire essay at Dave Black Online.

Discussion

Religious Sanction for Political Actions

From Dave Black Online:

8:23 AM I see Newt is officially in the race. I notice, too, that he is eager to gain the backing of the Religious Right, despite his multiple marriages. More and more of the “clergy” will no doubt find it advantageous to lend him their support. In American politics it has become popular to be a Christian and to cast a religious coloring over one’s political ambitions. One day perhaps, religion will no longer play a major role in U.S. elections, but that day has not yet arrived. Popular campaigns for public office will continue to glorify their causes with religious sanctions, and this means that God’s people, the only “holy nation” that exists today, must maintain a guard against any symbiosis of church and state

 

(From Dave Black Online. Used by permission. David Alan Black is author of Energion titles The Jesus Paradigm, Christian Archy, and Why Four Gospels?.)