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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Christian politics

Should American Evangelicals be involved in politics? Some Christians think we should leave politics to unbelievers and concentrate on the church or evangelism. They claim there’s no biblical warrant for Christian political activism.

That’s a question of theological method. Does Scripture present duties that have a political dimension? Let’s consider some social duties in Scripture:


4 If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him (Exod 23:4-5).

3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father’ (Mt 15:3-5).

 2 If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, 3 but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him (Exod 22:2-3). 

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:40).

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim 5:8).

It’s my impression that many Christians who oppose political activity are staunch supporters of the right to bear arms. For instance, they think that if a man breaks into your home at night, which makes him a threat to your family, you have a right to shoot him. That’s because you have a familial duty to protect your wife and kids against aggression.

But that principle extends beyond an armed houseburglar. A totalitarian state can pose a threat to your family that’s equal to or greater than a houseburglar.

For instance, the elderly are a drain on the healthcare system. So are the disabled. What if the state decides to euthanize your elderly parents? What if the state decides to euthanize your disabled son or daughter?

And don’t think this is just hypothetical. That’s a realistic scenario if the state is allowed to continue unchecked.

The Bible says we have a duty to honor our parents. Well, how do you honor your parents? Jesus has an insightful take on that question. He defines it indirectly by giving an example of how the Pharisees dishonor one’s parents. As Jesus defines it, honoring your parents includes providing for parents who are too poor or too enfeebled to provide for themselves.

But that principle extends beyond the immediate example. Surely that means you have a duty to protect your ailing parents against state-sponsored euthanasia.

Or take material provision for your children. What if a totalitarian state has economic policies which prevent you from being able to financially support your kids?

Or what if a totalitarian state doesn’t allow you to be a Christian parent. Prohibits you from raising your children in the faith.

For instance, it’s currently legal for Christian parents to either homeschool their kids or send their kids to private Christian schools. However, the state refuses to reimburse parents for private Christian education. They must still subsidize public education. So some parents can’t afford to send their kids to private Christian schools.

Moreover, unbelievers oppose homeschooling. They’d outlaw if it they could. They’ve tried to. Thus far their efforts have been stymied by the courts. But if Christians vacate the public square, then judges will start upholding legal bans against homeschooling.

Furthermore, if left to their own devices, unbelievers will require Christian teachers to be certified by the state. And a requirement of teacher certification will be blanket acceptance of liberal social values. As it is, public schools are already reeducation camps to brainwash our youth in liberal social values.

Likewise, if Christians vacate the public square, then it’s only a matter of time before CPS begins removing children from Christian homes. It will be a crime to teach your kids Christian ethics. That conflicts with the LGBTQ agenda. That’s a hate crime. That’s child abuse.

In addition, although we have a greater responsibility for our own kids, we should also have a Christian concern for the kids of unbelievers. We shouldn’t just abandon them to a hopeless, godless existence.

If you let unbelievers take over the reins of government, then it will be too late to prevent the evolution of a totalitarian state that’s inimical to Christianity.

Christians don’t have a right to shirk their divinely-mandated social responsibilities. And that has a political dimension, especially in a political system based on popular sovereignty.

No doubt it’s disheartening to many Christians when we lose major elections. But we need to keep that in perspective. It’s like a game of chess. For every move, there’s a countermove. When believers make a move, unbelievers make a countermove. When unbelievers make a move, believers make a countermove.

If believers find themselves frustrated by unbelievers, remember that unbelievers find themselves frustrated by believers. And mutual frustration is far preferable to giving unbelievers free rein.

13 comments:

  1. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
    12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

    With all due respect Steve, there isn't an exegetical case for a divine imperative concerning political activism. Jesus never said, well, transform the government so that you have religious liberty. Paul never told the church to acheieve and preserve religious liberty. The idea never seemed to enter his mind. The writers of NT Scripture responded to persecution far different than you suggest. They prepared believers by telling them how blessed (honorable) they are when they suffer for something as noble and as sacred as God's truth. They were reassured that great rewards await those who endure hardship for the sake of the gospel. In fact, the only time Paul introduces the concept of hoping for a peaceful and tranquil life was when he instructed Timothy to pray for civil leaders. It is through prayer that God may or may not grant such a state. For you to establish commands and place them on the shoudlers of Christians as if they are Christ's is far over-stepping the boundaries. Voting is a issue I leave to the individual because God seemingly has left it to the individual. The only advice we ought to give is that every believer should examine their reason for voting AND their reason for voting for the individual they are voting for. Sin comes from heart motivations.


    New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Mt 5:11–12.

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    1. He's now sounding like Ben Witherington. Ed uses Anabaptist prooftexts. Anabaptist hermeneutics. The Anabaptist argument from silence.

      This is strange coming from a guy who's called is called Reformed Reasons.

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  2. Ed Dingess

    “With all due respect Steve, there isn't an exegetical case for a divine imperative concerning political activism. Jesus never said, well, transform the government so that you have religious liberty.”

    And homosexual lobbyists say Jesus never condemned “loving, committed gay and lesbian couples from getting married to each other.”

    You’re using an illicit argument from silence.

    Reformed theological method includes the logical implications of Scripture (“good and necessary consequences”). Since you call your blog “Reformed Reasons,” I shouldn’t have to remind you of that.

    You haven’t even attempted to directly rebut my argument. You haven’t begun to show that my argument is invalid. Instead, you’re just trying to do an end-run around the argument.

    “Paul never told the church to acheieve and preserve religious liberty.”

    Once again, you’re disregarding logical implications.

    Moreover, you continue to recast the issue in terms of “the church.”

    I didn’t say anything about “the church.” I’m talking about individual Christian responsibilities. Everything that’s true of “the church” isn’t true of individual Christians, or vice versa. You’re committing the division fallacy.

    For instance, “the church” doesn’t have a duty to love your wife. Rather, you as an individual Christian husband have a duty to love your wife.

    “The idea never seemed to enter his mind.”

    Many things never entered Paul’s mind. The US Constitution didn’t enter Paul’s mind.

    “The writers of NT Scripture responded to persecution far different than you suggest.”

    I didn’t offer a response to persecution. We’re not at that point yet.

    If we get to the point where blessing our persecutors and resigning ourselves to martyrdom is our only remaining option, so be it. But that’s not the present situation. People like you are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    BTW, Paul didn’t just roll over and play dead. There were times when he defended his civil rights as a Roman citizen.

    “They prepared believers by telling them how blessed (honorable) they are when they suffer for something as noble and as sacred as God's truth. They were reassured that great rewards await those who endure hardship for the sake of the gospel.”

    Our duties in the face of persecution don’t abrogate our other duties. Our duty to bless our persecutors doesn’t abrogate our duty to honor our parents or provide for our dependents. That’s not a get-out-of-jail free card.

    “For you to establish commands and place them on the shoudlers of Christians as if they are Christ's is far over-stepping the boundaries.”

    I’m drawing logical inferences from Biblical duties.

    You seem to be looking for an excuse to be a quitter. The unbelievers have you running scared. When the battle doesn’t seem to be going our way, there are always some deserters.

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    1. Unbelievers have me running scared? You speak as if no other theologian or pastor would agree with my position. So anyone who disagrees with you on this issue is scared of unbelievers and a deserter. How noble of you Steve. How Christlike. I have been nothing but respectful of you and your scholarship even while disagreeing with your argument and your lack of exegesis. It would be nice if you showed a little reciprocity and courtesy. You would do well to listen to some of John MacArthur's thoughts on this subject. He has an excellent perspective.

      Answer me this one question: If the first century church could be salt and light in their culture under that governement without being politically active at all, why is it that we can't be salt and light unless we are politically active? God's word hasn't changed, has it? The mission of the church had nothing to do with transforming civil law in the first century and unless that mission has changed, and I don't think it has, it cannot have anything to do with transforming civil law in America.

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    2. Ed Dingess

      "Unbelievers have me running scared? You speak as if no other theologian or pastor would agree with my position. So anyone who disagrees with you on this issue is scared of unbelievers and a deserter. How noble of you Steve. How Christlike."

      I'm taking my cue from you. Your response to the election results is the reaction of a quitter. If it doesn't go your way, give up while you attack those who continue the fight in your absence.

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    3. Ed Dingess

      "Answer me this one question: If the first century church could be salt and light in their culture under that governement without being politically active at all..."

      False dichotomy. Christian social conservatives *are* salt and light in our own culture.

      "The mission of the church had nothing..."

      You continue to mechanically repeat that formulaic phrase (like pulling a string on a doll) without regard to the fallacies of usage I've already noted.

      In addition, God hasn't put 2012 American evangelicals in the same situation as 1C Christians. The Christian movement began under the preexisting regime of the Roman Empire. By contrast, Christianity was introduced into what would later become the US. That was foundational. American church history is hardly analogous to the 1C Roman empire.

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    4. Ed Dingess11

      "You would do well to listen to some of John MacArthur's thoughts on this subject. He has an excellent perspective."

      Actually, I had that debate with Phil Johnson many years ago. Been there, done that.

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  3. Ed said:

    "It is through prayer that God may or may not grant such a state. For you to establish commands and place them on the shoudlers of Christians as if they are Christ's is far over-stepping the boundaries."

    Say God answers our prayers to "grant such a state." Say God grants us a godly nation. Say he gives us a Christian POTUS, Congress, and Supreme Court. Say he gives us Christian governors, state legislatures, state courts. Say he gives us godly local leaders. And so on and so forth.

    On the one hand, you seem perfectly fine with the idea that God could grant us such a state. Moreover, you think it's fine for us to pray for such a state.

    But on the other hand, you're advocating against what Steve wrote about Christians being involved in society, culture, and the like.

    So who do you expect is going to serve as, say, a Christian judge if you're advocating against Christians being involved in society and culture but praying that God would provide such a state? Do you think God will use an atheist or a secularist or somesuch to answer your prayers for a Christian witness in our government, society, culture, etc.?

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  4. You are completely missing my point. I am not opposed to a Christian voting. I voted. I am not opposed to a Christian running for office as part of their occupation. What I am against is using the Church as a politcal force to bring about pressure in the political process in order to impose Christian values on a godles culture that is not in the Christian group and is not expect to hold to Christian values in the first place.

    It is not the place of the Christian church to tell the civil government that this should be legal or that should be illegal and then proceed to bring about political pressure to make it so. The church must stop with the words of the gospel. Men are not told to repent of just this sin or that sin. That is not the message that God gave the church to give the world. The church preaches repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. She does not inform the government that it must repent of its view on gay marriage, or abortion, or whatever. Preach the gospel and let it fall where it will. God is faithful. Has He not demonstrated that throughout redemptive history? And has the church not proven that her involvement in politics has simply not worked out all that well over the years?

    There is no divine imperative for an individual to vote or not to vote or who to vote for. The divine imperative would be around the heart motivations for why one votes. Christians infuence with the Christian gospel, and the Christan community.

    If the first-century church could be salt and light under a government as tyrannical as Rome, surely Christians in America can be salt and light without becoming just another political entity seeking to impose its values on a culture that is squarely outside of its community.

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    1. Ed Dingess wrote:

      "If the first-century church could be salt and light under a government as tyrannical as Rome, surely Christians in America can be salt and light without becoming just another political entity seeking to impose its values on a culture that is squarely outside of its community. "

      How many churches are "just another political entity " and are "seeking to impose [their] values"? Are you saying that they no longer have sermons, baptize people, etc.? They're just a political party? And how does trying to influence government equate to imposing in some improper way? When you vote, are you imposing your views on other people? If we can't differ from what first-century Christians are described as doing in scripture, then why do you vote?

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    2. Ed Dingess

      “You are completely missing my point. I am not opposed to a Christian voting.”

      In which case you’re not opposed to Christians acting collectively.

      BTW, what would they be voting *for*? Wouldn’t Christians be voting to influence public policy, viz. social policy, foreign policy, economic policy?

      “I am not opposed to a Christian running for office as part of their occupation.”

      And what if a Christian politician promises to sponsor a bill banning euthanasia? Or what if he promises to sponsor a bill promoting school choice (i.e. vouchers)?

      “What I am against is using the Church as a politcal force to bring about pressure in the political process in order to impose Christian values on a godles culture that is not in the Christian group and is not expect to hold to Christian values in the first place.”

      It’s unclear what you’re opposing.

      i) Are you opposing it if “the Church” does it?

      ii) If (i), how do you define “the Church”?

      iii) If not (i), are you opposing *what* is done, regardless of *who* (e.g. “the Church”) is doing it?

      iv) Are you opposed to the *imposition* of values, or just the imposition of *Christian* values?

      Do you support the imposition of non-Christian values, but oppose the imposition of Christian values?

      v) Why should the expectation that people will share the values codified in law be a precondition of law? When we outlaw murder, we impose life-affirming values on would-be murderers whom we don’t expect to share the values of the lawmaker.

      “It is not the place of the Christian church to tell the civil government that this should be legal or that should be illegal and then proceed to bring about political pressure to make it so.”

      What does it matter who says something rather than what is said?

      As long as what was said was right, what difference does it make who said it?

      What if the civil gov’t decides to outlaw all churches that aren’t state-approved churches with state-appointed ministers?

      Are you saying “the Church” has no right to speak out against a direct attack on “the Church” itself by the civilian gov’t?

      “She does not inform the government that it must repent of its view on gay marriage, or abortion, or whatever.”

      What not? Once again, you’re not defining your terms. What do you mean by “the Church”? Do you mean pastors? Do you mean denominations?

      If abortion is wrong, then why is it wrong for “the Church” (whatever that means) to say that something which is wrong is...wrong?

      “And has the church not proven that her involvement in politics has simply not worked out all that well over the years?”

      No, that’s not been proven.

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    3. The more I read your exhange with Mr. Dingess here, the more confused I am with his position. Why would he object to a Christian imposing Christian values in our laws and politics but not object to a Christian running for president? Isn't imposing Christian values onto our laws and legal system the most basic reason to run for office in the first place? What, is a Christian president someone who simply sits there being president and not doing anything?

      In fact, it goes further than that. It's the president's duty to elect certain authorities in the legal system and the military system. That's something he MUST do. As a Christian, obviously, he would be compelled to choose the nominees who would best assist in the process of combating the anti-Christian morality being imposed upon the population. That's not something he can choose not to do- he must do that, so why is Ed okay with Christians running for the office? Again, the president doesn't just sit there doing nothing. He has to do something, so what is the alternative? Is Ed only okay with a Christian becoming a president so long as he goes out of his way to elect certain authorities that he knows won't impose Christian values??

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