Blogotional
Thanks for the trackback. I think you need to be a bit careful about using Jesus' statements to the Pharisees and his overturning of the money changing tables in the Temple courtyard as normative for Christian political involvement. First, neither of those examples were primarily political. In addition, neither example represents the actions of an ordinary citizen in a democratic society. Rather, they are instances in which the perfect Son of God expressed some of God's righteous indignation at how the religious leaders had misled God's people and perverted true worship, and asserted His authority and His claim to messiaship. As members of both the Church and of a civil society, our responsibilities to the civil authorities are primarily spelled out in Romans 13, which makes clear that our attitude should be characterized by respect. We represent the King of Kings, but in obedience to Him, we arrange ourselves under the governmental authorities, and serve society as salt and light until He returns.
John,
I was going to say the same thing doperbeck said. Our calling of the church which directly works in the name of the Lord must be called to not take that name in vain. Jesus in these instances "Matt 23 - 'brood of vipers', is calling the leaders of the church 'hypocrites'. This supports my point strongly. Christians to be faithful need to call the church to repentance and purity especially in this day. With respect to the world, our primary role is to call the world to Christ.
re: "really, really important' . My attitude toward politics is going from I am going from really really a big distraction from our calling to build the church and witness to the world. Now, I am starting to say that, if we remain a witness of respect and love then we can speak into the political realities...but to treat the world like the church and call them 'hypocrites' is to simultaneously bring the world up and the church down.
I guess I did not speak well.
We are in a very different situation governmentally than Paul was then. Our government is based on our participation. respecting that authority means we do particpate, not simply submit. If it was an autocracy, then I would agree with you, but we are in a democracy.
My comments in the post were primarily to say that, yes, political discourse today is much more coarse than it used to, but I do not think we violate our calls to humility and grace if we participate, even if we have to shout a little to be heard.
John,
Good post. I think I understand your point about Jesus and his sometimes harsh words. While it is true the words you quoted were directed at religious leaders I think the point was that Jesus isn't always as warm and fuzzy as we would like to believe. I doubt the money changers he drove out of the Temple were religious leaders either.
I think sometimes Romans 13 is sometimes used as an excuse not to be involved. Since Paul, the writer of Romans 13, wrote a good portion of the New Testament from jail and all of the apostles except for John were executed for being disobedient to government somehow I don't think Romans 13 means what we say it means.
You are right, "we the people" are the authorities in this country. I think God will hold us accountable for what He has intrusted us with.
The key in involvement is to follow the example of people like Daniel and Paul who stood up for God while doing it with integrity.
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