Gatetree and Politics

I was recently asked how involved pastors and churches ought to be in the political process. My best answer goes something like this:

I am grateful to be an American. I’m a card-carrying, red-blooded citizen of the United States and proud of it. But first and foremost, I’m a citizen of heaven, and let me tell you what that means.

It means—no matter how great or sincere the efforts, we can’t protect or expand the Kingdom of Christ by our political system. We are involved in a spiritual battle against ungodly ideologies aimed directly at God and His people and the only effective weapon we have is His Word.

It means—God has not called us to wage a cultural war that would seek to transform our country into a Christian nation. Instead, He has called the church to bring sinful people to salvation through Jesus Christ. If we do not evangelize the lost and make disciples of new converts, nothing else we do for people—no matter how beneficial it seems—has any eternal consequence.

When the church takes a stance that emphasizes political activism and social moralizing, it always diverts energy and resources away from evangelization. Invariably, believers find themselves feeling hostile, not only to unsaved government leaders with whom they disagree, but also antagonistic toward the unsaved residents of that culture—neighbors and fellow citizens they ought to love, pray for, and share the gospel with.

Focusing on earthly methods to promote change, and resorting to external efforts of lobbying and intimidation to achieve some sort of “Christian morality” in society is not our calling—and has no eternal value. Only the gospel rescues sinners from sin, death, and hell.

LIFE OR DEATH

In a recent interview, Democratic Vice-Presidential hopeful Senator Joe Biden tried to walk the line between the staunch abortion-rights advocates in his party and his own religious beliefs. While he said he did not often talk about his faith, he said of those who disagree with him: “They believe in their faith and they believe in human life, and they have differing views as to when life — I’m prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception.”

Sen. Biden may have been attempting to "walk the line" politically, but a closer look at his actual argument is truly horrifying.

Sen. Biden says, and we must take him at his word, that he accepts as a matter of faith that human life begins at conception. But, he argues, he is perfectly willing to support a woman's right to choose to end that human life.

The killing of human life is called homicide. Murder is the willful taking of a human life. The senator has here stated that he believes abortion to be homicide, but he defends a woman's right to kill the unborn human life within her because he would not impose his beliefs about human life (and thus about homicide) on others.

In other words, if we take Sen. Biden seriously, he would defer to others who believe otherwise when it comes to the law.

I believe Sen. Biden to be a serious man, and that is what is most frightening about this. Can a morally serious man really say that he believes that unborn babies are human beings, but that it should be a protected right to kill them? I don’t think so.

LIFE GOES ON…

Hard to think of anything else right now but to feel for the people along our nations coasts. My neighbor was out on his porch earlier this week talking about how he couldn't stop watching CNN coverage of Gustav. He knows friends and relatives in or near some of the affected areas. It's hard to pull yourself away because it is so hard to imagine this happening to anybody, much less someone you know. It's moments like this when we feel so frail and helpless as human beings. We are victims of forces way beyond our control.

In legal terms disasters like this fall under the category: “Acts of God.” Doesn't bode too well for God's reputation, does it? Is it that God doesn't have anything better to do than devastate the lives of thousands of people? To some it may seem like that. We call natural disasters “Acts of God” because there is no other way to explain them. I would prefer to believe God is in charge of even things like this, and accept the inconsistencies that come with that belief, rather than live in a world even God can't control, or worse, where there is no reason for our existence and no one there to hear our silent screams.

One thing we need to remember is that this is the same God who let the world and His human creation go bad, then turned around and sacrificed His own Son in a brutal death in order to save it. God is neither distant nor untouched by our human predicament.

Believe me, He's got His arms around these flood zones right now eager to help and comfort. And just as God suffered over Jesus, His heart is breaking over these losses. Whatever you feel, you can be sure God feels also, and then some. The acts of God include the tears of God. And just as He will ultimately redeem the human race, He will also turn our lives and devastations into good somehow. Life will go on and God will still be God.