By Douglas V. Gibbs
You know the old saying about religion and politics. We aren't supposed to talk about those two things, we have been told, because it just fosters hurt feelings. We are also told that Christians aren't supposed to even be involved in politics. Religious faith has nothing to do with it, and only secular thought is acceptable, we are told.
Well, phooey on that one.
Jordan Sekulow, in his Washington Post piece titled, "Should Christians be Political?," quotes the often talked about Bible verses in Romans 13:1-5, which reads:
1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
- King James Version
In other words, we all need to submit to the governing authorities, and in fact, those governments were put there over us by God. If that's the case, then would it be wrong to stand up against the very governments put in place by the God that we worship?
The next obvious thought is that if government is acting in an evil manner, should we stand by and do nothing? Surely, since God gave us spiritual armor in Ephesians Chapter 6, we are expected to fight for what is right.
Sekulow then goes on to explain that the government referred to in Romans Chapter 13 is a Godly government. This is not to say that to be a Godly government it needs to somehow be some kind of Christian theocracy, but that the kind of government referred to in Romans 13 is a government that promotes justice, provides security, and protects the freedom of its people, regardless of religious belief or background. You know, the kind of government in the United States, or at least the form of government we are supposed to have as designed by the Founding Fathers in the U.S. Constitution.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Sekulow goes on to explain, was a German pastor that opposed the Nazis during the reign of the Third Reich in Germany. The Nazis discovered Bonhoeffer's work to assist the Jews, so the government threw him in jail, and eventually executed him in a concentration camp because of his role in a plot to kill Hitler.
Bonhoeffer offered “three possible ways in which the church can act towards the state”:
First: The church must, Bonhoeffer says, “continually ask the state whether its action can be justified as legitimate action of the state, i.e., as action which leads to law and order, and not to lawlessness and disorder.” In other words, it is the church’s role to help the state be the state…
If the state is creating “excessive law and order,” then “the state develops its power to such an extent that it deprives Christian preaching and Christian faith . . . of their right . . . The state which endangers the Christian proclamation negates itself.”
Second, the church must “aid the victims of state action.” We have an “unconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering of society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community.”
Third, the church should not merely “bandage the victims under the wheel, but … put a spoke in the wheel itself.”
As Eric Metaxas, author of the celebrated, comprehensive biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, says (according to Sekulow's article): “It is sometimes not enough to help those crushed by the evil actions of a state; at some point the church must directly take action against the state to stop it from perpetrating evil. This, he [Bonhoeffer] said, is permitted only when the church sees its very existence threatened by the state, and when the state ceases to be the state as defined by God.”
This means that American Christians, and the church, "have an unconditional obligation" to be involved in politics. Government is a reflection of the people of the United States. We elect our leaders and are to a great extent responsible for their conduct.
Sekulow's opinion goes along with something I said today on my Political Pistachio Radio program. Our politicians are a reflection of society. If in society we have a pluralistic attitude that shuns standards of morality and virtue, then how can we expect our leaders to be moral and virtuous? Of course they reject the standards of the U.S. Constitution, no different than how our society has rejected the standards of moral conduct.
Let me add this: The Scripture teaches us to be submissive to God, and Godly governments. Persons in authority, however, are not always of the same opinion, and whenever those governments in the course of human affairs act in a terrible manner, and are evil-doers, it is our responsibility to work to return our government to a Godly model. This is not to say that we should use fraudulent means to make this happen, deal in contraband, or evade our duties as a citizen, but as Christians it is up to us to do what we can to protect the virtues of society, and the religious freedoms of the church. As for the contraband, I believe there are exceptions. If the government declared the Holy Bible contraband, I would not cease to read it.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
In other words, we all need to submit to the governing authorities, and in fact, those governments were put there over us by God. If that's the case, then would it be wrong to stand up against the very governments put in place by the God that we worship?
The next obvious thought is that if government is acting in an evil manner, should we stand by and do nothing? Surely, since God gave us spiritual armor in Ephesians Chapter 6, we are expected to fight for what is right.
Sekulow then goes on to explain that the government referred to in Romans Chapter 13 is a Godly government. This is not to say that to be a Godly government it needs to somehow be some kind of Christian theocracy, but that the kind of government referred to in Romans 13 is a government that promotes justice, provides security, and protects the freedom of its people, regardless of religious belief or background. You know, the kind of government in the United States, or at least the form of government we are supposed to have as designed by the Founding Fathers in the U.S. Constitution.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Sekulow goes on to explain, was a German pastor that opposed the Nazis during the reign of the Third Reich in Germany. The Nazis discovered Bonhoeffer's work to assist the Jews, so the government threw him in jail, and eventually executed him in a concentration camp because of his role in a plot to kill Hitler.
Bonhoeffer offered “three possible ways in which the church can act towards the state”:
First: The church must, Bonhoeffer says, “continually ask the state whether its action can be justified as legitimate action of the state, i.e., as action which leads to law and order, and not to lawlessness and disorder.” In other words, it is the church’s role to help the state be the state…
If the state is creating “excessive law and order,” then “the state develops its power to such an extent that it deprives Christian preaching and Christian faith . . . of their right . . . The state which endangers the Christian proclamation negates itself.”
Second, the church must “aid the victims of state action.” We have an “unconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering of society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community.”
Third, the church should not merely “bandage the victims under the wheel, but … put a spoke in the wheel itself.”
As Eric Metaxas, author of the celebrated, comprehensive biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, says (according to Sekulow's article): “It is sometimes not enough to help those crushed by the evil actions of a state; at some point the church must directly take action against the state to stop it from perpetrating evil. This, he [Bonhoeffer] said, is permitted only when the church sees its very existence threatened by the state, and when the state ceases to be the state as defined by God.”
This means that American Christians, and the church, "have an unconditional obligation" to be involved in politics. Government is a reflection of the people of the United States. We elect our leaders and are to a great extent responsible for their conduct.
Sekulow's opinion goes along with something I said today on my Political Pistachio Radio program. Our politicians are a reflection of society. If in society we have a pluralistic attitude that shuns standards of morality and virtue, then how can we expect our leaders to be moral and virtuous? Of course they reject the standards of the U.S. Constitution, no different than how our society has rejected the standards of moral conduct.
Let me add this: The Scripture teaches us to be submissive to God, and Godly governments. Persons in authority, however, are not always of the same opinion, and whenever those governments in the course of human affairs act in a terrible manner, and are evil-doers, it is our responsibility to work to return our government to a Godly model. This is not to say that we should use fraudulent means to make this happen, deal in contraband, or evade our duties as a citizen, but as Christians it is up to us to do what we can to protect the virtues of society, and the religious freedoms of the church. As for the contraband, I believe there are exceptions. If the government declared the Holy Bible contraband, I would not cease to read it.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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