Politics and
Christianity Whenever seeking to apply Christian ideals to political matters, one must be very cautious. The danger is not so much that the application of religious principle threatens the political process, but the danger is more that one may become tempted to try to simplify the Biblical message into a political treatise. This would clearly be shortchanging the purpose and eternal importance of Scripture. It is common to hear Christ being listed as one of the founders of the "civil disobedience" school of protest, alongside of Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Of course, each of these is a great man who contributed greatly to the human cause, but those who list Christ in this way are generally in danger of missing the entire point. Jesus' purpose was not to enact civil disobedience, or to win any political victory. He did not even speak out against Rome, repressive though its rule over Palestine had been. It was not because He did not disapprove of repressive government -- the few statements that He made with direct application to governance made that clear -- but because that was simply not the reason for His coming. Jesus came to reconcile us to God and to demonstrate the kind of lives that God intends for us to live, regardless of whether we are free or under political repression. To make Him out ot be some sort of political revolutionary is ultimately the equivalent of the "good man" or "great prophet" view of Christ taken by many non-believers. I point these things out in the hopes that the reader will bear them in
mind as I continue in certain places in the following essays to apply Christian standards
to the political arena. It is nowhere my contention that Jesus or even the Apostles
anywhere set forth a cogent model for governance. However, Christian doctrine must
necessarily influence my political beliefs, and this is what I hope to demonstrate. -- Rob Carey |