[Taliesan]

Well, that's a relief to hear. I'm glad I "conceded" before that Christians should be good citizens, since St. Paul tells us as much, and I've never doubted it.

I'm not "against" political action by Christians. There is no New Testament list of accepted and proscribed actions, so I can't offer one, nor would I want to, nor is that even what the issue of the thread is.

The issue of the thread is one of emphasis rather than of sorting through possible political acts to build an "oK" pile and a "bad" pile.

Again, the point under contention: Colson (whom I respect muchly) thinks we (the church) should engage in some sort of "cultural commission" to "reclaim" our culture. I assert that this passion involves multiple un-biblical assumptions, some of which are:

1. that there is a "cultural commission" for the church that has any thing like a scintilla of the meaning of the Great Commission. To think this is patent nonsense. He thinks it for his own psychological reasons: because he is a wonderful Christian man who loves America and he needs to have some sort of biblical mandate to do what he thinks will save America.

2. Said "cultural commission", if acted on, will work. It will not, in the long run. There is no New Testament warrant for thinking that way. There is every NT warrant for thinking the opposite.

I'll just check back every 5 years or so for a progress report on the "cultural commission". I predict it will fail demonstrably.

[Rytwyng]

Colson...thinks we (the church) should engage in some sort of "cultural commission" to "reclaim" our culture. I assert that this passion involves multiple un-biblical assumptions

I believe the origin of this idea comes from certain writers such as Francis Schaeffer and CS Lewis. Lewis, as I recall, made a comment to the effect that the clergy wasn't supposed to do everything, but, that "....the application of Christian principles to, say, education or trade-unionism, should come from Christian schoolmasters and Christian trade-unionists..." and that "good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason than that bad philosophy needs to be answered."

Or, to put Lewis' point another way, the culture will be reformed when many individual Christians apply their faith and convictions to their particular profession or sphere of influence -- whether you're a philospher, a pre-school teacher, or a politician. As I see it, this is simple discipleship, simple obedience. Hence, "reclaiming the culture" is nothing more, less, or else than the earthly side effect of Christians obeying God. Note well that I said "side effect", not primary goal. Calls to "reclaim the culture" are therefore (a) wrong if they prioritize reclaiming Earth over claiming Heaven (Seek ye first..), but (b) right if they shake socially complacent Christians into awakening to this particular, oft-neglected aspect of discipleship.

I'll just check back every 5 years or so for a progress report on the "cultural commission". I predict it will fail demonstrably

Alas, I doubt it will be seriously tried, because the vast majority of American "Christians" don't actually have a biblical worldview and hence don't make biblical decisions about any area of life -- certainly not career or cultural engagement.