Posted on 10/01/2018 9:11:48 AM PDT by DeweyCA
What should the role of Christians in politics be? More people than ever are asking that question. Christians cannot pretend they can transcend politics and simply preach the Gospel. Those who avoid all political discussions and engagement are essentially casting a vote for the social status quo.
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Nevertheless, while believers can register under a party affiliation and be active in politics, they should not identify the Christian church or faith with a political party as the only Christian one.
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One is that it gives those considering the Christian faith the strong impression that to be converted, they need not only to believe in Jesus but also to become members of the (fill in the blank) Party.
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He realized that thoughtful Christians, all trying to obey Gods call, could reasonably appear at different places on the political spectrum, with loyalties to different political strategies.
Another reason Christians these days cannot allow the church to be fully identified with any particular party is the problem of what the British ethicist James Mumford calls package-deal ethics. Increasingly, political parties insist that you cannot work on one issue with them if you dont embrace all of their approved positions.
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So Christians are pushed toward two main options. One is to withdraw and try to be apolitical. The second is to assimilate and fully adopt one partys whole package in order to have your place at the table. Neither of these options is valid.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Christians, do your Christian duty and stay home on Election Day.
We got this.
Signed,
The Evil Left
Kiss my grits, Timmy.
I find it very difficult to think a Christian can affiliate with the democrat party . . .
Yale alum, attendee of Keller’s church, and author of bestseling books on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther...Eric Metaxas begs to differ.
Well put.
Keller’s internet interest, The Gospel Coalition, is one he started with theologian Don A Carson.
Carson is a solid Reformation thinker. Keller has been able to share the Gospel with a generation in New York City that might have never even known about the truth of Jesus.
Sadly, The Gospel Coalition has become somewhat compromised. Apparently in the pursuit of that very urban, millennial demographic some of the columnists on the site have adopted the stance of liberal media, liberal theological thought, and the youngest of Christian believers. In other words, those who need to be converted and discipled have been allowed to set the tone and agenda for some of those writings.
The Gospel Coalition still puts out some good stuff, but it is like the Republican party: caveat emptor.
Keller has a great book called “The Reason For God”; so not all he says is wrong.
Ok NYT, if youre so interested in religion, why did you endorse not allowing german jews to land in NY harbor, instead they were turned away and all died in Aushwitz.
I’ve long admired Tim Keller for his logical approach to theology, although I don’t agree with his every view. So I read the article to see if it was as bad as these excerpts imply.
This quote: “Increasingly, political parties insist that you cannot work on one issue with them if you dont embrace all of their approved positions.”
I’m not aware of this requirement for any voter or supporter in the US. If you’re a politician wanting support, you’d better toe the line, or go it alone. I think this only applies to politicians.
Now, this statement is true: “For example, following both the Bible and the early church, Christians should be committed to racial justice and the poor, but also to the understanding that sex is only for marriage and for nurturing family. One of those views seems liberal and the other looks oppressively conservative. The historical Christian positions on social issues do not fit into contemporary political alignments.”
The Republicans would support such candidates and do. The Democrats would not, because LGBT rights are part of their platform.
This quote: “So Christians are pushed toward two main options. One is to withdraw and try to be apolitical. The second is to assimilate and fully adopt one partys whole package in order to have your place at the table. Neither of these options is valid. “
is a false choice. There is no requirement to adopt a party’s whole platform, except by the Democrats who require affirmative action, LGBT rights, and pro-abortion stance. This is his weakest statement and he should know this is a false dichotomy. Yet, it’s an understandable error if he truly believes supporting a party is a package deal. Given the Democratic dominance of NYC, I think I can see why he’s deceived.
I agree with both you your posts. My husband and I have seen an underlying SJW theme being injected into our church’s sermons more over the past year. Our pastor spends too much time on Facebook. It is disheartening.
The book of Proverbs describes individuals like this calling them “There are those who wish in their own eyes who are not yet cleansed of their filthiness.
evangelical Christians were key to the election of Trump. Seems this guy want them to go to the back of the bus and shut up.
[[then some people may not become Christians because they think that if they become a Christian then they also have to become a member of a political party.]]
“Bull- People who CHOOSE not to become Christians are people who reject Christ- period- A political position is not required for salvation- Salvation is between a person and God- NOT between a person, God, AND the public in general- IF a person rejects Christ- they were NEVER going to accept Christ because they Reject Him- period- There are goign to be no excuses for personal rejection in Heaven- one is not going to get a get out of jail free card by claiming well i would have accepted Christ if only I was sure i wouldnt have had to become a republican nonsense-”
What you said. “40 He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” Matthew 10
Conversion requires: 1) God’s intervention to give us faith; 2) Us acting on that faith and not rejecting it.
I think Tim is coming from the POV of not putting a stumbling block in front of a new believer by ‘requiring’ a political view. However, anyone who comes to Christ rejects sin and those who promote it.
Anything the New York Times publishes about Christians is almost certainly anti-Christian propaganda. They are pro-Satan, anti-God. They sounded better when they just pretended to be ordinary Godless communists.
Christians worth their salt, know that the Creator historically blessed the people that were supportive of their nation. Christians also know that God has blessed US far beyond what we deserve. Some fake Christians decided they needed to profit off illegal human trafficking... and to destroy what the Creator set in motion. Nothing new under the sun.
I got into a knock down, drag out fight during a Bible study with such a character. No one was pure enough for him. He was a strident anti-abortion protester who believed that everyone who did not do at least as much as he did for the pro-life movement was unworthy. Since I was unable to work for his cause full time, I was among the unwashed.
I told him that his attitude was fine during the primaries. Support Your Guy. But during the general election, you suck it up and vote for the nearest best choice, which in my eyes is never, ever the Democrat.
The leader almost had to break it up. Sadly, the guy died soon after that so we never got to continue our discussion.
He was a fearless pro-life advocate, but couldn’t understand that many of us have other priorities too.
Dude, Jesus is not republican but Satan IS a democrat.
Sorry that this bothers you.
I always ask myself several questions..how would Satan vote?
How would Hollywood vote?
How would the MSM vote?
Oh, and the Demonrat party is the party of homosexual “pride”, the party teaching and using the tactics of Saul Alinsky (dedicated “Rules for Radicals” to Lucifer aka the Devil), the party of forcing Christian businesses to provide abortions on their dime, the party of telling women to divorce their Republican husband, the party that supported the attempted murder of Rep. Steve Scalise, other Reps and Sen. Rand Paul, the party of world government (e.g., The Beast). Shall I go on? How can ANY Christian identify with the Demonrat party?
Who wrote this? We are light and salt. We have been mandated to make disciples of nations. We should go to the polls and vote in righteousness every single time.
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