7 posts tagged “faith”
Walking a tightrope between two kingdoms?
"..for I do always those things that please Him."John 8:29
We who follow Christ are aware of the fact that we inhabit at once two worlds, the spiritual and the natural. As children of Adam we do live our lives on earth subject to the limitations of the flesh and the weaknesses and ills to which human nature is heir.
In sharp contrast to this is our life in the spirit.
There we enjoy a higher kind of life; we are children of God. We
possess heavenly status and enjoy intimate fellowship with Christ!
This tends to divide our total life into two departments, as we
unconsciously recognize two sets of actions, the so-called secular acts
and the sacred.
This is, of course, the old "sacred-secular"
antithesis and most Christians are caught in it's trap. Walking the
tightrope between two Kingdoms they find no peace in either.
Actually, the sacred-secular dilemma has no foundation in the New Testament. Without a doubt a more perfect understanding of Christian truth will deliver us from it. The Lord Jesus Christ himself is our perfect example and He lived no divided life. God accepted the offering of His total life and made no distinction between act and act. "I do always those things that please Him," was his brief summary of His own life as related to the Father.
We are called upon to exercise an aggressive faith, in which we offer all our acts to God and believe that He accepts them. Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there!
pol·i·tics 
[pol-i-tiks] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun (used with a singular or plural verb)
| 1. | the science or art of political government. |
| 2. | the practice or profession of conducting political affairs. |
| 3. | political affairs: The advocated reforms have become embroiled in politics. |
| 4. | political methods or maneuvers: We could not approve of his politics in winning passage of the bill. |
| 5. | political principles or opinions: We avoided discussion of religion and politics. His politics are his own affair. |
| 6. | use of intrigue or strategy in obtaining any position of power or control, as in business, university, etc. |
| 7. | (initial capital letter, italics) a
treatise (4th century b.c.) by Aristotle, dealing with the structure,
organization, and administration of the state, esp. the city-state as
known in ancient Greece. |
This is the definition of the word politics from Dictionary.com. I wanted to re-check the definition of politics to be sure that nothing in it's definition is contrary to an orthodox understanding of faith. You see, some people in their understanding of faith, politics, or both believe they are oxymoronic or diametrically opposed to one another. They see Jesus and the influence and work of government as incompatible. I don't see it.
To me, politics is amoral like accounting, music, sports, engineering, or any number of professions. And, like any number of professions, it can be used to glory God - or not. I have known wonderful Christian politicians and those who work in politics who are completely consistent in the walk with Jesus.
So what is the deal with politics and its compatibility with faith? If you say: "Look at how we currently do politics. How can you find any Christian virtue in it?" Then I say: "Stop considering unbelievers as unbelievers and start considering them pre-Christians."
Is there no possible world where we as Christians can do better in our witness for Christ in the area of politics and policy? This is not to say that I desire an American theocracy. Just that Christians come to portray a version of political discourse and involvement that brings honor to Jesus.
Someone explain to me why I can't be engaged in the political and a Christian?
1 Timothy 2:1-4 reads as follows: "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
This is what 1 Timothy 2:1-4 means to me:
We are encouraged to pray for everyone, especially our elected leaders.
When we pray for our elected leaders it affects our community in wonderful ways.
Praying for our elected leaderst is a form of worship to God.
God desires the salvation of all men and the above works toward that end.
Therefore, praying for our elected leaders builds community, worships God and promotes evangelism.
This seems like a disturbing news story - exploiting kids in the name of religion to speak in tongues, and venerate the President. From what I know about the media, there is less to this story than meets the eye.
The media typically take hundreds of minutes of footage and edits it down to a three minute clip, the backgrounds and true context lost on the editing room floor. Knowing this fact, my skepticism is running very high on the whole "worshipping Bush" claim.
We all know various ministries with which we agree, disagree or simply prefer not to participate. The fact is that one "Jesus Camp" in North Dakota does not a movement make.
Part of the footage is encouraging. The evidence of a strong and vibrant youth movement coupled with staunch views on life and sexual wholeness is wonderful to see.
What is worrysome is the claim that any firmly held beliefe is detrimental to the future of our society. More evidence that today's definition of tolerance is one way.
Democrats are seeking to promote Christianity whithin their party. Today, David Whilhelm and other Christian Democrats launched FaithfulDemocrats.com (keep trying - its getting a lot of hits). As the Washington Post reports, FaithfulDemocrats.com seeks to "give religious Democrats
'the moral support and some language they can use.'"
It is intersting that Whilhelm and others feel the need to promote Chrisitianity in the Democratic party. This is a party that has been demonstribly hostile to Christianity and a party whose Christian members mostly belong to denominations that are significantly shrinking.
Faithful Democrats are good at some cleaver phrasing: "Jesus rode a donkey - not an elephant." "God is not spelled GOP." And "Jesus was an illegal immigrant." Never mind the bad theology - these are funny.
Faithful Democrats face the same challenge as Christian organizations on the right. Do they seek to pull the party into a Christian ethos? Are they just acting like a "me too" for those on the Right? Or is this an attempt to dress up the party and appeal to the religous that are disaffected with the Republican party?
The challenge for Christians on both the Right and Left is the call of Christ to redeem our world - including the political and governmental. What this means for Christians is to engage the political parties from the perspective of ministry and mission. How can Christians serve the parties with which they affiliate and how can they work to effectively promote the Gospel within the party and its activities?
Nonetheless, it is refreshing to see Christians in any party seeking to distinguish their voice and make it relevent in their party. The ultimate question is: Relevant to whom?
The Huffington Post has a classic tirade by Deepak Chopra about President Bush, religion and politics, and stem cells. It's too bad the HP posted this since it basically consists of a temper tantrum blaming everything on 'stupid Bush and his closed minded religious ideology.'
Chopra, "a spiritual speaker who fuses Western science with Eastern wisdom," is claiming to point out the
"bad science" of the Bush Administration's rejection of public monies to fund the destruction of embryos for experiments. It's dumbfounding that someone who has made a living from the intersection of the spiritual and scientific can so summarily reject that with which he does not agree. Furthermore, it's equally bewildering that he seems so ignorant about the distinctions of religion, ethics, and public policy.
There is plenty with which to be dissatisfied by the Religious Right but Chopra blames the coming end of our beloved Republic on his mis-understanding of American politics and the role of faith in shaping our society and government. That serves little but does mark Chopra as a hack for the 'anti-Bush, anti-conservative Left.'
One thing that is constructive from this display of anger is the clear perception that those on the anti-religious Left hold Christianity and those who integrate their faith as undeserving of their place in the polity. It is incumbent upon those of us, therefore, who believe that our faith cannot help but affect our ethics and politics to prove them wrong.
Politics. A powerful word.
Despite all the values associated with politics, it is as much a part of life as money, meetings, and merging on the freeway. It can be good. It can be bad.
Fortunately, politics is not outside of the reach of God. Not only did He create us, He created the systems and relationships that affect our lives - including politics. Therefore, that system by which we collectively determine how to govern ourselves are waiting to be redeemed by those who bear His name.
1TIM2 is a way for Christ-followers to better understand how to impact government, politics, public policy and social issues. It is a way for God's Spirit to work through his Ambassadors and redeem the sphere of law, policy and regulation.
1TIM2 focuses on prayer, education, relationships and service. These four areas establish a new model for involvement by Christ-followers to engage decisions and decision-makers.
More details are coming forth as this is a work in progress. But, in the meantime, please feel free to post your opinions about how politics and faith come together in an integrated and effective way.
Thanks for visiting and I look forward to working together toward redemption.
