Tag Archives: Politics

Commentary

Are Christians too involved in politics?

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Here’s a thought-provoking post I missed at the Life Training Institute blog, about the new Wayne Grudem book on politics and the Bible.

Intro:

I’m thoroughly enjoying Wayne Grudem’s Politics According to the Bible. Finally, here’s a Christian theologian who connects the dots: Christian belief is not just about John 3: 16, but transformed living which includeds the transformation of government. True, political success can’t save souls eternally (only the gospel does that), but it can promote a more just society for the weak and oppressed. To that end, Christians should exert significant influence on government.

Grudem begins by challenging five wrong views regarding Christians and government: 1) Government should compel religion. 2) Government should exclude religion. 3) All government is evil and demonic. 4) Do evangelism, not politics. 5) Do politics, not evangelism.

[…]Most helpful to the pro-life cause is Grudem’s refutation of #4—namely, the faulty view that Christians should do evangelism not politics. Sadly, well-intentioned leaders like John MacArthur and Cal Thomas have discouraged pro-life Christians from engaging the culture through politics.

I am not a big fan of John MacArthur and Cal Thomas for the reasons stated, and I don’t think that either is really much of an evangelist in any case, since I never see them referenced as authorities on apologetics, which is really the means by which evangelism occurs in the real world.

In his book, Grudem refutes MacArthur and Thomas:

I agree that one significant way that God restrains evil in the world is through changing people’s hearts when they trust in Christ as their Savior (see 2 Cor. 5:17). But we should not turn this one way into the only way that God restrains evil in this age. God also uses civil government to restrain evil, and there is much evil that can only be restrained by the power of civil government, for there will always be many who do not trust in Christ as their Savior and many who do not fully obey him.

Klusendorf also referenced this post by evangelical Joe Carter.

Excerpt:

Consider that for more than two decades the number one issue on the agenda of the evangelical wing of the religious right has been abortion.

The bitter irony is that this is perceived as the “number one” political issue for evangelicals when it really isn’t one of our top priorities. If evangelicals–and Christians in general–truly cared about this issue, abortion on demand would not be the law of the land.

Imagine if every Christian in America vowed not to cast a vote for any candidate of any party for any office if they supported or condoned the killing of the unborn. Imagine if every pastor in America had the courage to stand in the pulpit and deliver the Gospel-centric message that God abhors this slaughtering of the innocent and that for the church to tolerate this sin is a fecal-colored stain on the garment of Christ’s bride.

But it will never happen because the evangelical church isn’t committed as the church to rectifying this grave injustice. We never have been.

I was having a talk with someone recently who was telling me that sometimes the religious left pushes policies that are inconsistent with the Bible, like wealth redistribution or encouraging Christians to condone sexual immorality instead of setting up boundaries on sexuality by making clear statements of what the Bible says and explaining why what the Bible says is true using real objective evidence. Yes, I support policies that are consistent with what the Bible says – but I don’t look to politics to push non-Biblical policies.

Grudem’s book is must reading for Christians looking for a comprehensive Biblical view of politics, including social AND economic issues.

News

MUST-READ: CNS News interviews Michele Bachmann

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This is an actual photo of Michele in Congress

Here’s an interview about her latest doings from CNS News.

Excerpt:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), founder and chair of the House Tea Party Caucus, told CNSNews.com this week that when the  Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in January they should kill Obamacare by zeroing-out funding for it, and by the same means remove from office the non-Senate-confirmed “czars” President Barack Obama has named to his administration.

“That’s the beauty of conservatives winning in this election, because the House has the power of the purse and we can zero that out in our budget,” she said.

“Zero out any funding for the current czars, for instance, that the president has,” Bachmann told CNSNews.com in an appearance on “Online With Terry Jeffrey. “Zero out the implementation of Obamacare. Zero out funding for the 16,500 IRS agents who will be the enforcers of Obamacare. All of that needs to be zeroed out.”

When asked whether she was advocating that the Republican majority in the House kill Obamacare by simply using the power of the purse to never approve funding for it, Bachmann said: “Yes.”

[…]“That’s what we’re supposed to do here in Congress, is make our case based upon a principled argument,” the Minnesota conservative told CNSNews.com. ”And we need to make that argument, because to go down the road of funding Obamacare will lead us to socialized medicine.”

Here’s an interesting part of the transcript:

Jeffrey: Congressman, let me turn to some social and cultural issues.

Earlier this year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave a talk where she said that her favorite word was the “Word made flesh,” namely Jesus Christ, and that she believed that she had a duty to pursue policies that were in keeping with the values of Jesus Christ. A reporter from CNSNews.com went to one of her press conferences and asked her when did she believe that the Word was made flesh? Was it at the Annunciation, at the conception of Jesus Christ? Or was it at the Nativity, at the birth of Jesus Christ? And when did Jesus get the right life? Was it at conception? Was it at birth? When did Jesus get the right to life? So I want to ask you that same question that we put to Nancy Pelosi. When was the Word made Flesh? At the conception? And when did Jesus get a right to life?

Bachmann: I think the answer would be John 1:1. The Word was God and the Word was with God from the foundation of the Earth. So, prior to our even being here on the Earth, the Father and the Son were together because all things were created by Jesus Christ and with the Father and held together. And I believe in a triune God: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. That’s when Jesus was created. It’s hard for us to understand, beyond our limits of time, what eternity really means. I don’t know that the mind of man can truly conceive and understand eternity, but we know from the Word of God–I believe the Word of God–that Christ was preeminent. That He was preeminent and before all things and created all things. So, therefore, He always was one with the Father.

Jeffrey: And He became flesh, became a human being–

Bachmann: And dwelt with man.

Jeffrey: And dwelt among us.

Bachmann: And dwelt among us.

Jeffrey: And did Jesus have a right to life from the moment of conception?

Bachmann: Yes.

Jeffrey: Do all human beings have a right to life?

Bachmann: Yes, they do.

Jeffrey: Should there be legal protection for every human being from the moment of conception?

Bachmann: Yes, there should be.

You can see the full video of the interview and read the full transcript at the CNS News link.

I remember listening to a MacLaurin lecture one day given by Ravi Zacharias in Minnesota. And as I started it up, you will never believe who was introducing him. It was Michele Bachmann. And she was explaining to the audience how she had asked her husband, for her anniversary present, to go and hear Ravi Zacharias speak. She did not ask for stuff. She asked for apologetics. If only this woman could be President, I would be the happiest person in the world.

Related posts

News

Michele Bachmann calls for Attorney General Holder to resign

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Rep. Michele Bachmann
Rep. Michele Bachmann

Her post is up at Red State, a web site dedicated to grassroots conservatism.

Full text:

The Wikileaks debacle is the latest proof that Eric Holder has no understanding of the dangerous times we live in. His ineptness, as head of the Department of Justice, is putting our nation in a vulnerable position.

Earlier this week, the Wikileaks website jeopardized our nation’s security and diplomacy by releasing hundreds of thousands of U.S. State Department documents. The same site put our troops at risk when it released thousands of classified U.S. military documents in July. As far back as March, the Pentagon declared Wikileaks to be a threat to national security. Meanwhile, the Attorney General, our nation’s chief law enforcement officer, has been busy cracking down on dozens of websites that sold things like counterfeit purses. Eric Holder simply has the wrong priorities.

During his tenure as Attorney General, Holder short-circuited the interrogation of the underwear bomber by ordering that the terror suspect be given Miranda rights within the first hour of questioning. Holder’s use of civilian trials for terror suspects proved to be a failure last month when a civilian jury acquitted a man on 284 of 285 counts. This was after a judge refused to allow the testimony of a key prosecution witness, even though our military had captured the suspect after a gunfight in Pakistan and linked him to deadly bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

Eric Holder has also had a slew of lesser problems, like his outspoken criticism of Arizona’s immigration law before he had even read the law, his dropping of charges in the New Black Panthers voter intimidation case, and his failure to investigate fraud allegations and the misuse of taxpayer dollars in the recent Pigford claims settlement.

The time has come for Eric Holder to step down as Attorney General of the United States. As a member of Congress and a mother of five children, I am concerned about the very real threats facing our country. We need a chief law enforcement officer who understands those dangers and knows how to respond.

A nice re-cap of the Obama administration’s lack of seriousness on national security and crime.