God’s Politics – Jim Wallis
April 8th, 2009 by Stephen
Religion and politics seem to be highly polarised in America. Anyone who has spoken at length with American Christians will be familiar with the way that all too often political thought seems to seep into the Christian dialogue, and from the perspective of an outsider, it seems that these notions are frequently unchallenged, and often at odds with the message of the gospel.
This book is then a timely call to Christians to re-evaluate their unchallenged assumptions, and to realise that so much of politics is anti Christian, that they do the church a dis-service in not taking a stand against it. The book has practical ideas of how to make a stand, and is a wake up call for anyone who thinks God would vote for a certain political party!
There is less here for non Americans. The context of the book is clearly America and its politics, and an outsider would be wrong to read this book to feel smug about their own politics. In the UK religion is much less polarised, but the policies of the parties are no more moral for this. Non US readers should read the book with humility, wondering how the lessons and ideas here can be applied in their own context.
This book is very thought-provoking. He argues that separation of church and state is not possible, which is true in a way, many laws are founded behind some sort of religious principle. Not saying I loved it, but I guess you could say that this book is biblicaly correct.
First off, I will admit that I am am a member of the “great unwashed,” an American. Yet, even an American can learn a few things as he studies the Bible.
What I have been shocked to learn is that one of our basic assumptions of western civilization is unscriptural. God commands us to obey the government, going so far as to say that those who have rule over us, whomever they might be, whatever form of government they might have instituted and however good or cruel they might be to us, “watch for your souls” (a quote from Hebrews 13:17). What’s more, in the parable regarding where to sit at a wedding, from Luke 14:7-11, Jesus tells us “But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room,” rather than the highest. This is preaching about our rightful place being that which is the most humble, not the most lofty. We aren’t supposed to imagine ourselves to be rightfully in the most lofty positions in society, that of the rulers. No, quite the opposite.
Let’s look at the right attitude for a Christian to have. Let’s hear how the Lord had David, the man after God’s own heart, put it:
“LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me,” (a quote from Psalm 131:1).
Now, just what does democracy tell us? To imagine, for a moment at least, that we could, or should, really ought to be, the ruler, and go ahead and decide how the government should be run, and by whom. That’s right, when we are asked, cajoled really, to vote in any election, we are being encouraged to deliberatley take the highest place at the table, not the lowest. It is an enticement to disobey God, clothed in the guise of “good government”, fairness, reasonableness, progress. The truth is, it was *never* a Christian position or a scriptural idea. It was the idea of ego-inflated Enlightment philosophers who felt that by their reason alone they could devise a better government than what God had provided naturally, which is monarchy. The strong rule, in any case, including in a so-called democracy. The fact is, the real rulers in any system of government are the super-rich elites. The power changes hands with revolutions (political, cultural or economic), but any reform movement quickly devolves into a oligarchy with very few members. So, regardless of what the over-culture thinks it is doing, what kind of government they think they are fashioning, it really is the same. Besides, on top of all of these governments is God, the King of the kings. We think we are making a choice of rulers, but He really does the choosing. We lose sight of all this in all the excitement, which is all pageant really, anyway. It’s all a trick of Satan, keeping us striving for power rather than recognizing that only God has power.
I have come to see this by Bible study only in the past few years. I now know that God does not want true believers to participate in any kind of political process, but to politely and firmly refuse to disobey God, even if the government goes to the length of making it illegal to refuse to vote.
I was driven into the scriptures to find out this truth because of all the damage that political influences and temptations did to my own soul. I offer what I have learned for your own edification, if you will have it.
May the Lord be glorified,
/Larry Gillespie
My blog: yet7days@blogspot.com
By the way …
Yes, I do now (I would never have agreed a few years ago) that all rebellion is wrong, even the American Revolution. We had no right, under God, to rebel against our rightfully placed king, though we were indeed being mistreated. Our leaders at that time sinned. I should, by all rights, be a British citizen. However, as with marriage, once a revolution is consummated and a new nation created, it is a fact, and all nations are sovereign over their own people, under God. Therefore, I owe my allegiance, today, to the rulers of America, not England, because I was born into *that* nation, in that reality.
In the service of Christ Jesus the righteous,
/Larry Gillespie
I do now ADMIT that it was wrong to rebel against King George III. I forgot the word “admit”.