Christian Politics 2
Oct 29th, 2008 by ljkim
It’s easy to sell out Jesus when it comes to politics. So easy, in fact, that very few people reading this would know what I’m about to say. Conservatives believe that the future is in jeopardy because we are losing sight of good things from the past. That is why they want to “conserve” things past, they want to make sure that what is good and true that people once knew will continue to bless the future (the enemy is “corruption” of former glory). Liberals (from the Latin liber meaning “free”) look hopefully toward the future because when they look to the past they see its sins: genocide, racism, white man’s burden, economic and social oppression, ignorance. They want to free us from our past and hope for a better more enlightened future (the enemy is a desire to hold on to the past). Conservatives say past=good, let’s go back, to “small town values” to a time before we had enough people to have large cities. Liberals say past=sin, let’s move forward to a bright future free from the shackles of our past ignorance.
So which side would Jesus take?
This is where it becomes easy to sell Jesus out. Although it’s easy to read Jesus into one or the other position, and although we as individuals may lean more to one side or the other, the best answer is really: NEITHER. Liberals are right to point to the sins of the past: The American past IS filled with hatred, greed, racism, oppression, violence, and even genocide. But the conservatives are right also in the sense that we have no basis for thinking the future will be any better just because we have learned to criticize the past… There was real greatness in the founding fathers that we don’t find often in politics today.
The Daily Show did a great bit Monday Night with John Oliver (the “British guy”) where he interviewed McCain supporters who argued that we should fear an Obama White House…”because he’s a Muslim.” Then he interviewed Obama supporters who feared a McCain White House…because he’s a war monger and doesn’t know how to text message. Too often believers get caught up in the same fear-based polemic when they should be the voice of reason. It’s possible for good and intelligent (even gifted) people to do terribly as president, while at the same time seemingly mediocre people can do quite well (but people remember them after the fact as ‘brilliant’ e.g., Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan). Christians believe that the welfare of our country is directed by God’s mercy, and not human performance. In other words: people of both parties act as though “THIS MAN MUST BE ELECTED OR ELSE!” And that’s just not true. As long as God is good we have a chance. Apart from God, even with the best of candidates, we have no chance (you might disagree with that, but I’m saying this is the basic Christian position). Therefore it’s our job to pray for our political leaders, and be the voice of reason and the conscience for our political parties, rather than get caught up in party politics.
So in a few days you’ll have a chance to vote for your candidate. I’m glad to have such a great candidate this year to support. But even the best of candidates can fold and compromise and make poor decisions, so I don’t place my faith in the person (no matter how good they seem, they are still regular fallen human beings), but I seek mercy from our King that he’d be merciful to the man we pick, give him humility and wisdom and the ability to lead well. Then from that perspective I can be charitable to those who disagree politically without attacking people’s character or intentions.