Life is too short to be an apologist for anything but the Gospel. That thought came to mind yesterday when I was asked to grant permission to someone to republish something I had once written on constitutional politics. My initial instinct was to give it. After all, the DBO byline reads, "Restoring our biblical AND constitutional foundations." I have long been a keen student of American politics, its process of development, as well as its relationship with biblical Christianity. Indeed, not too long ago I would have considered myself an "apologist" for the Constitution Party. Anyone who reads this website site knows that I have written very little lately on this subject.Why?
The more I read the New Testament the more I see that it would have us hold tightly to Jesus Christ, to whom we must accord preeminence, and hold every other loyalty loosely, including our political affiliations. I have come to see that any political movement, perhaps especially one supported by Christians, is a part, not of Christianity, but of Christendom, which itself is a very complex mixture of truth and error. The tragedy is that this connection is not always acknowledged, and the resultant impoverishment has often made Christianity prone to syncretism and to an unwarranted and shameful triumphalism.
In order for the church to fulfill her glorious worldwide mission, its structure must be a global structure. This means that the church is essentially a trans-national body, centered in the Great Commission of her Lord and in the spiritual life and mission of its total priesthood of all believers, regardless of their political views or national loyalties. In this way our churches can be revolutionized by a partnership of grace in which every member has his or her own contribution to make and function to fulfill. No doubt when we begin to look at the Body of Christ universally we will find ourselves acting less and less like "apologists" for our own brand of national politics.
Truly, life is too short to be an apologist for anything but the Gospel.
3 comments:
Well Said. Thank you Allen. God Bless Chad
Leaning left as I do, I cannot bring myself to sign on as a Democrat for these very reasons. Of significant influence for me has been John Howard Yoder's "The Politics of Jesus."
CP
CP:
Yoder's "Politics of Jesus" has also had a huge impact on my thinking which raises an interesting question for me. For those of us who have been so influenced by Yoder, why would any of us lean left or right politically?
Post a Comment