The political arena is a mess. It might be one of the darkest areas on earth. It seems impossible to be a politician without also being a liar, a thief, and a backstabbing jerk.
Which means that due to the corruption in politics, the realm of politics is ripe for the gospel!
Though many governments think that there should be a separation between church and state, the call of the gospel affects all areas of life, including the areas of government and politics. Ultimately, the gospel is political because the gospel is a description of how God wants the world to be run.
Since government and those in political positions of power are those who make decisions about how the world is to be run, such decisions should be guided and governed by gospel values and goals.
This does not mean that our governmental bodies should endorse Christianity as the official state religion, or that we should force all people to read the Bible and become Christians. Such actions are completely contrary to the values and goals of the gospel.
Just as God loves all and accepts all regardless of whether they love or follow Him in return, so also, a government guided by the gospel will govern with values of equality, justice, and generosity without forcing anyone to follow the ways of Scripture. This is not some Christian form of Sharia Law, where we force Christian morality on everyone else, but is instead a gospel-based law of love where all are treated with dignity, equality, and respect, regardless of how they think, believe, or behave.
Yes, there should be laws to enforce human decency and peace, but we cannot force anyone to worship a particular God or ascribe a particular set of beliefs. The goal of a gospel-focused politician would be to create laws that bring about a spirit of creativity, generosity, freedom, and equality, while doing away with laws that hinder such things.
If we were guided by gospel values in political decisions, this would affect areas such as economics and taxation, military spending and war, the prison system and the penal codes, equality among the sexes, training and education, and a wide variety of other issues that consume the national debates.
When the gospel guides our discussion of these issues, the question of what is best for me and my country disappears, and the question instead becomes what is best for the world and for all people everywhere. When you pray for your political leaders, pray that they would see these things and lead our countries in gospel-oriented directions.
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It’s telling that many (if not most) people use the term “politician” as a synonym for “elected official” when, in fact, they are not synonyms at all. A politician is someone who engages in politics, which is the art of dealing with people in order to achieve one’s goals. Many elected officials are not good at engaging in politics and many people who are good at engaging in politics are not elected officials.
A professional politician is someone who makes a profession of manipulating other people. If an elected official has a source of income that is not dependent upon holding an elected office then that official is less likely to be a professional politician than one who has no other means of support. For example, Dr. Rand Paul does not rely on his position in the Senate as his primary means of support; he could leave the Senate at any time and return to his medical practice. Even if he is good at playing the game of politics, he is not a professional politician. On the other hand, there are many officials who would have no other way to support their food and shelter habits if they if they failed to win elections and could not find other (appointed) positions in government.
An elected official may be a liar, thief, and/or backstabbing jerk, but those attributes are nothing new in government, or human relations in general for that matter. One need only read the Old Testament to see many examples. Unfortunately, the solution to corruption in politics (i.e., government) is not more Gospel but rather less government. Any time human beings are given the authority to tell other human beings how to live, there will always be liars, thieves, and backstabbing jerks who find their ways into positions from which they can exercise such authority over others. We need to eliminate those positions if we want to reduce corruption in government because we can never eliminate those traits from human beings, regardless of how much or how loudly we preach the Gospel to them. (And don’t get me started on the frauds who pretend to be Christians in order to win votes from naive and gullible people who will vote for anyone who is seen going to church regularly.)
Have you read Jeremy’s book ” Nothing but the Blood of Jesus: How the Sacrifice of Jesus Saves the World from Sin” ? It might change your perspective.
That is a good distinction, one I had not thought of before.
I agree with the overall solution … less government would be great. But I also think more gospel will help people learn to love each other as God loves us.
We absolutely need to have the Good Word taught to more people but the Good Word that is taught should be the words of Yehoshua rather than the things that pass for “gospel” in so many of the so-called Christian churches. Never forget that many churches in the countries that permitted slavery justified it based upon scripture. Slavery was not exclusive to the American colonies and it wasn’t invented here; it was brought here initially by European slave ships from regions where it was (and remains) a common practice and it remained legal in many of the European colonies long after the importation of slaves was prohibited by the US Constitution. The meaning of scripture can be twisted to serve the purposes of men so we must do everything that we can to ensure that the “Good Words” that are taught are the actual words of Yehoshua rather than the selected words of Paul and the Old Testament that form the basis of discrimination against women, racial minorities, homosexuals, and “different” religions (including atheism).
Jeremy this is a excellent post. I worked for 30 yrs in Govt as a manager and what you describe as key issues hold true in relation to many elected officials (not all). What I noticed missing most were the attributes of Christ in peoples lives and gospel values which intern effected their often poor decision making. If Government systems are not well designed and legal over watch is not in existence then opportunities for corruption are rife. This over watch would not be needed if Gospel values dominated in decision making. At the moment the political machine just seems to flow with powerful minorities or public opinion (influenced often by the media). In essence such people will promise what ever they think will get them re-elected. Gospel values are not part of it. Promises then get broken.
While the gospel informs many areas of society and public life, was that the primary intent of Jesus? Or, was it change of heart (metanoia)… from the world’s values and priorities to His? The Good News of Jesus Christ, cannot be stopped from affecting every area of society, politics and government included. But is that a goal or a collateral benefit?