Friday, October 22, 2004
White Horse Inn Series on Religion and Politics
I highly recommend this series.
We all hold tightly to our political and religious beliefs. As a highly opinionated person myself, this series was a healthy reminder during a heated political season.
We have direct, divine revelation in the Bible about certain matters. Beyond those things which are contained clearly in Biblical revelation (the Resurrection, the need for belief in Jesus, etc.), we should fully expect people to disagree with each other. People come with different perspectives, different facts, etc. I know many Christians who I would describe as politically liberal. Are they still my brother or sister in Christ? Absolutely. The bad tendency in modern politics is to say that those you disagree with aren't just wrong, but have some character flaw. That isn't always the case. I know godly Democrats and godless Republicans and vice-versa.
My problem is that I argue these two realms equally. Although I would have to say my political views are subject to change more frequently (my view on the war on drugs, modification of my economic libertarianism being the two examples that come readily to mind).
The more important thing to take away from the series for Christians is the two kingdoms. There is a kingdom of God and the kingdom of man. In the midst of the kingdom of man, politics is not our salvation. Our guy may or may not get elected. Things don't necessarily go to pot if our guy doesn't win. Conversely, things could get worse if our guy wins. To think one man, even the most powerful man in the world, can control the course of history is silly. He can affect it for sure. But the grand sweep of history is in God's hands. The cummaltive choices of the populace aren't necessarily within the President's control.
Audio is in Windows Media or Real Audio.
I highly recommend this series.
We all hold tightly to our political and religious beliefs. As a highly opinionated person myself, this series was a healthy reminder during a heated political season.
We have direct, divine revelation in the Bible about certain matters. Beyond those things which are contained clearly in Biblical revelation (the Resurrection, the need for belief in Jesus, etc.), we should fully expect people to disagree with each other. People come with different perspectives, different facts, etc. I know many Christians who I would describe as politically liberal. Are they still my brother or sister in Christ? Absolutely. The bad tendency in modern politics is to say that those you disagree with aren't just wrong, but have some character flaw. That isn't always the case. I know godly Democrats and godless Republicans and vice-versa.
My problem is that I argue these two realms equally. Although I would have to say my political views are subject to change more frequently (my view on the war on drugs, modification of my economic libertarianism being the two examples that come readily to mind).
The more important thing to take away from the series for Christians is the two kingdoms. There is a kingdom of God and the kingdom of man. In the midst of the kingdom of man, politics is not our salvation. Our guy may or may not get elected. Things don't necessarily go to pot if our guy doesn't win. Conversely, things could get worse if our guy wins. To think one man, even the most powerful man in the world, can control the course of history is silly. He can affect it for sure. But the grand sweep of history is in God's hands. The cummaltive choices of the populace aren't necessarily within the President's control.
Audio is in Windows Media or Real Audio.
