Politics, Morals and the Church

It is interesting to me that the press was so "surprised" to discover that the voting of people in this year's presidential election was primarily swayed by character, morality and religious standards. They seem to be astonished that these issues trumped the issues of foreign policy, economics, and other more "practical" issues.

I am pleasantly surprised that things turned out as they did. I guess it was surprising to me because I so completely see how my faith is the foundation of my morality, and it seems that faith is so mechanical or worse, non-existent, in so many people these days.

Now, while it is possible to hold to some standard of values without faith in God, there is no absolute standard without God's laws being the final word on the subject. If God's laws are not the foundation of one's morality, then the morality is based on culture, tradition, feelings, whims or worse. I guess there is enough residual flavor of Christianity in our nation's culture to give a semblance of Godly morals... but in reality it is probably just a latent image of true faith in God's laws which has become more cultural and traditional than anything else.

The problem with true Christians relying on these cultural and traditional moralities when it comes to the laws and electing of officials in our government is that cultural and traditional morals morph, change and deteriorate with time. We were "lucky" this time. Now our courts will have appointees who uphold some semblance of Christian values due to the man we elected as president. However, in four years, we may not be so lucky. The cultural morality might wear thin and not elect leaders based on morals that are similar to true Godly morality next time.

If we (the church) do not start acting more like Salt and Light -- influencing our culture by founding people's morality on the world view of God's Word -- we will see out nation fall into a new cultural morality that looks less and less like the morals of Christ.

Most "pastors" in institutional church organizations see it as politically incorrect to talk about the moral issues of the day which are closely tied to political issues. They have unknowingly created a mindset in church-goers that your Christian beliefs, and your practical political beliefs exist side by side but never interact. "Pastors" may not intend to teach this, but by refusing to speak on political issues which are tied to moral standards of the Bible, they teach it none the less. Most church-goers have learned by example that these two sides of belief do not have to interact or coincide, because the "pastor" keeps them separate too. Inadvertently, "pastors" are teaching their "flocks" to put on their Church beliefs for Sunday, and their political and moral beliefs the rest of the week. But that is not what Jesus or the Bible tells us about our beliefs. We are to have a "world view" that that includes our political, moral, and day to day beliefs as well as our religious beliefs and they all must be aligned with the scripture. Founded on God's laws and wisdom.

Those of us who are not a part of the institutional church should be all the more fervent and unafraid of speaking God's morality even when it steps on political toes or treads on cultural whims.

Politics is a part of life; life is meant to be governed by morality; legitimate morality can only come from God; therefore, these things should be a natural part for a Christian's conversation and life. There is no "separation of church and state" - not in the US constitution, nor should there be in the heart of a Christian. If your politics are not governed by your religious understanding, then you are a walking contradiction.

Now, I am not saying that the "right" morality is aligned with one or another political party. Political parties are human institutions (on the whole) and can not possibly be equivalent to true Christian morality and purpose. However, we as those who hold to Christ and God's laws should pick our support of individuals, parties and initiatives based on God's morality rather than our personal well-being, convenience, preferences or culture.

Those Christians who think it is wrong for the church or Christians to be involved in politics are missing a few key commands of Christ. First of all, Jesus told us to love our neighbor and do good to those who hate us. If you know that God's laws for human government, morality and order are the best for mankind, wouldn't you be subjecting your neighbor to the worst, or at least not the best if you refused to take a biblically moral AND political stand for the laws of this land? By not voting down laws and politicians who bring ungodly laws to the books, you are subjecting yourself, your family and your neighbor to things God's Words says are wrong, sinful and downright bad for us!

Secondly, the book of Romans tells us to obey the laws of the land and be subject to rulers as long as they are not in conflict with God's laws. This is not a suggestion. Now it is not this way everywhere in the world, but here in the USA, in this century, to be considered a good and faithful member of society our government relies on us (the citizens) to vote. That is the backbone of our governmental structure. If we refuse to do this, and refuse to participate, we are violating a command of God to be subject to the governing authorities... to be a good citizen. It is not a matter of our right to vote or not vote. It is a matter of obeying God to be a model to our culture as a Christian citizen.

For those inside the institutional church, you are bound to be influenced by your pastors preaching... or lack of it. True, some will speak and live these truths in spite of their "church" or "pastor" -- and because of this they will be labeled as rebels (even though they are doing what the "pastor" should be doing). Others, whose church has a political/religious mix that is based more on culture than God's law will go to the flow and think of their political party as their religion.

We should really BE THE CHURCH rather than ATTEND AND ORGANIZATION... but there is more... to BE THE CHURCH we must learn to not fall prey to the politically correct view that politics and faith do not intersect.