Critique and Embrace- Thoughts on Gospel and Government

This blog is the product of a muddled lunch conversation…hopefully it stimulates some thinking and fresh dialogue:

All this political conversation, which as of late we have not been engaging with nearly as much as we have in the past, caused us to consider the notion of politics and the gospel. How might the gospel inform the people of God’s response to the geopolitical situation of our world today?

The modern political situation is complicated, complex, and messy. The war in Iraq, the 15 British sailors being held by the Iranian government, the genocide in Darfur, domestic issues of gang violence, homelessness and poverty, these are but a minute sampling of socio-political issues facing our world today. To navigate politics is difficult enough to do as it is, but then add into the mix Christian convictions in light of the gospel, and things become even more complicated. These issues are much too large to address in the time and space we have. Therefore we still want to narrow our discussion even more and simply suggest a few thoughts on the topic of Christian response to government in America.
One discouraging thing about this whole issue is the fact that government never will be “pure” or “the best.” There is much talk, especially in America, about how democracy is the best form of government, or the Republic is the right way to govern.

Within this discussion, ignorant comments arise such as “communism, in theory, is the purest form of government,” (comments aside as to what this actually means). In spite of all of this, we as Christians know and understand that no system of secular government will ultimately help to solve the real problems in this world, nor is any of them “right.” These systems are simply inventions of man throughout history as we are still trying to figure out the “best” and “most effective” way to govern ourselves. The bottom line is that these systems will ultimately fail. At the end of the day, the peace and security promised to us by all of these secular forms of government can and will only be realized in the final consummation of the Kingdom of God.

And it is within this that we find the tension: how much should we critique our government, and how much should we embrace? Christians have to live in this delicate balance of “giving to Caesar’s what is Caesar’s” but also recognizing that any current form of government will eventually pass away to give rise to a new “better” way. So how do we do this? We don’t really know. Some have suggested that we completely move out of politics (Anabaptists), while others seek to actively be involved in the issues (reformed). And maybe the answer lies somewhere in between, but ultimately, it’s important for us to be navigating our way through these kinds of thoughts.

-BP and KFizz

The Beginning

This is the first "test" post to try out this new "blog."