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How Do Christians Fit Into the Two-Party System? They Don’t

alaskanseminole

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Oct 20, 2002
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By Timothy Keller
I recently wrote about how churches should not destroy unity or fellowship over political differences. The replies I got show that many American Evangelicals have no coherent understanding of how to relate the Bible to politics.
Here are two biblical moral norms: (1) It is a sin to worship idols or any God other than the true God, and (2) it is a sin to marry someone of the same sex.

If you ask evangelicals if Americans should be forbidden by law to worship any other God than the God of the Bible—they’d say ‘no’. We allow that terrible sin to be legal. But if you ask them if Americans should be forbidden by law to marry someone of the same sex, they would say ‘yes’.

Now why make the first sin legal and NEVER talk about it and the second sin illegal and a main political talking point ? There are many other biblical morals we don't make law either. Why?

At the very least, it shows a lack of knowing how to apply the Bible to politics. Since we can't simply say, "If the Bible says its sin it should be illegal"-how do we choose which morals to politically champion? Please don't say, "I just want to see the 10 commandments made law in society." That's too simplistic and we don't do this already. The Bible tells us that idolatry and ignoring the poor are grievous sins. But it doesn’t tell us exactly HOW we are to apply these norms to a pluralistic democracy.

We are to help the poor, but the Bible doesn't tell us which political strategy (high taxes and government services vs low taxes and private charity) to use. The Bible binds my conscience to love the immigrant-but it doesn't tell me HOW many legal immigrants to admit to the U.S. every year. The point is the Bible doesn’t tell me the best political policy in regards to immigration.

The current political parties will say that their policy most aligns morally with the Bible, but we are allowed to debate that and so our churches should not have disunity over debatable political differences! It is also why I have never publicly or privately told Christians who they should vote for. I have also never told anyone they should vote Democrat or Republican. Depending on the policy we can find more or less alignment with Biblical morals. I believe all Christians should be active in politics, but it is unwise to identify Christianity with any particular party. (Please discuss the principal of WHY we have synchronistic picking of morals to be laws and keep current policy debates at bay). For more see:

 
By Timothy Keller
I recently wrote about how churches should not destroy unity or fellowship over political differences. The replies I got show that many American Evangelicals have no coherent understanding of how to relate the Bible to politics.
Here are two biblical moral norms: (1) It is a sin to worship idols or any God other than the true God, and (2) it is a sin to marry someone of the same sex.

If you ask evangelicals if Americans should be forbidden by law to worship any other God than the God of the Bible—they’d say ‘no’. We allow that terrible sin to be legal. But if you ask them if Americans should be forbidden by law to marry someone of the same sex, they would say ‘yes’.

Now why make the first sin legal and NEVER talk about it and the second sin illegal and a main political talking point ? There are many other biblical morals we don't make law either. Why?

At the very least, it shows a lack of knowing how to apply the Bible to politics. Since we can't simply say, "If the Bible says its sin it should be illegal"-how do we choose which morals to politically champion? Please don't say, "I just want to see the 10 commandments made law in society." That's too simplistic and we don't do this already. The Bible tells us that idolatry and ignoring the poor are grievous sins. But it doesn’t tell us exactly HOW we are to apply these norms to a pluralistic democracy.

We are to help the poor, but the Bible doesn't tell us which political strategy (high taxes and government services vs low taxes and private charity) to use. The Bible binds my conscience to love the immigrant-but it doesn't tell me HOW many legal immigrants to admit to the U.S. every year. The point is the Bible doesn’t tell me the best political policy in regards to immigration.

The current political parties will say that their policy most aligns morally with the Bible, but we are allowed to debate that and so our churches should not have disunity over debatable political differences! It is also why I have never publicly or privately told Christians who they should vote for. I have also never told anyone they should vote Democrat or Republican. Depending on the policy we can find more or less alignment with Biblical morals. I believe all Christians should be active in politics, but it is unwise to identify Christianity with any particular party. (Please discuss the principal of WHY we have synchronistic picking of morals to be laws and keep current policy debates at bay). For more see:

Register as an Independent.

Come up with a priority list of personal political issues. These are your values.

Vett every candidate in each race on your ballot versus your priorities/values.

Vote accordingly.
 
Register as an Independent.

Come up with a priority list of personal political issues. These are your values.

Vett every candidate in each race on your ballot versus your priorities/values.

Vote accordingly.
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When I saw it was Keller, I was far more hopeful I would agree than I would with many other Christian "leaders". Good news, I wasn't disappointed.

He didn't make this point, so it's not a disagreement, but I wish he'd addressed this...I'm not sure why so many Christians demand that biblical standard is made into law. The whole point is that following the Bible, and therefore becoming Christian, is an individual choice made for personal reasons.

That's not to say that you shouldn't vote for those you agree with. But it is saying that this isn't a Christian nation and it shouldn't be governed in accordance to the Bible.
 
Reagan’s biggest failure to America was his courting abs involvement of the Christian evangelical into tge politidal system. These are the most self-serving, least tolerant of Americans whose very nature is to resist the compromise nature of American politics.
Other politicians were able to see this and resist the temptation. But, not Reagan. In some ways, Reagan was a very flawed President.
 
Reagan’s biggest failure to America was his courting abs involvement of the Christian evangelical into tge politidal system. These are the most self-serving, least tolerant of Americans whose very nature is to resist the compromise nature of American politics.
Other politicians were able to see this and resist the temptation. But, not Reagan. In some ways, Reagan was a very flawed President.
FYI, the red squiggly lines under certain words means they're spelled incorrectly. You're welcome.
 
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