Post-Political Christianity

Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene, Mt. of Olives

I’ve been stewing on this post for quite some time, even before the ’08 election. I don’t have any citations to prove my theories, just my own personal observations. This could be a fascinating investigation and maybe I’ll get to it eventually. Anyway, on with the post: I feel like I’ve been looking at the aftermath of a huge train wreck for a couple of years now. That train wreck is the Church’s abdication of its role in society to the Federal Government. This wreck is evident on both sides of the Christian spectrum (conservative and liberal). I’m not entirely certain when the wreck started but I shall propose a hypothesis.

Essentially beginning with the Wilson administration in 1913 (the election being held in 1912), American society was set upon the path towards more and more “humanistic/socialistic” utopia. This was furthered immensely due to the Great Depression and FDR’s New Deal policies which encouraged people who’d been devastated by the Depression to look to the Feds for help and sustenance.

During the cultural revolutions of the 60’s and 70’s, socially minded Christians seem to have hitched their wagons to the Democratic Donkey. Democrats offered these Christians (who had a New Deal foundation of Uncle Sam being their route to utopia) the legislative means to fulfill the Prophetic call to care for “the poor, the widow, and the orphan”. Somewhere during the previous decades, it looks like many churches simply quit caring for these “in need” groups. Socially minded Christians needed an outlet and liberal politics seemed the way to go. Combine this with the steady erosion of orthodox Christian theology (Trinitarian God, deity of Christ, sin, atonement, etc.) and its replacement with humanistic ideology (possibility of human perfection, dependence on human reason, rejection of the supernatural) and liberal Christians became tied to the Democratic Party. Through the Democrats, the liberal Christians hoped to legislate the Biblical mandate to care for the poor, widows, and orphans.

On the other side, conservative Christians watched in horror what they deemed was the debasement of American society by the Left in the ‘60s forward. The result was the hitching of the conservative wagon to the Republican Elephant. With the creation of the Moral Majority under the late Jerry Falwell and its influence in electing Ronald Reagan in 1980, conservative Christians saw their opportunity to legislate their version of Christian living. Their main focus was turning back Roe v. Wade, stopping the advancement of the homosexual lobby, and protecting the “traditional family”. The so-called Moral Majority was followed into the political fray by the Christian Coalition. These organizations sought to mobilize conservative Christians into fighting the “culture war” in order to “restore” America to her “Christian heritage” and to “clean up the evil spawned by the ‘60s”.

In both cases, the American church stopped relying God and started relying on Uncle Sam to advance their understanding of the “Christian cause”. In both cases, they have failed miserably. The liberal Christian focus on social causes hasn’t led to the elimination of poverty, better care for widows, or relief to orphans. Every year, we are told how awful the living conditions are for the down-and-out in America. (That is poppycock. Come to the Middle East, Africa, or Asia if you want to see real poverty.) And this is after the US has spent trillions on the War on Poverty, etc. So, these Christians keep voting for Democrats and yet there is no progress.

The conservative Christian, since Reagan, has voted faithfully for Republicans until the Age of Obama. Again, the conservative agenda has not been realized. Their goal to legislate morality has been a dismal failure and the Culture War all but lost. Abortion continues unabated, the homosexual rights agenda continues to grow, and the “traditional family” is vanishing rapidly from the US. In the past election, sensing the Republican abandonment of their values, many conservative Christians voted for Obama to “teach the Republicans a lesson”.

For both sides, their view of their biblical mandate has been thwarted. Why? Human governments do not get along well with the Kingdom of God. Just look at human history. Does anyone remember the Nazis, the Fascists, the Communists, or even the “Holy Roman Empire”? And when the People of God turn to human governments to achieve the goals of the Kingdom of Heaven, they are practicing pseudo-idolatry by saying the government and not God is the key to the actualization of the Kingdom.

The solution? My personal conviction is to vote for the party that offers the absolute least amount of government possible. Less government equals more freedom for the Church to do the business God gave her. Human governments do not suffer well competing loyalties to other Masters. Ultimately, they will try to replace the Church and her God and the object of loyalty and devotion. The Church should not be out-sourcing her job to the Feds. It is the Church who should be feeding and caring for the poor, the widows, and the orphans. Private charities do an infinitely better job at social care and rehabilitation than any governmental agency for a fraction of the cost. It is also the Church that is supposed to be entering into and engaging the society in order to be the salt and leaven that changes society. How can the culture be changed if the Church has entered into a ghetto and secluded itself and viciously condemns those people it wants to behave “morally”? Yes, there are dangers for both sides, but Christ didn’t guarantee a worry-free existence for His Body, now did He?

Just food for thot…

~ by eikonministries on March 28, 2009.