Well kids here we go - let's dive in! We've got a lot of stuff going on right now so I think we'll only have time for the Introduction today but it can still be fun!
Again, this book was written by Gregory A. Boyd who as a pastor during the 2004 election was being pressured by many people (both in and out of his congregation) to "shepherd his flock into voting for the right candidate." But it was much more than that, he was being asked to hand out flyers blatantly attacking one candidate over another, sign petitions, make pledges, etc. Thankfully his church board supported his decision to refuse these items. This all concerned him so much that he preached a series of sermons called "The Cross and the Sword" which became the basis for this book. And his whole point was to "expose the danger of associating the Christian faith too closely with any political view, whether conservative or liberal."
And after preaching these messages he had so many people thank him for the freedom they felt because they didn't hold the same political beliefs as everyone in their church. And on the other hand about a thousand of his members left the church! Their problem was that because God is against _____ than Christians should vote for ______ "and any American pastor...should use his 'God-given authority and responsiblity' to make this known."
And I think this is where I'm starting to draw the important conclusion that while all of those things may be true as Christians (yes we should vote for someone who upholds what you believe, that's what it means to vote!) but is it the church's job to declare these personal convictions from the pulpit.
And his thesis of the book (I think) blatantly points out a big problem in the church today. "I believe a significant segment of American evangelicalism is guilty of nationalistic and political idolatry." He continues, "To a frightful degree, I think, evangelicals fuse the kingdom of God with a preferred version of the kingdom of the world...Rather than focusing our understanding of God's kingdom on the person of Jesus - who, incidently never allowed himself to get pulled into the political disputes of his day."
And I agree with him on that point. He goes on to say that none of these things (Christian/political ideals) are wrong but he hopes to "challenge the assumption that finding the right political path has anything to do with advancing the kingdom of God." And he points it all to this problem that Christians are so gung-ho in demanding that we recoginze that America always has been and always should be a Christian nation and it is their job to ensure that it stays that way no matter what. "Instead of living out the radically countercultural mandate of the kingdom of God, this myth has inclined us to Christianize many pagan aspects of our culture."
And finally his main disctinction that he wants to make is that all kingdoms of the world seek to exercise power over people, while the kingdom of God is only advanced by serving under people. But he has three caveats:
- This thesis applies to ALL politicals. Left and right alike.
- Keeping these two kingdoms disctinct does not mean our faith shouldn't inform our participation in politics.
- The purpose of this book is to get a better understanding of Jesus' kingdom and how it is completely different from this world's. "This book does not attempt to resolve all ambiguities between these two kingdoms."
I'm glad to see his whole point isn't that Christians shouldn't be involved in politics or anything BUT it shouldn't be the focus of our lives. And unfortunately the Christians who ARE obsessed with this are the ones who seem to get all the TV time and so that's the only thing our world sees. So maybe it's more of a battle cry for us non-famous Christians to show the world that we could care less how Obama or McCain or WHOEVER stand, it's us who stand on truth and who cares about YOU and let us show you the love of Jesus Christ.
I dunno - what about you?
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