I have this statement rolling around in my head:
It’s not about turning Republican Christians into Democrat Christians. It’s about pulling the Christian faith out completely.
We find that our faith has been mortgaged for political gain. Co-opted, if you will. And we’re really not comfortable with that. But what is there to do? How do we fix this mess?
The trouble is this, it’s not merely about switching political parties (save your breath you “Jesus would be a democrat” people). It’s about de-politicizing the Christian faith completely. We were never supposed to be a political movement. Believe me, if we were, Jesus would have done a much grander job than the temperance movement, the moral majority, and the new christian right could have done combined. But he didn’t choose that route.
Instead, he chose a social route.
If you think about it, the mosaic law was about as perfect as any religious political group could hope for. It put all the power into the religious leaders. It dictated the kind of behavior people were allowed to have (and not allowed to have). And it severely punished those who dissented.
Perfect. Except that it didn’t work.
And Jesus
and God
and the Holy Spirit,
they knew this.
They knew that the key was not legislating morality, but instead changing hearts. Rules hadn’t made the world a better place. Rules hadn’t brought God’s people any closer to Him. No, rules pretty much just showed how terrible people were. And also how terrible they were at following rules. (And also gave them lots of good terrible ideas to do.)
Tell a man he can’t do something and you’ve created an opportunity for him to disobey. Change a man’s heart and he’ll come to you to find out how he can be a better man.
Yes, Jesus chose a social route. And you know what? It served us remarkably well. You know it did, because look around you, the Christian faith went everywhere. And the message which changed the world then is the same message we have today. And it’s just as powerful today. It posses the same ability to change hearts today. This is our business, like it has been from the beginning.
Our faith can no longer endure being manipulated.
And the world can no longer wait to hear the hope of our message.
