Religion And Politics

This is an introduction to the theology that leads to political engagement by Christians. It explores the notion of the separation of Church and State, how this has been misapplied and re-thought of by significant Christian leaders in the 18th, 20th, and 21st centuries. I conclude with a personal experience of what I consider positive political engagement looks like. - Andrew Corbett

They say art is the thermometer of culture. In this sense, politics might be seen as the barometer of culture. And we might add that Christians should be the thermostat of culture (not the thermometer of culture). By this we mean that art in its various forms - literature, music, visual art, movies, poetry, photography, and fashion, reflect what culture finds acceptable, disturbing, desirable, praiseworthy, and even beautiful. And politics is the popular affirmation (the essence of democracy) of a set of legislative policy agendas that give direction to a culture.

Germany in the 1930s is a case study in the interplay between artistic culture, political climate and the role of religion. It wasn't just that Adolf Hitler was evil. It was that he resonated with something not entirely righteous in the German culture. He became a barometric indicator of where Germany was now heading. When politicians feel public support for their raft of non-life policy agenda items, it is an indication of where our culture is heading. And when politicians take liberties with a non-life policy agenda, it actually feeds an indifferent culture with a diet to actually value non-life policies! And when this happens, it makes the Christian promotion of the Ultimate Life (eternal life) not only unappealing to a culture that increasingly values non-life, but repulsive! That's why we might say that politics is at least the barometer of a culture. This is why it is not only necessary for Christians to collectively work together to shape what culture values, but possible for Christians to do so - but not possible if we ignore what happens in our political spheres.

It seems that in the world's darkest moral hours, God's light shines through fewer but it does so more intently. Such was the case when Adolf Hitler was beginning to mesmerise Germany. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was from a privileged background and from an early age dedicated his life to Christ. While Hitler was merely a barometer of where Germany was going to head, Bonhoeffer was attempting to be a thermostat by challenging his ministerial colleagues to return to Scripture and see why they must collectively challenge the rise of the Nazi Party. But Bonhoeffer largely failed to convince his colleagues of the necessity to engage in the political arena.

Continue reading

THAT'S TOUGH

Jesus Christ was the toughest man who's ever lived. He was a tough leader. He had a tough assignment. He chose tough disciples. He spoke tough things. He was tough on those who considered themselves 'religious'. And judging by the thousands that rejected and abandoned Him in His final months before He returned to Heaven, He was a tough guy to listen to and follow. But if you only have a Chuck Norris' definition of "tough" (where, 'tough'='rough') you are never going to understand the toughness which Jesus modelled and expects of His followers. What's more, we live in a period of phenomenal ease and comfort, where being tough is simply not necessary. This makes toughness seem foreign - and dare I say it, "unChristian"! Perhaps it's time to re-examine Christ and His call to follow and discover why one of the most needs for today's Church is to toughen up!

if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
2Tim 2:12

A DIFFERENT KIND OF TOUGH

The toughness that Christ exhibited was an expression of deep love. Christ's toughness is not like the world's toughness. In the world, the tough guy is the bad guy who's mean. But Christ's toughness is courageous endurance in the face of adversity and opposition. To be 'tough' in the worldly sense almost implies that you are rude and inconsiderate. But tough in Christ's sense is: the courage to be kind, gentle and considerate while standing your ground.

¶ Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
First Corinthian 16:13

A TOUGH AUDIENCE

The first step in toughening up is to make sure you understand who your audience is. If your audience is the world, you'll always be soft and weak. If your audience is God, you'll soon toughen up.

not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
Eph. 6:6

¶ Obviously, I'm not trying to be a people pleaser! No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ's servant.
Gal. 1:10

The Father was Christ's audience. This is why Jesus could say what He did and do what He did - because even though it was offensive to human ears and eyes, it was not their approval Christ sought. If you live to please people, or win people's praise, you need to toughen up! If the opinions of others determines whether you obey God or not, you are soft and weak. This might sound harsh, but consider the words of Christ in this light and you'll soon realise why it was that so many were offended by Him and then offended by His servants.

¶ "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
Matt. 6:5

You have to be tough not to go along with the crowd. If you know that you're not as tough as you should be, ask the Father for help. Pray that God will change your heart from being a people-pleaser to being a God-pleaser.

¶ Many among His disciples heard this and said, "This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow."
John 6:60

TIME TO BE TOUGH

Ease, comfort, affluence, and political favour tend to make Christ-followers soft. It's difficult to be tough when you don't think you need to be! Put another way, it's tough to be tough when life is easy. Ease lulls the tough into softness. I don't think I'm advocating for hard times, but tough times produce tough people. If your times are tough right now you can be sure that Godis toughening you up to be more than a conqueror.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."
¶ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.Romans 8:35-37

Times are going to get tougher for those who want their commitment to Christ to inform how they live and contribute to society. Unless. 

  - Unless we make some tough choices to put Christ first.
  - Unless our Christ-of-Nazareth-following men man-up and get tough and show their wives what it means to be a genuinely responsible and tough, and their children what it means to be tender and tough.
  - Unless our Church leaders get tough and take up the mantle of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and take their place "in the gate" (note Psalm 127:5 and Jeremiah 7:2) and speak up and out for the welfare of the vulnerable and the glory of God.
Unless.

If you want some inspiration to be tough, try some biographies of great Christ-followers. Get acquainted with William Carey. Invite John Foxe to tell you his stories (Koorong can introduce you to him and his stories for just $6.99). Read Dr. F.W. Boreham's A BUNCH OF EVERLASTINGS. If you take my advice and then tell me that you found these to be tough reads, don't be surprised at the almost tender look I give you. If you hear me get tough and plead for some tough Christ-followers to write some tough letters and submissions to our State Government in order to protect the elderly, frail, and pre-born, then simply ponder that time and eternity changing word: "unless".

You keep me going when times are tough—
my bedrock, GOD, since my childhood. 
Psalm 71:5 THE MESSAGE

 Andrew

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Guides

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most extraordinary men to have ever lived. Born to one of the most celebrated Psychiatrists of all time, Dietrich was exposed to frequent visits from professors, academics, political leaders, who all came to speak with his father at their family dining table. This became the seedbed for Dietrich's incredible hunger to learn and understand. He exhibited all the hallmarks of being an emerging genius. But he recognised that there was so much to understand about the world that he could never read of in any book. He turned to prayer and found Christ to be a fount of more than knowledge...

By his early 20s, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a newly graduated Theological student, was famous. His sermons were being heard weekly by thousands, and perhaps millions more were following his progress around the world in the 1930s. But One person held Bonhoeffer's attention while one person desperately wanted it. Although Bonhoeffer was a genius, he was a devoted follower of Christ who believed that God spoke, guided, and deeply moved a person in their soul. Because of this he was a man who practiced the prayerful reading of Scripture - he expected God to speak to speak to him. And like never before, there came a time when Dietrich Bonhoeffer urgently needed to hear from God because the man who wanted his attention, Adolf Hitler, was now breathing out murderous threats.

Corrupt German Clergy who had been beguiled by Hitler

In his early 20s, the great German, Dietrich Bonhoeffer had a national audience thanks to Radio- Deutsche Welle. Bonhoeffer spoke to the German nation with prophetic courage as he warned his countrymen about the growing danger of the beloved Nazi Party. Unlike his colleagues, pastors and theologians, Bonhoeffer was not fooled by Hitler. They had 'theologised' the Nazi agenda. One group of pastors even formed a society (called "The German Christians") and developed a series of doctrines which justified hatred toward Jews by claiming the New Testament taught it! They went so far as to claim that Jesus was actually not Jewish! Bissarely, many Christians accepted their teaching without question. But not Bonhoeffer!

Philippians 3:9a and be found in him...

In the midst of so much personal and national turmoil, Bonhoeffer wanted to be found in Christ. He prayerfully read his Bible and looked to the Lord to speak to him. But as Hitler was raging he was forced to take immediate action. He fled Germany for America. But on the voyage over, he cried out to the Lord in prayer and asked God to speak to him. He felt increasingly that perhaps he had done the wrong thing. He determined that he would cut short his time in America to only stay a year. But the more he prayed the less peace he had about his decision. He returned after 26 days.

Bonhoeffer's "Cost of Discipleship"

At a time when his colleagues were embracing Liberalism (denying the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture - that is, the Bible is not really God's Word) Bonhoeffer preached the Jesus of the Bible and believed every word of it. He led a move to withdraw from what he saw as a Biblically weak and compromising Church and formed a new group called The Confessing Church. But the Fuhrer didn't look favourably upon this new group and Bonhoeffer was soon tracked down and jailed at the express orders of Hitler. From his prison cell he wrote some of the most profound sentiments about the glory and wonder of Christ and His church. Far from feeling the church had let him down or betrayed him, he recognised that the True Church was full of failing saints who depended upon the grace of God but were found in Christ. To Bonhoeffer, true Christian fellowship was only possible if both parties were in Christ. This was true "life together" (which became the title of one of his most profound books dealing with the believer's relationship with Christ and each other).

He [God] is the source of your life in Christ...First Corinthians 1:30a

Just three days before Germany surrendered, the spiteful Hitler ordered that the imprisoned Bonhoeffer, aged just 39, be executed by firing squad. Dietrich faced his long expected execution with the full confidence that he was in Christ.

Bonhoeffer was led away just as he concluded his final Sunday service and asked an English prisoner Payne Best to remember him to Bishop George Bell of Chichester if he should ever reach his home: "This is the end — for me the beginning of life."Eberhard Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography, p. 927

One of the latest, and probably best,
biographies on the life of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Christ is our not only our Saviour, He is "our life" (1Cor. 1:30; Col. 3:4). It is our moment by moment goal to be found in Him. Even in the midst of horrible distractions, Bonhoeffer managed to maintain his fellowship with his Saviour through prayer, Bible reading and most preciously- fellowship with others who were in Christ. I am stirred by the story of Bonhoeffer. I am stirred to pick up my Bible in the midst of my mundane trivialities (disguised as urgent demands for my immediate attention) and to quietly ask God to speak to me. I am encouraged to settle my soul so that I too can sense the leading, directing, and guiding of God. I am stirred to meet with Christ and to be found in Him.

Lord Jesus, I need You. You are becoming to me increasingly magnificent. Your wondrous glory fills my mind. I think of You when I read of You. I hear You speak to me when I read of speaking to others. I want my mouth filled with songs for You. I want my mind reflecting on what You have said. I want to know You more and I especially want to be known by You. Lord, take my mind. Take my heart. Take my soul. Captivate my attention. Cause me to draw closer to You even in the midst of all that life can distract me with. Help me to be a husband who reflects You. Help me to be a Dad who bears Your Name well. Help me to be a pastor who points people to You and brings honour to You. Keep me. Guard me. Guide me.
Amen.

Amen.

Ps. Andrew