Contrarian View From the Pew: Politics

Christianity is not a social club, it is not a political party, it is not an ethnicity, and it is not a birthright. Christianity is a relationship with Christ that affects the earthly behavior of the believer. Everyone who accepts a relationship with Christ is no longer completely free to behave as they wish. Believers enjoy a tremendous amount of freedom by lving without condemnation. However, Christians also have a responsibility to be the representatives, and the agents, of Christ for the remainder of their days on earth.

Christians are free to determine their own path as they pray to Jesus, study Scripture, wait for the Holy Spirit, and interact with other believers. No believer, not a single one, is THE representative of Christ. Every believer falls short of perfect understanding of good and evil, and every believer falls short of perfect behavior. However, the more effort each believer puts into researching the truth, and the more effort each believer puts into practicing sacrificial behavior, the more likely it is that he or she will be closer to the person God desires him or her to be.

As agents of Christ, believers should understand how their political actions affect society, at every level. Just as there are many different flavors of Christian, there will be many different opinions and many different ways that Christians behave politically. Often times, the political opinions and actions of one believer will counter the political opinions and actions of another believer.

Many of the Generals and soldiers in the Civil War on both sides were believers. Thank God we don’t have that today. However, we do have a culture war in the United States being fought politically by believers and non-believers in both the Republican and the Democrat parties. Every believer in the United States who votes, gives money, or advocates a candidate or a cause needs to think long and hard about how his or her actions are representing Christ. It is not a fatal sin to make a mistake or occasionally make a bad political judgment. However, it is careless to take politics lightly and it is against everything Christ taught when a Christian has a selfish motivation for his or her political actions.