God's Party
from the black-and-white
dept.
I've heard it said that God does not pick a
political party. I agree. Just because the Republican Party adopts some moral
stance that is in agreement with the Bible, like being against abortion, doesn't
mean God is a Republican. Here's my proof text on this point, Joshua
5:13-15:
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD' host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
Many people go as far as to say this was an encounter with the pre-incarnate Jesus. Because Joshua worshiped and the "man" didn't rebuke him, this was a manifestation of God, and that likely means Christ. Anyway, notice that Joshua asks him what side he was on. The response was "neither." In human terms, God was most certainly on Joshua's side, but we must remember that God's ways are not our ways. To pigeon-hole God into sides of a battle completely ignores God's sovereignty.
We assume that because we have a moral agenda like God's agenda, God must promote our party. God doesn't pick the lesser of two evils. God isn't political. His morals can't be reflected consistently in a single human, so what makes us think he can be reflected accurately in a groups of humans?
What about the Church, right? Isn't the Church a manifestation of Christ on earth? Except that the Republican Party isn't a church organization. Churches aren't perfect either. They just aren't.
"Perhaps, though, that is the wrong question. The Gospels don’t have much to say about how Jesus would vote or what political party he’d prefer. Maybe we shouldn’t be asking whether Jesus fits our pre-fabricated political mold but rather questioning how we could be more like Him. Instead of testing Christ’s liberal bona fides we should be more liberal about following his example." - Joe Carter
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD' host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
Many people go as far as to say this was an encounter with the pre-incarnate Jesus. Because Joshua worshiped and the "man" didn't rebuke him, this was a manifestation of God, and that likely means Christ. Anyway, notice that Joshua asks him what side he was on. The response was "neither." In human terms, God was most certainly on Joshua's side, but we must remember that God's ways are not our ways. To pigeon-hole God into sides of a battle completely ignores God's sovereignty.
We assume that because we have a moral agenda like God's agenda, God must promote our party. God doesn't pick the lesser of two evils. God isn't political. His morals can't be reflected consistently in a single human, so what makes us think he can be reflected accurately in a groups of humans?
What about the Church, right? Isn't the Church a manifestation of Christ on earth? Except that the Republican Party isn't a church organization. Churches aren't perfect either. They just aren't.
"Perhaps, though, that is the wrong question. The Gospels don’t have much to say about how Jesus would vote or what political party he’d prefer. Maybe we shouldn’t be asking whether Jesus fits our pre-fabricated political mold but rather questioning how we could be more like Him. Instead of testing Christ’s liberal bona fides we should be more liberal about following his example." - Joe Carter
Posted: Monday - October 16, 2006 at 09:18 AM |
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