I think the lesson to be learned is one that the apostle Paul was always preaching, namely that Christ is bigger than politics. Whether we are on the right or the left politically, we do Jesus Christ a disservice when we drag his name into defending our particular political views. In Paul’s terms, Jesus was the Christ of men and women, Jews and gentiles, slaves and masters. The warning by Paul, it seems to me, is that if we drag Christ into political argument, we sell him short. We force the King of Kings to promote our own political agenda, however worthy that agenda might be. Naturally, Christ should have a role in shaping our political views, but that seems to me a separate thing from using his name for our own ends, even if we think our ends are his ends.
JDV
Nov 12 2002
05:11 pm
I think the lesson to be learned is one that the apostle Paul was always preaching, namely that Christ is bigger than politics. Whether we are on the right or the left politically, we do Jesus Christ a disservice when we drag his name into defending our particular political views. In Paul’s terms, Jesus was the Christ of men and women, Jews and gentiles, slaves and masters. The warning by Paul, it seems to me, is that if we drag Christ into political argument, we sell him short. We force the King of Kings to promote our own political agenda, however worthy that agenda might be. Naturally, Christ should have a role in shaping our political views, but that seems to me a separate thing from using his name for our own ends, even if we think our ends are his ends.