Tuesday, May 08, 2007
The Beginning of the End of the Religious Right?
Check out this insightful article by Cal Thomas, with which I am in complete agreement. May we as believers be more and more about truly proclaiming and working towards the advance of the Kingdom of God, by means of evangelism, discipleship, and world missions, and not so much our human political substitutes for it. (HT: Paul Grabill)
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3 comments:
I only ask this: When it comes to abortion let us apply the same standard to church involvement that we have applied to the Civil Rights movement. Southern churches have been criticized for not being politically active enough in that period—for being cowardly rather than standing up in the face of injustice.
(A)Were churches that ignored the quest for Civil Rights indeed pursuing the correct strategy, or if they were not (B)why are the expectations of churches any different with regard to abortion?
Bart,
I believe the church should not be afraid to prophetically declare God's full counsel regarding both civil rights and abortion. That is a part of its commission to disciple. We must also be consistent to offer God's love and mercy to victims of the abuse of civil rights and supposed "reproductive rights."
However, I think we could learn a lot by studying more closely Eusebius' relationship with Constantine, and the ultimate consequences for the welfare of the church, the proclamation of the gospel, and even the transformation of society.
David,
You speak with great wisdom. Here is what I learn from the entire history of church-state relations (not only from Eusebius, in fact, I'm heavily indebted to Roger Williams here): Government must adjudicate the second table of the law, regulating relationships among people, and Christians are obligated to challenge the government to exercise its duties in a way that rewards good and punishes evil, while praying for and supporting the government. Government has no authority to trifle with the first table of the law and must not coerce people on matters of religious conscience. Christians are obligated to resist the temptation to draft the magistrate into employing civil power to advance what is peculiarly the cause of the faith.
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