Christians and Politics

As we approach the November elections, political convictions that lie underneath the surface of who people are suddenly intensify and boil to the top. Words fly, promises are made, accusations exchanged and passions build. Candidates draw lines and voters pick sides. "Christians" too, get caught up in the excitement, hosting "Christian" news programs, telling "Christian" voters who the "Christian" pick is, or what the "Christian" stance on any given issue is. Others, not wanting to be viewed as "activists", or trying to prove they are "citizens of another kingdom", simply stay away from it all.

Which is right, though? What should the Christian's attitude be in the midst of all the political turmoil? Should we throw in our lot with a certain candidate? Should we champion a cause? Should we stage protests and boycotts? Should we simply sit back and watch a pagan world do pagan things? The answer is complex. It is an answer we should not arrive at quickly. It is, nonetheless, an answer that should be arrived at. It should be well thought out; prayerfully considered.

The Christian's attitude towards politics should be grounded in the fact that our king is Lord of everything. It should equally be founded on the words of Jesus found in Matthew chapter 5. In his famous sermon, Jesus says to his disciples, "You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world". This is not a call. This is not a command. This is a fact. As Christians, we are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world. The question then, is how do we prove ourselves to be flavorful salt and not useless salt, bright lamps and not hidden lamps?

The answer is rooted in our understanding and accepting the fact that Jesus is our ultimate lord. Once we really lay hold of this fact, we are ready to work out our being salt and light on two fronts. We must prayerfully decide within ourselves which political choices are the best choices, and we must be careful how we engage others in the political arena, both candidates and other voters. On both fronts Christians must be meek, poor in spirit and pure in heart.


As Christians we must be vigilant to keep Jesus as king in every area of our lives, every moment of our lives. This is easier said than done. While we can claim to have Jesus as our ultimate king, whether or not this claim is true will be evidenced in our actions in, and reactions to political developments. Our words "in the moment" will prove who our real king is. We must always seek to be humble and gentle towards those around us. We must encourage others towards a healthier society without demanding that non-Christians behave in Christian ways.

Some, forgetting that as Christians they ultimately belong to a kingdom not of this world, jump full-force into the political fray, endeavoring to kill ungodly agendas and topple ungodly officials. A disturbing tendency thrives in "Christian" politics today. On "Christian" radio shows, in "Christian" publications the idea of a "Christian nation" is popular. Christians are called on by "Christian" media to make sure America remains a "Christian nation". The notion, however, that any nation in this world could be a "Christian nation" is a fallacy based in a failure to realize that the only Christian nation is the Kingdom of Heaven, a kingdom which is not of this world.

Others, in reaction to the "extremism" they see in "Christian" politics try to keep out of politics completely. They cite the apolitical example of Jesus' life as justification for their lack of involvement. The problem with this attitude is that it refuses many opportunities to be salt and light.

 Both ends of this spectrum are ultimately too easy. It is easy to get caught up in the momentum of political "activism". It is easy to withdraw completely. It is much harder to consciously and carefully affect politics while making it clear that one's hope is not ultimately in politics.

Scripture says, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God," (1 Cor. 10:13 ESV). The Christian is not someone who retreats from the world, but someone who redeems the world. We are not to shrink from earthly affairs. We are to "season" them with the wisdom of Christ. If you are a politician, it is not inherently more Christian of you to give up politics. Rather, use your position as a politician to do your best to influence government towards a godly direction. If you are a citizen, do not throw away your vote, thinking that you are therefore more Christian in so doing. On the contrary, use your vote to influence your culture towards a healthier (maybe even godlier) point.

Christians must keep in mind, though, that we will never "redeem" our culture or our government in any ultimate sense, nor should that be our aim. That task remains for Jesus alone to accomplish himself at the end of time. As Americans, we have certain privileges, given to us by our government; privileges such as the ability to vote and the ability to speak freely. We should use these government-given privileges to influence our society for the benefit of all. We should not, however, lose focus and seek to use government as a means to force non-Christians to act as Christians. When we cross this line and our goal becomes the constructing of a "Christian society", we lose our "flavor" and switch our heavenly king for an earthly one.

Perhaps the dumbest reason given to justify voting a certain way is that one always votes that way. Perhaps the most dangerous reason given to justify voting a certain way is that one wishes to create a better society. As Christians, we must carefully, prayerfully consider the choices we make, and when things do not go as we wish, we must remember that our hope is not in this world. As Christians, we must carefully, prayerfully consider which causes to take up and which to leave alone, and if those causes should fail, we must remember that our hope is not in this world.

The murky world of politics provides Christians with a unique opportunity to prove we are not "of the world", while yet remaining "in the world". It provides us with an opportunity to show where our real hope lies. Amidst the confusion of politics, we can be a "polis on a hill".

Filling in "The Holes in Our Holiness"

The Premise

The Hole in Our Holiness is a brand new book from Kevin DeYoung, senior pastor at University Reformed Church and regular contributor to The Gospel Coalition blog. This book is mainly (though not exclusively) aimed at younger Christians, and is born out of his concern over what he calls an "enthusiasm gap" in their pursuit of biblical holiness. "The hole in our holiness," he says, "Is that we really don't care much about it." He proposes that churches today are much more concerned with "all that Christ has saved us from...[while] giving little thought and making little effort concerning all that Christ has saved us to".

To prove his premise DeYoung takes a bit different, yet (I think) effective approach. Rather than quoting a list of statistics as one might expect, he asks three basic questions. 1) Is our obedience known to all? 2) Is our Heaven a holy place? Are we Great Commission Christians?

His first question is taken from Romans 16:19, where Paul encourages the believers in Rome by telling them that their "obedience is known to all". "Is obedience what your church is known for?" DeYoung asks, "Is it even what you would want to be known for?" He moves then to how we view Heaven, proposing that our weak, unbiblical view of what type of people will populate Heaven leads to a lack of biblical holiness in our lives. "Is our Heaven a holy place?" Finally, he asks, "Are we Great Commission Christians?" Here, what he is after is when Jesus commands Christian, in Matthew 28, to teach others to observe all his commands. "Observe" means "obey". DeYoung concludes that, far too often, mission work stops at decisions, and never moves to discipleship.

The Problem

Pastor DeYoung lays a very good foundation in the opening pages of his book. I think he exposes a very pressing problem in the modern Church in America, and I think his three questions are insightful and compelling. One would expect him to build on this foundation by explaining how the Church can become more holy. Unfortunately, rather than giving his readers the building-blocks to real holiness, he spends the vast majority of the next seven chapters chasing his tail over Legalism vs. Antinomianism.

One might expect DeYoung to briefly mention these two extremes. He, however, seems to get stuck in a seven chapter rut. It takes 81 pages before he even mentions the part that the Holy Spirit plays in making Christians holy. He doesn't mention prayer until page 107, and there it is in a negative context. Not until page 129 (the book is only 146 pages total) does he finally begin to explain three ways the Christian can pursue holiness. It's almost as though he puts so much effort into defending what he has to say against every argument a Legalist or an Antinomian might make, that he forgets to say what he has to say.

In the middle of all this, he also randomly inserts a section on sexual purity. His outline seems to be: 1) We're not holy. 2) We need to be holy. 3) Don’t be a Legalist or an Antinomian. 4) Be sexually holy. 5) Here's how to be holy. While I agree with most of what DeYoung says, the book just feels a little awkward or hastily put together.

The Final Take

The Holes in Our Holiness is a fast-paced, easy read that brings to light a serious issue plaguing the Church in America. I wish Pastor DeYoung would have spent fewer pages fighting off potential arguments from the extremes and more time actually explaining how to become holy, but he does make some good points. The only thing I found that I really disagreed with was his stance on how couples should approach pre-marital boundaries. To me, it seemed over-simplified. If he wanted to address something like that at all, I think he should have put more time and effort into examining it. I believe the question of pre-marital boundaries is a little more complex than DeYoung makes it sound.

All-in-all The Holes in Our Holiness is a good read that might open your eyes to things you've never considered.

Filling in the Hole

At this point you might be thinking "Wait, how do I become more holy?!" Here is my answer. God has given us three primary ways (means) by which his children can grow in holiness. Christians grow by 1) Reading God's Word, 2) Obeying God's Word, 3) Praying.

God has chosen to speak to mankind through his Word. It makes sense, then, that this is where you should start (Psalm 119:9-10). Reading your Bible, however, is more than just consuming as many chapters as possible. It is more about quality than quantity. While it is certainly good to know what's in your Bible, I would submit that studying a small portion in-depth will do more to aid your growth in holiness than simply reading a large volume of chapters will.

You don't magically become holy just because you read though. You have to put what you are studying into practice. And this practice, itself, is a means to holiness. As you actively obey God, you become more like him (holy).

Prayer is also a vital means to holiness.  Prayer is how we talk back to God. It is more than just sending up a lengthy grocery list. While we are to ask God for all that we need (Phil. 4:6), prayer is more about aligning yourself to God's will (Matt. 6:5-13). Real prayer isn't necessarily easy either. In our culture, I think we tend to have a more "fast-food" mindset about prayer. We drive in, make our order and expect God to fill the order ASAP. The idea of laboring in prayer is largely lost on our fast-paced modern selves. I think we would benefit from, and find help in our quest for holiness if we learned to replace our "fast-food" attitude toward prayer with a "farmer's" attitude. The farmer prepares the dirt, plants the seed, tends the field and then, reaps the reward of his labor. I think, if we examine ourselves, we may find that we are not becoming more biblically holy because we are not putting any real effort into prayer.

As useful as these three tools (Study, Practice, Prayer) are, though, they are nothing without the aid of the Holy Spirit. First, they are not practices that will come naturally. Second, if we do manage to master them in our own strength, they will only lead to pride. The Holy Spirit comes alongside us in our weakness, and helps us to study, enlightening our minds and hearts to understand what we study. The Holy Spirit comes alongside us to give us the will and power to obey what we learn. The Holy Spirit comes alongside us in our prayers, telling us what to pray and translating our prayers into the language of heaven.

So, what if you want to be holy, to be Christ-like, but you know deep-down that you don't want to do these things? Then pray and ask God to give you the "want-to".  And may God be pleased to give us all (I'm preaching to myself too) a greater, deeper, more pressing desire to be like him. May he use us mightily to advance his kingdom as we are molded into more perfect Christlikeness!

Christian and Catholic Missionary Efforts in Early America

This semester, I have been taking a class on the history of the Native American Peoples. I was initially excited to take this class, as I honestly don't know very much about the the people groups who lived in Pre-Columbian America. It didn't take too long, however, to realize that this class is more about putting Europeans in a bad light than it is about telling the story of the people who lived here before the Europeans arrived. I recently finished my midterm for this class, and decided to use my midterm essay for this week's post. In my essay, I was required to describe "the Europeans' attempt to Christianize America." Here is my answer...

Defining Your Terms

When Columbus set sail across the Atlantic in 1492, a new era dawned for the Western Hemisphere. In only a few hundred years, the languages, landscapes and cultures of the Americas changed dramatically. Among the many factors that helped to reshape Native American culture was the introduction of new religions. As Europeans streamed to American shores, some tried, with varying degrees of success, to convert the Natives.

Some refer to this collective effort by European missionaries as an attempt to “Christianize” the Natives. This, however, is a misnomer. It must be recognized that two very different European religious worldviews were at work in the “New World”; that of the Roman Catholics and that of the Protestants. The word “Christian” was given to followers of Jesus of Nazareth in ancient Antioch and simply means “little Christ”. Yet, Roman Catholicism stands in direct opposition to many of the foundational principles that Jesus and his first followers laid out. These include teachings on Jesus’s crucifixion, salvation, baptism, forgiveness, the authority of the Pope and much, much more. Therefore, Roman Catholicism cannot accurately be labeled Christianity. So called Protestants, however, are products of the 16^th century Reformation, which was born out of an attempt to understand anew what Jesus taught.

Roman Catholics in the "New World"

The two main Roman Catholic powers at play in the “New World” were Spain and France. Spain was the epitome of militant Catholicism. As a nation, Spain was interested, above all, in empire building and precious metals. The Spanish often used Catholicism as a cover for brutal conquest. Spanish priests entered native villages and tried to oust medicine men, outlaw native religion and control native life. Perhaps the saddest example of this is the ceremonial reading of the Requerimiento. The Requerimiento was a document read to Natives demanding they submit to the Pope and the king of Spain, and acknowledge the Roman Catholic Church as the only true religion. It also stated that any who refused to do these things would suffer violence. The Requerimiento was read in Spanish, not the native tongue, and was usually nothing more than an excuse to subdue a tribe.

Catholic France, on the other hand, took a milder approach towards the Natives she encountered. France was primarily interested in trading with native tribes for their furs, as American furs proved to be very valuable back home. France was also interested in fostering military alliances with native tribes in order to keep the English at bay. Guided by these goals, French missionaries tried to build friendships with the Natives they sought to convert, rather than attempt to oust native religion entirely.

One example that survives today, Jean de Brébeuf’s “The Mission to the Hurons”, outlines this approach. In “The Mission to the Hurons”, de Brébuef explains to fellow Jesuits different aspects of Huron life and culture. De Brébeuf’s work gives tips on how to interact with the Huron, describing what is and is not appropriate. He even warns would-be missionaries that they will have to give up certain European ideas about propriety in order to accommodate the Huron.

Protestant Attempts

On the Eastern Seaboard, the English presented an entirely different worldview. While many, probably most, English colonists were driven to the “New World” by dreams of wealth and power, some came for religious reasons. Perhaps the best known, though most misunderstood, of those that came for religious reasons were the Puritans. The Puritan movement represented many groups united by the common desire to see the Anglican Church purified of its worldly elements and brought into compliance with the Bible.

Though the list of Puritan names is long, some do stand out. Among these names is that of John Eliot. Eliot was a 17^th century Puritan who preached to New England Natives, such as the Concord. Eliot translated the Bible into the Algonquin language. He also established a network of “Praying Towns” where converted Natives could live and learn together.

Another Puritan missionary to the Natives of New England was David Brainerd. Brainerd only lived to be 29, but he earned the respect of Natives living in Southern New England, witnessing the conversion of many. David Brainerd’s zeal to see Jesus preached to all people, regardless of culture or color, has inspired generations of Christians.

Conclusion

Although, Spain, France and England were all powerful forces in shaping the “New World”, their missionary efforts were met with varying degrees of success. If we are to discuss the success of each country’s attempt to “Christianize” the Natives they met, the English must take first place. The Puritans, more than any other group, went to the Natives with the desire to see them come to faith in Jesus Christ. France initially enjoyed more success than Spain in gaining Roman Catholic converts. This was due to France’s much more congenial approach to the Natives. However, it must be noted that, in the modern Americas, from Mexico to the tip of South America, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, and Spanish is the predominant language.

Saving Lives or Saving Face?

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

I was surprised earlier this week to hear local radio personalities buzzing about the latest news from the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure. Multiple commentators applauded the foundation’s decision to cease giving money to Planned Parenthood, expressing their thankfulness for the bravery the Foundation was exhibiting. I honestly did not know before hearing about their decision that Susan G. Komen was in any way affiliated with Planned Parenthood, but I too cheered them on. Then, yesterday, while browsing Twitter, I came across an article by Dr. Albert Mohler. In it he described how, after mounting outrage from Planned Parenthood and even some in the U.S. Senate, Komen recanted, apologizing for their seemingly political decision.

In light of all this, I can only think of the words Jesus spoke to his disciples so long ago. It is heart-breaking to see an organization surrender so quickly to the fear of man, trading temporary relief from a little political “peer-pressure” for eternal consequences. What is really gained if, in avoiding the possibility of lost financial backing, one earns the displeasure of the only God and Author of Life? Those of us who are Christians can only pray for the individuals who made this decision, asking that Jesus would mercy them, opening their eyes to their error, and turn them in repentance to Himself. And we must be careful not fall prey to the same fear of man, but we must continue to be the voice of the unborn victims of groups such as Planned Parenthood, continuing to cry out for equal rights for all humans—even those living in the womb.

(Scripture taken from Mark 8:36, ESV)

A Brief Overview of the Dine (Navajo) and Ani-Yun Wiya (Cherokee) Stories of Origin

This is a brief overview and comparison/contrast of the "Creation Stories", or "Stories of Origin" of the Navajo and Cherokee peoples that I recently wrote for my history class at ULM.


When studying the histories of cultures around the world, I always find each culture's account of their creation to be fascinating. In these stories one can catch a glimpse, not only of how a people fit themselves into the universe, but how they see the universe at large--its history and its future.

It is interesting to note the similarities and differences in the varying accounts peoples present of the earliest history of Earth. In his book C. G. Calloway offers samples of stories from the Navajo and the Cherokee. These people lived on opposite sides of the Mississippi, yet, in some ways, their stories are not that different.

In the Navajo story of creation one immediately comes into contact with "First Man" and "First Woman", and though many other "people" play a role in the story, these two are the main stars. It is not long after "First Man" and "First Woman" meet each other that they come across a certain male coyote who claims to have existed long before either of them. In response to this revelation, "First Man" sets up Great-Coyote-Who-Was-Formed-In-The-Water above himself, effectively making him a god figure. Finally, a fourth being arrives, interestingly another coyote, and fills the spot of a Satan figure.

The rest of the narrative gives details of all the people's journey from world to world, tells of their sins and explains the causes and effects of a great flood. Seeds, or corn, also carry a major significance and explain where food comes from. These Navajo stories are rooted to in the actual mountains and lakes that surrounded the Navajo people.

The Cherokee story of origination, while considerably less detailed (at least as presented in the textbook), does carry some similarities. Right at the start one meets once again the first man and the first woman. These two are more connected with the gender roles found in Cherokee culture than their counterparts in the Navajo stories, and give us an explanation of why Cherokee society works the way it does. Strangely absent in the Cherokee account is the ideas of "god", though one might argue that "Satan" is still present in the form of the "Wild Boy". Their are examples of sins committed as well that lead to enduring consequences in the world. Corn and other seeds are once again an important part of the narrative as well.

Both of these stories are interesting in their own right. Both provide a better glimpse into the cultures that birthed them. Both are even more interesting when compared against each other.

Pilgrim's Hymn

Lyrics to my latest song!

Pilgrim’s Hymn

Lord if I must needs stop my ears from Siren songs that this world sings

Then grant to me oh God to hear a million angel voices ring

And if you would I close my eyes to temp'ral treasures offered me

Then give to me oh God I cry more visions of my mighty King

Lo-o-o-ord be glorified in me

Lo-o-o-ord you're all I need

So Lord when it is your will to mold my heart through suffering

I pray I would remember still Jesus who suffered joyfully

When doubts and fears would cloud the day the promise of your cross stays true

The Lamb who suffered for my shame is faithful e'er to see me through

Lo-o-o-ord be glorified in me

Lo-o-o-ord you're all I need

Preserve me Lord until you come with trumpet blast and angel roar

Bring me safely to your home where time and sin will reign no more

Lo-o-o-ord be glorified in me

Lo-o-o-ord you're all I need