BLOG 5/2/19. POLITICS AND CHRISTIAN FAITH IN A DIFFERENT DIMENSION

For the next eighteen months, it is going to be impossible to avoid having to confront the political process as we approach a presidential election, … and we shouldn’t try to avoid it. We are the polis after all. According to our Christian faith, human governments are there to see to the welfare of all of their)) citizens. Yes, it can get confusing and difficult to discern where and how to understand both the candidates and all the political hype that is so much part of the process.

Allow me to offer my readers something of a different metaphor (that was given to me several years ago by a gifted pastor). It comes from the Biblical prophet Daniel. It was the practice of conquering empires to bring home from conquered lands those gifted persons who could be of use to the emperor. Such were Daniel and his three young friends. They were fair in appearance and gifted of mind, and so were made part of the royal court of Nebuchadnezzar. They were to eat at the king’s table, and enjoy the perks of the court.

Only, … there was a problem: their primary loyalty was still to Israel and to Israel’s God, and to obedience to its laws and traditions ,… and not to Nebuchadnezzar. First off, they refused the emperor’s non-kosher diet and requested a diet of simple vegetables. The emperor objected but succumbed to their request with their assurance that they would prosper on such a diet, and so they did. But their gifts of knowledge and wisdom also emerged quickly, and jealously soon became the response to these four among their Babylonian counterpart who gave unquestioned loyalty to the emperor’s whims. Daniel emerged as a favorite of the emperor by virtue of his ability to interpret a strange dream of the emperor—even to retrieve it when the emperor couldn’t remember it.

That being so, the jealous Babylonian counterparts began to contrive ways to make Daniel look disloyal, like building a huge image of Nebuchadnezzar and requiring all Babylonians to bow down and worship it. Daniel quietly continued to bow in prayer toward Jerusalem three times a day, and so refused to bow down to the idol. Result? Being thrown into a den of lions (only to be delivered by God shutting the mouths of the lions, to the emperor’s astonishment.  This is followed by other stories of Daniel and his friends remaining faithful and being delivered by God into even greater prominence.

For us, here’s the insight. We also live in a fallen world, but as those who are part of God’s new creation. We are part of the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. We are indwelt by his Spirit and being conformed to his image. … But this is happening while we are still inhabiting the kingdoms of this world. For us this has several consequences in this political context of our lives:

• We must be conscious of who we are, … and that this present context (the American empire) is not my ultimate home country, though it is the place of my incarnation, i.e., I don’t belong to this Babylon. (To any political party or other ultimate loyalty)
• To so live my life, and the stewardship of each day (and political decisions) so that it is only explainable by God and God’s power (the teachings of Jesus and the holy scriptures).
• To discern the cultural idols that would demand our loyalty, … and refuse to bow down.

Ponder these as you test the political platforms and the character of the candidates. “Thy kingdom come” is a powerful prayer for that which is God’s design in this present age. Refuse to bow down to those forces of greed, prejudice, injustice, indifference to the poor and helpless, and which kowtow to wealth and greed … to the political agendas which are at odds with the ethical agenda of the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ. Amen!