I don’t know if you saw the CNN special God’s Warriors but they had a myriad of pastors discussing their view of mixing Christianity and politics. They had Jerry Falwell, John Hagee, Greg Boyd, and a few others. Certainly all the pastors I picked were not on my top ten theologians list but of all the messages that I heard Greg Boyd’s agreed with me the most. He states that “America is not the Kingdom of God” on the broadcast in seeming opposition to Falwell’s and Hagee’s message. I think in a lot of American churches there is this hubris which agrees that America is God’s nation and just maybe a little less than Israel in the OT and that is dangerous to say that.
Boyd also states that Christianity should have more to say in politics than just that homosexual marriage and abortion is wrong. Christians should speak out against greed corporations that have sweat shops in third world countries and have more to say about fighting poverty and other ‘life issues’.
I only wish they could have gotten someone who was not a heretic to espouse the political views that Boyd did.
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Should Christians only obey the red letter in the Bible? Only the words spoken by Christ himself?
That is what seems to be the case in an article at Sojourners.com. (Here is another article by Jim Wallis on it) Here is their goal…
“The goal of the group is to advance the message that our faith cannot be reduced to only two hot button social issues - abortion and homosexuality. Fighting poverty, caring for the environment, advancing peace, promoting strong families, and supporting a consistent ethic of life are all critical moral and biblical values.”
It is great that they are concerned about more than abortion and homosexuality but the concept of being ‘red letter only’ Christians leaves much to be desired and if truly followed can be dangerous. Are they embarrassed of the Old Testament where the Lord destroyed those who opposed him and his people? What about the rest of Scripture which is declared to be ‘profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness’ (II Tim 3:16)?
They are right in that there needs to be a voice for the other issues that the average evangelicals do not see or tend to care about. Hopefully in their quest they will not stop at social issues that are ignored but will realize that Jesus came to inaugurate the breaking in of the Kingdom of God on this earth and that the central goal of Christ is that all people repent of their sins and believe in him so that they may have life (John 20:31). When that happens social justice will naturally happen.
