Polity and the Pulpit

There is a significant voting block that is no longer predictable in its voting or convictions.

 

Christianity is suffering an identity crisis, but it is not because of our Christ. He is unchanging in word, nature, and deed. The groom is steadfast and steeled. It is the bride who has cold feet and finds herself hesitant to take His name.

 

Do we want to be identified as Christ-followers or American Evangelicals…Republicans or Democrats? Those names are hardly synonymous. Where is the devoutly Christian Democratic voter? I’d like to meet you and discuss how you view Scripture.

 

It’s great when we can be all things to all people…far easier on our relationships and ability to play nice over turkey. But what about when we can’t?

 

Choosing to follow Christ is a mistake if you thought it would expand your social circles or the infinite and aggregate networks you are welcomed into. The letters in red never promised those things. In fact, the opposite is true.

 

“Come and follow me,” means “leave every other thing behind.” Carrying His cross means no rest, no people, no home…no party. Unless that party is committed to righteousness. A Biblical worldview is bound to speaking truth, dividing, correcting, convicting, and defining what it is to be set apart.

 

We do not get to simply “tow the party line.” And the party is worse when we do. Politics is the altar the Church laid its consistency down on and rather than reclaim it in grief in clarity, we justify it remaining there. As though our God is not so great and requires our shallow convictions to win anything election or otherwise.

 

God is not confused about nuance. There is one side, His. The trouble with choosing the lesser of two evils is that ultimately, we choose evil. And in so doing, throw open wide the gate to justify every other evil, both lesser and greater. In fact, we find ourselves with no ground to object to any evil thereafter. The Christian voter who does not object to abortion finds it difficult to object to other issues that endanger children.

 

We were given a nation we did not build and rather exalt with abandon the God who gave it, we chose to exalt the nation…to its death. We hoped our flexibility would prolong the last days of sun that shined on simpler, more moral times and delay the decline and decay we now grieve. But we have guaranteed and expedited every breakdown we hoped to avoid—in the name of Compromise.

 

Clarity. Consistency. Conviction. Courage.  Anyone with less will not win my vote.