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Political Debates

ASK THE PASTOR WITH DAN KIEHL,
 Senior Pastor of Oakwood Presbyterian Church

QUESTION: “It bothers me to get into debates with other believers about politics. How should I handle differences with Christian brothers or sisters on political or social issues?”

ANSWER: I usually stay out of the political debates, not because I don't have opinions or feel strongly about them, but because I rarely find them to be productive and because they usually produce so much more heat than light.  I think that my greatest frustration is that we tend to bring all the cultural political labels and their baggage with us into the discussion. Conservatives and liberals are equally guilty - "Oh, you're liberal, so you're for big government..."; "You're conservative, so you're for imposing your morality on other people". Once the label is applied, all your thoughts and motivations are assumed, and battle lines are drawn.  Because of this some of my Christian friends work hard to confound any attempts to pigeon-hole them with political labels.

      When there are divisions in our church family, I always ask one question of the "parties" involved - "Is this a disagreement over principle or is it over strategy?" If we differ in principle (i.e., inerrancy of Scripture, deity of Christ, exclusivity of salvation in Christ), then if we can't agree we may well have to part ways. On the other hand, if we agree in principle but differ in strategy (i.e., methods of evangelism, style of worship, color of the carpet), then we should strive to maintain unity and work through our differences. Our unity in principle should trump our diversity in strategies. 

      The same should be true in political and social issues. Evangelical Christian "liberals" have radically different worldviews and motivations than non-Christian "liberals", and the same is true for Christian "conservatives" compared to non-Christian "conservatives". A Christian "conservative" may agree wholeheartedly with a non-Christian "conservative" about the strategy of passing an amendment to the constitution to protect a traditional understanding of marriage, but the principles upon which they base their strategy are very different. A Christian "liberal" and a non-Christian "liberal" will both demand that the government care for the needs of the poor, but based upon different principles. The PRINCIPLES that bind Christian liberals and conservatives together in Christ are much stronger than the STRATEGIES that bind Christian and non-Christian conservatives together. But you'd never know it by some of the caustic debates that go on among believers. 

      If you were to ask me to fill out a survey of my "strategies" for current issues, you would all no doubt end up labeling me a right-wing conservative. But I would then be handicapped by that label, because of all the wrong assumptions that come with it. For instance, like my socially liberal Christian friends, I feel very strongly about the principle that we are called by God to embrace and care for the orphan & widow, the needy and oppressed. But when it comes to "strategy", I don't believe that it is wise to look to or expect the civil government to be a primary care-giver in society. 

     I guess my point is that I prefer to be labeled a citizen of Christ's kingdom who is struggling by grace to apply Biblical principles to a messed up world. I hope that we all share that in common. Our unity in principle trumps our diversity in strategies.

Church & State Responsibilities

ASK THE PASTOR WITH DAN KIEHL,
Senior Pastor of Oakwood Presbyterian Church

QUESTION: “What about the ‘separation of church and state’? What does the Bible teach about the role of the Church in relation to the State?”

ANSWER: There is no way to answer this question in a few paragraphs, but I’ll try to set out a couple of key principles. First of all, it is true that the Church and the state are separate entities established by God for different purposes. History is full of wrong-headed and tragic attempts to create a hybrid church /state, where ecclesiastical and civil authority are mixed and confused.

However, even though God created the church and state with separate responsibilities and spheres of responsibility, He didn’t ever intend for them to operate in total isolation from each other. They have a very important connection to each other – they were built upon the same foundation, the Word and authority of God Himself. Paul teaches in Romans 13, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” When Pilate boasted of his authority to Jesus, our Lord replied, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” This is an important point – whether those in civil government recognize it or not, their position and authority come from God, and they are accountable to him for how they use it.

The idea of a “neutral” state, which is immune from any religious influence, is not only foreign to Scripture, it is also logically impossible. Is murder wrong? Is stealing wrong? Is abortion the taking of a human life? Is assisted-suicide a legitimate option for suffering elderly people? Is a committed relationship between two men or two women a legitimate marriage? These are decisions which can only be made based upon a religious worldview. The question isn’t whether or not a government official should be influenced by his religious views or not; the question is, which religious views are influencing his decisions?

America is not a theocracy, and I don’t believe that it is God’s intent to establish a theocracy like Old Testament Israel in this age. However, God does still hold all human governments accountable for their decisions and actions, judging them by the standards of His holy and perfect law. In Romans 13, Paul says that a governing official is “God’s servant to do you good…He is God’s servant, and agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” Civil government is given “the power of the sword” to punish lawbreakers, protect against enemy aggressors, to restrain wickedness and provide order in society. But how should our society define “lawbreaking”, “enemies”, “wickedness”, and “order”? These are fundamentally moral and religious questions.

This brings us to role of the Church in relation to the state. Again, even though there are no Israel-like theocracies today, I still believe that the basic principle of church / state relations is embodied in the structure of Old Testament Israel. The three authorities in Israel were embodied in the prophets, priests, and kings. The Kings wielded the power of the sword in punishment and protection, while the priests oversaw the ceremonial system of worship and religious instruction. The prophets were the means by which God communicated truth to the King and the people. This is well illustrated by the crucial relationship between the prophets and King David. The prophets were the spokesmen and interpreters of God’s will for the King, whether it was in his personal life (i.e., condemnation of his adultery with Bathsheba) or in his public office (condemnation of his decision to number his troops) (Cf., also John the Baptist’s denunciations of King Herod).

So how does all of this apply to a 21st century democracy like the U.S. of A.? Even though many of the laws in Scripture applied uniquely to Old Testament Israel or to the Church, the rest of God’s laws form the basic principles by which any government should carry out its responsibilities. The fact that no government on earth is listening doesn’t change the fact that they are still accountable to God and to his standards. And the Church continues to bear the responsibility of being “the prophetic voice to the king”, speaking the truth in love. How else could the civil authorities know the will of God? The church has no power or authority of the sword from God to force government officials (or anyone else) to comply with God’s will; our job is only to proclaim the truth, and then trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to change hearts and society. And we are blessed to live in a country where we still have multiple means of expressing God’s truth to those who govern us.