The actions and policies of President Bush are not “closer” to the will of God than those of John Kerry. Neither would the opposite be true. Neither of these men is concerned with embodying the reign of God in their decisions, and this is evidenced by the words and actions of both men. Whether or not, then, the reign of Bush or Kerry would be “more Christian,” is a dead question. Neither would be Christian, because only the Reign of YHWH is “Christian.” There is, however, room to discuss whether or not particular policies or actions follow charity and justice. But the role of government can never be seen as a building block or capstone for the mission of the Church.
Remember that the reign of George W. Bush is not the Reign of God. Nor would the Kerry administration have been. As soon as we start using language that allies the reign of any Caesar to that of YHWH, we are guilty of idolatry.
George W. Bush is not “God’s man,” no matter what election he wins. God’s man was and is Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, who came to put to rights everything that went wrong in the Fall of Creation. He, and by extension the Christian Church, are God’s preferred, primary, and quite possibly only means for the redemption of the world. Bush will not put things to rights, and neither would Kerry.
but bestows favor on the humble
1 year ago
Comments
2 comments:
Well said Kyle. One of my concerns in this arena is that Christians have this veiw that a nation, say the U.S., can be "Christian" - meaning, I suppose, it would act like a Christian person would act, or should - or that its job is to spread the Gospel or legislate the Love of God in the hearts of men. This goes beyond problematic.
Whether on the "liberal" or "conservative" side, it doesn't work to ask a nation to act as a Christian person. For example, "the U.S. should forgive it's enemies and love Osama instead of hunting him down". This is a statement on the outskirts of naive. Earthly governments are here to keep order and punnish wrongdoers. We, the Church, regenerate people, the Saints, are the ones who are called to forgive and not hunt down our enemies, not nations.
We want everything to be too neatly tied together as one thing. It's OK if there are some separations I think. And there are. We just need to properly discern them and live in accord with what we've discerned. Whew, I went on there longer than I intended. Peace to you.
Bravo!
One of the best posts I've ever read.
Rick
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