Posts Tagged ‘Politics’

Sep
14
2011

Trashing Politicians: The New Spectator Sport

Politicians may be the most despised people on the planet today. It’s quite fashionable to trash them and it is socially acceptable. But is it right for a Christian?

I get a ton of grief on Facebook when I ever defend someone with whom the majority of evangelicals disagree. For instance, even posting “Pray for the President” elicits angry comments from normally very nice Christian people. Or at times I’ve defended politicians over what I considered cheap shots. I’ve been called liberal, soft. Even a few friends have said, “Dan you’ve really become liberal.” What’s funny is that my personal political convictions are very conservative, but I just don’t hate politicians who see it a different way. So that makes me liberal, I guess.

I don’t always get this right and sometimes I descend into the easy and cheap joke at a public figure’s expense. And I’ve been guilty of posting or sending information about someone that is less than true.

But for a Christian, we have to ask ourselves, is politics the one area where we are allowed to just say what we want about someone? I don’t think so. I think the Bible is pretty clear on the way we should approach our leaders. With respect  and honor (1 Peter 2:17). We’re to pray for them (1 Timothy 2:2). And we’re to recognize that their office was given them by God (Romans 13).

I’m also intrigued by Jesus’ own behavior toward politicians. He put one of the most despised on his own team of disciples. Matthew was a tax collector, someone who, in those days, was even more despised than our current politicians. Yet Jesus loved him and Matthew became a writer of one of the gospels.

American Christians should be involved in the political process. Being a good, informed, involved citizen is a part of being a good and faithful Christian. But how we go about it is important. It’s easy to get sucked into the mockery and disdain and name-calling so prevalent on both sides. I read some political blogs or Facebook posts by purported Christians and scratch my head. Have they read the book of James? Do they know Philippines 4:8? Or have we made politics a special zone where the Scriptures don’t apply?

Some will say, “Oh, Dan, you live in a dream world.” And maybe I do. But aren’t we as Christians called to be different? Aren’t we called to carry ourselves in the public square with wisdom and winsomeness and love? This doesn’t mean we don’t make firm arguments for or against policy. Doesn’t mean we have to compromise our values. But it also means we shouldn’t be jerks. Even in the political arena when everyone else is doing it. It means we see people, even politicians with whom we disagree, as people worthy of respect and honor and dignity.

In politics, being nice is considered a weakness. But a Christian is called to be a light in this world, to love the unlovable.

Even when the unlovable are politicians.

Sep
13
2011

Why Pastors Don’t Often “Speak Up”

A few years go I had the opportunity to volunteer for a dear friend of mine who was running for Congress in the district in which I live. I was heavily involved–my job was to rally evangelical leaders to support the candidate, whose views lined up with evangelicals, especially on the social issues like abortion, marriage, etc. Among the things I did was to set up special prayer breakfasts, individual meetings with pastors, and to have my candidate visit churches on Sundays, arranging to have my candidate introduced publicly. We found that a candidate’s mere visit to a church, low-key with no endorsement, sent a message to the church members that he cared about them and stood with them.

I found this very difficult, because I got great resistance from pastors. They didn’t want to be seen as endorsing one candidate or another. At the time, I didn’t understand this. The election was important, I thought, why wouldn’t they lend their favor to my guy, whom they knew and would likely vote for?

Well, fast forward a few years and now it’s me in that role as Senior Pastor. Now, granted, we don’t have a very large church and my influence is minimal at best. But surprisingly, I’m finding myself in the position of those other pastors. I’m hesitant to publicly endorse a candidate.

That’s because I understand now why my fellows evangelical clergy are often so hesitant to endorse or be seen as endorsing a political candidate. It isn’t because they feared losing their tax exempt status. It was because they feared that it would hurt the mission of the church. I believe this more strongly now than I have ever believed it before. Politics, even movements that support worthy causes, can creep into the mission of a church and get us off of our main goal, which is to represent Christ in the community.

I’m writing this now, because a new movement has sprung up: Speak Up Movement. It’s sponsored by a worthy organization, the Alliance Defense Fund and is endorsed as a movement by leading pastors I admire like David Jeremiah, Henry Blackaby, Wayne Grudem and others. The idea is that pastors are too often muzzled from speaking on political issues for fear of losing their tax exempt status. This is why, in their view, churches are often softer on leading cultural issues than they need to be. They actually advocate strengthening the law so that a pastor’s sermon is free from scrutiny which would lead to a losing of tax exempt status.

Now, on the whole, I think this is a good cause in that a) we should encourage pastors to preach the Word, despite the cultural/financial/political ramifications and b) we should strengthen the legal rights of pastors and all Christians to freely speak their mind.

But it’s the premise of the movement that bothers me a bit. They assume that pastors are not “speaking out” on political issues for fear of losing their tax exempt status. Now, to be sure there are some who have that fear and a clarification of our rights is important. But in my limited experience in politics and now my experience as a pastor, I have not found this to be the reason pastors don’t speak out on political issues. In fact, I’ve rarely had a pastor express this to me.

The reason we don’t get all political every Sunday is because we have pledged our lives to being faithful to the text of Scripture in front of us. Pastors like me who preach systematically through a book of the Bible don’t have the luxury to cherry pick hot cultural issues and hammer them home. Some pastors do this and are known for their political advocacy. This may win them points in the cultural wars, but I think it’s a poor way to shepherd your people.

Look, the Bible touches on a variety of these issues, but we should only speak where the Scripture speaks. On the issue of abortion, the Bible is loud and clear and for this reason, our church sets aside a Sunday every year to discuss the pro-life cause in a biblically faithful way. But on the whole, we should only raise our voices against issues when they arise in the flow of our text. In those moments, we shouldn’t silent against what might be politically unpopular.

Our job, as pastors, is to feed the Word to our people, not advance a political movement. If we’re in submission to the Word of God, then we will find it often cuts against all parties. Sometimes it cuts against the conservative movement. Other times it cuts against the liberal movement. And many issues are matters of preference and process, not clearly spelled out in Scripture. As a pastor, I must be faithful to the Word of God, not to a party or even a political movement, even if I am in agreement with many of their positions.

The pulpit is a unique place. From this space we must deliver and preach the undiluted Word of God. People coming into our doors don’t need a sanitized version of Fox News or MSNBC, they don’t need regurgitated talking points from Rush Limbaugh or Keith Olberman.  They are coming to hear the Word, preached with power, humility, and confidence. Where that word touches politics, I pray we possess the courage to speak out. But to insist that pastors get more political in their messages, that they rearrange their sermons to help one party or another, this I believe, is unfaithful.

Our job is to preach the Word in such a way that we equip Christians to live in this world of evil, to make a difference at every level, from politics to Hollywood to the marketplace. Pastors can, at times, shape public debate and opinion and perhaps special times in history, we should dive into the Bible and speak forcefully against a cultural evil. Men of history like Jonathan Edwards and Dietrich Bonheoffer come to mind. But even in that, the flow of the text should guide us, not cherry-picked Bible verses compiled by a movement with an agenda. And there are other forums where pastors can more specifically articulate an opinion, such as in a blog post or a non-preaching time. They may even endorse, in a personal way, a candidate of their choice.

But the next time you hear someone rail on pastors and say, “Why don’t they speak out about this issue?” You might answer, politely, “Maybe the text they are on doesn’t speak to that.” That  may not please your favorite candidate or party.

But this is the approach, I believe, pleases God.

 

Sep
08
2011

The Leadership Lessons of 9/11

This week is a sober one as we look back on the tragedy of 9/11. I’m amazed at how many of the memories come flooding back as I read the article and watch some of the clips. I recently read through my copy of World Magazine, who did a fantastic job with some original reporting and retrospectives.

9/11 offered some powerful lessons in leadership. Most everyone, outside of the leftwing fever swamps, agrees that President Bush and Mayor Rudy Guliani were exemplary in their leadership after 9/11. You may not agree with all of their politics or perhaps decisions made afterword, etc. but in the days after the tragedy, America was led well.

What does 9/11 teach us about leadership? I’ve found three compelling things:

Leadership is facing unknown crises. We typically select our political leaders based on a whole host of reasons, such as their position on health care, moral issues, fiscal issues, national security issues. Sometimes we forget to ask ourselves, What kind of man or woman is this? Are they competent to lead?

President Bush had no idea that there would be a massive terrorist attack only a few months into his administration. He didn’t run on national security issues. He had a whole host of things he likely wanted to accomplish. And yet, 9/11 happened and he was the guy left rallying a country and leading our effort to bring the offenders to justice. And it’s always like this in leadership. There will be crises in your administration over which you have little control. How will you handle them?  There will be events, trials, tragedies that will blindside you. How will you handle them? Will you lead well the people under you? This is something to consider for yourself and when choosing leaders. We’ve seen other public crises where leaders seemed out of depth, didn’t respond well, and had no ability to reassure a frightened people. We’ve experienced events in our own lives with similarly bad leadership. Good leaders seem to have the flexibility, humility, and selflessness to lead in moments they didn’t expect. I think this comes back to simple faith in the sovereignty and goodness of God.

Leadership is about character Leaders who desire to serve, who are selfless will respond well in a crises. Character and integrity matter most when the chips are down, when you don’t know where to turn or what to do. There are opportunities in a crises to seek your own glory or to use it to advance an agenda. There are temptations to wonder you you personally will fare when it is all said and done. But character (formed, I would argue, by a strong faith in Christ) keeps you’re eye on the ball. A crisis doesn’t make a leader, but it does reveal his character. It strips away the pretense, the pretending, the slogans, the smiles and lays bare a man or woman’s soul.

Leadership is about vision. In the days after 9/11, I felt Rudy Giuliani and President Bush and other leaders did a good job of being blunt about the extent of the tragedy, but they also projected a sense of moving forward. What most people were thinking after watching those towers fall was, Are we going to be okay? Will America move on? There’s typically chaos after a tragedy. The leader has to carefully thread the needle between empathy, which is needed, and resolute courage. He has to be more measured than the people he leads. He must not go overboard with a sense of vengeance and yet he has to communicate that the necessary steps will be taken to make sure justice is done.

The bottom line: Leaders are often elected on a platform, because of a variety of issues, and often based on less than important things like their looks, their presence on TV, and other inanities. But they’re mettle is tested when a crises hits. And so as we think back on 9/11 and move forward, we should be wise to vote for leaders who we’d want leading us in a time of trouble and we’d be wise to allow Christ to develop in us the character necessary to lead well where we are called.

Sep
06
2011

Mini-Reviews #4

Here is another batch of reviews for books I’ve recently read. Not all are recently published. Some are a few years. Still, I think they are good and relevant today:

Just As I Am by Billy Graham

I’ve always wanted to read this book. I’m intrigued by the biographies of well-known evangelical leaders. A couple of months ago I was in our newly reorganized church library and saw this on the shelf. I pulled it down and began reading. What a treasure it was. I have always known Billy Graham as, well, Billy Graham, famous evangelist. The zenith of his ministry was well before I was born. This book gave me a newfound appreciation for God’s work in his life. I’m amazed at how God took the son of a dairy farmer and used him to bring millions to Christ, influence world leaders, and help usher in this era of evangelicalism. What I like about this book is that Billy is very candid about his ministry and his shortcomings. I think it would do younger folks to read this book to get a sense of God’s work in this remarkable man.

The Preacher and the Presidents by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

After reading Just As I Am I immediately purchased The Preacher and the Presidents, which expands on Billy Graham’s influence over U.S. Presidents from Truman until George W. Bush (the book was written before President Obama took office). I love U.S. History, especially Presidential history, so this book scratched that itch. What was interesting about The Preacher and the Presidents is just how involved Billy Graham was in American politics, especially in his early days. At one point there was a serious draft movement to get Dr. Graham himself to run for President. He steadfastly refused, knowing God had called him to ministry. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t heavily involved in influencing politics and policy, especially in the early years. Looking back, he views much of his involvement as a mistake and in later years disciplined himself to being simply a trusted confidant of the Presidents. What is so moving about Billy Graham’s work with each leader is his trustworthiness. He was the guy they were down, when someone passed away, when they needed spiritual leadership. Billy Graham put himself in a position to minister spiritually to these men, who often felt isolated and alone in the White House. And he shared Christ and led most of them to a saving knowledge of Jesus. We can only praise God for this aspect of Dr. Graham’s ministry and perhaps Christians today can emulate his kindhearted love of even the most despised politicians.

Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me by Ian Morgan Cron

I’m not sure what to make of this book. On the one hand, it’s a work of staggering literary genius. Cron writes like a poet. HIs prose is so beautiful and tight and rhythmic. And his raw telling of a life growing up with an alcoholic father is a powerful read for young fathers today. I found myself, at times, weeping at the aching hole in Ian’s heart left by a Dad who wasn’t a Dad. It motivated me to be the kind of father my children need and to be grateful for the good father my own dad was.

That having been said, I wouldn’t draw too many theological conclusions from Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me. There are passages where Ian’s experiences in church smack of extrabiblical emotionalism. And those who deny the Catholic and Episcopal doctrine of transubstantiation–the communion wafer becoming literal Christ–will be uncomfortable.

Still, this is a worthy book to read, if only for the story and the beautiful way in which Ian retells his childhood. It could be a challenge to every man to ask God to give him the grace to be the kind of hero his family needs.

May
18
2011

10 Things I’m Not Looking for in a President

Primary season (that silly time when potential aspirants for President schlepp around Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina in an attempt to win their party’s nomination) is upon us. As a fairly conservative Christian, I’m anticipating the primaries. I do respect our current President and feel he’s done an admirable job on some tough issues. I also admire his dedication to his family. But I’m likely to choose a more conservative alternative, mainly because of the issues like abortion, traditional marriage, and government spending. I’m not under the illusion that a change in party will fix all the problems and I’m not pinning all my hopes and dreams on a particular movement. I also don’t think any of the candidates are “God’s candidates.” Nevertheless, I must eventually vote, so I need to start thinking about some of these things.

Around primary season, voters typically look for the candidate most in line with their values. They typically have a list of things the candidate must be in terms of issues, etc. I thought it would be interesting to post a list of things I’m not looking for. Here’s my ten:

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Jan
29
2011

The Church and the Issue of Abortion

Recently, we celebrated Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Here is my message:

The Church and the Issue of Abortion

Oct
29
2010

Friday Five Interview – Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner

Today I’m highly honored to have two distinguished men stop by the blog for this very special Friday Five interview. We’re less than two weeks before the midterm elections and so thoughtful people of faith on both sides of the political divide will go to the polls and help shape their government. So I thought I’d bring a little perspective to bear from two men who have been in the arena.

Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner are both veterans of Washington, D.C. and most recently the Bush White House. They recently released a fantastic new book, City of Man, published by Moody Publishers. You can read my review here.

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Aug
14
2010

A Response to Rachel Held Evans

So right before my wife and I left for Colorado Springs for a pastoral retreat, I read Rachel Held Evans post on the blog at onFaith. I read it with interest, because it seemed to “represent” all next generation evangelicals. I wrote a response post questioning why the prolife cause has been so out of favor with young evangelicals while causes like sex trafficking, etc are chic.

Rachel, to her credit, wrote a thoughtful response that generated a lot of very smart and thoughtful comments. I have had time to think this over the last week and wanted to continue the conversation.

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