Political Views in Your Church

It has been my experience that most Baptists are theologically conservative but practical atheists--few in the church are making disciples.

 

I don't know. I don't discuss politics when I am at a place to engage in the worship God or to study His Word. And I don't have much contact with church members outside of those areas.

 

Dr. Bob,
That's why I don't like using the word "liberal" to describe those who should but don't believe in the cardinal doctrines of Scripture.

But I like the way you describe your church family.

 

i see no need to be political in any kind of way. the governments of the world are totally antichrist along with their politicians. they legalize sin and terrorize good.

If Jesus' kingdom was not of this world, why do we want to make this world our kingdom? i see no need. my kingdom is heaven, not america. my vote goes to Christ, not obama or mccain. I vote for Christ and His will, whatever it may be in my life, in heaven and on earth...

come quickly, Lord, the politicians are destroying your earth...

 

Most of us are friends, our church is about 40% Black, 40% white, 10% Hispanic, 5% oriental and 5% of the rest. I can tell what ball team, NASCA driver, boxer, authors, political party and so on of most of the members. Most of us go to each others homes to have fellowship, go to ball games, fishing and what ever else folks do.

We spend time with each other and know each other's views on most things. I can tell you what home to go to for the best banana pudding, pecan pie, blackberry cobbler, potato salad, fried chicken and so on.

I know most of the members favorite Bible verse, we are rather open with each other, but friends seem to be like that and Christians should always be like that, rather that find fault with each other all the time.

 

It is not my aim to be harsh, condescending or disrespectful here, however, I am continually amazed at the lack of depth of thought put into some posts and responses - especially in this thread, already.

If it is not recognized, the above quote is from the beginning of the Declaration of Independence. What we see here is essentially an "apology," in literary terms, or a defense, sent out to fellow "believers" as to how Christian or "God-fearing" men, could possibly revolt against a King, of all people, to the point of actually taking up arms and KILLING their fellow man, their fellow "subjects," and the King's soldiers - ostensibly there for their protection.

David would not dare lift a hand against the anointed King Saul. Michael durst not bring a railing accusation against the devil when battling over the body of Moses. We are commanded, "Thou shalt not kill," and "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." Yet these men dared to fight instead! They dared to rebel! They dared to kill! They dared to risk the well-being of themselves and their families!

Most of us somewhat revere and very much appreciate what our Founding Fathers accomplished for our sakes. I think that most of us recognize, historically, how God was able to, and has used, this nation for great glory, and benefit, to the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet we forget, or don't give thought to, what they actually did and how they did it.

Many - if not most - of the preliminary meetings and discussions - as well as follow up activities - were done in Churches throughout the Thirteen Colonies. These discussions were no doubt very solemn, very disheartening, very scary; fraught with passion, indecision, sin, and repentance; bathed in agonizing prayer. Where else more appropriate? Of course, it was done in churches - by church members. There were some on both sides of the debate, or "aisle," as we would say today. The movie The Patriot, with Mel Gibson, does a pretty fair job of showing us how this might have looked.

Perhaps this post is too heavy for this venue or thread, I apologize if you think so.

Salt in the earth. Effecting positive influence for the benefit of our fellow man, and the Kingdom of Heaven, through Christ's Church - by discussing politics? You betcha!

 

We have to be careful how we handle the truth of our country. While it is without doubt this country was founded on Biblical principles it is also true that church buildings we also the school building and town meeting halls.

 

So true. Even as late as the late 40's to the late 50's in many parts of the south, Fl., Ga., Ms., Va., Ky. and Ar. I've seen a church and public school on the same ground. I have a friend who went to school in a Methodist church building from first to fifth grade. So one does not need to go back to the late 1700's are the 1800's to find that.

 

First of all, I agree with some of what you are saying - but - are you saying, that churches (i.e., meetings and members) did not discuss these political issues?

 

No I haven't said that. In fact if you dig you will find a great number of sermons on political issues from the early dates of our country. But just because meeting were held in church buildings does not in and of itself prove the church sanctioned the meeting.

 

Which, of course, I agree with - but why bring all this up without saying you agree with my point - or that it at least has merit - in view of the thread we are on?

The point being, that the founders, whom are generally thought well of, through their actions, including political discussions, sermons, etc., in churches - provided a place in the world for people to freely worship and speak their mind. I dare say that many felt that due to the magnitude of the matters before them - how could they not discuss it, or bring it into, their churches with them?

And now, many think that we are, or ought to be, more spiritual, or more mature, considerate, and thoughtful, than to bring up such mundane and improper things as politics, into our churches?

Give me a break.

 

I think a person would have to live back before the Revolution to make an accurate assessment of what they would do. History gives us the facts of what happened, but history is more than facts.

How was the Holy Spirit moving among God's people at that time? What were the facts the history books don't record? Without the answer to these and countless other questions, I believe it is difficult to decide what was the best thing to do during this time in our history. Unfortunately, we may face some equally difficult decisions in the not too distant future.

 

Do you mean like wars with the native Americans and slavery? I am not sure I would have trusted many religious leaders at the time to void themselves of self. However not much has changed today. People are just as greedy today as they were then.

 

Some did, some didn't. I would say more of the discussing of political issues were in the rural churches. I've sat with my father in church and listen to political actions that needed to be taken on agriculture, roads and which teachers to hire, when service should be going on and on Saturday mornings and week day nights.

Today the locals have nothing to say about which teachers are hired, might get one fired but with the union that is very hard but don't have much to do with hiring.

Most of what I saw was issues, not candidates, today very little of anything, but groups might rent the building and have a meeting on things.

 

I found it rather interesting in talking with a gentleman from another country about what he sees in America among Christians. He sees what folks see as Christianity being closely tied to a particular political party. Then I told him I wonder what Christians in America would say about the men Jesus chose as His disciples. Didn't he choose men from practically every political party?

 

Extremely diverse.

For the most part, our congregation is theologically conservative, but politically, I believe we have a higher proportion of Democrats than the general population. I'm guessing that it is the result of many of our local sister churches making a big issue of Republican political positions among their members, as well as our emphasis on assisting the poor.

 

This isn't what I was talking about at all. I was referring to our declaring our independence from Great Britain

 

My point was that often we glamorize what we want to see and forget the rest. There has been religious corruption since man was on earth.