Christians and Power

We are called to be Christ-followers, and that may put us at odds with the world around us. Some have developed such a hostility toward Christians that they have become hostile and sought to exclude Christian people or Christian thought from the area of public opinion. But Proverbs 14 states:
33 Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding, But what is in the heart of fools is made known.
34 Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.

We should be so committed to living righteous lives, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that we become shining examples of the love of Christ and the reliability of Scripture. We should never use our faith to suppress other people or to manipulate them to see things our way; rather, we should, as Ephesians directs us, speak the truth of God in love, exuding a confidence in His ways, submitting to His power and control.

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We are called to rely on the power of God through the Holy Spirit in order to be a strong example of Christ's presence and love to the people around us. 1st Peter 2 reminds us:
11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme,
14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.

A recent article appearing at the FiveThirtyEight website asked a provocative question in its headline: "How Much Power Do Christians Really Have?"  It was part of a series called, "Invisible Divides."  Based on one key paragraph in the article, you might say it portrays an "imaginary" divide.  By the way, the name, "Five Thirty-Eight," denotes the number of electors that are provided for in the Constitution - 270 are required for election.

But, let's just dig a bit on that question posed in the headline.  This website is a political site and relies on polling data to drive its stories.  So, the "power" referred to here is political power.  While our allegiance is primarily to the Lord Jesus Christ, our ultimate authority, we can recognize that God will place His people in places of influence - you could call it power, I suppose - in order to accomplish His purposes and uphold His principles.  

Our laws have a foundation in the Scriptures - what the Bible calls right and wrong shows up in the legal principles that we follow.  That's not always the case, but I believe that we live in a nation that has been founded on Biblical principles and the influence of Scripture, you could say, is still present today.

Should a Christian seek political power?  Well, our system of government is set up where we have leaders on multiple levels.  Same as companies, churches, even our families.  Entities have leadership structures; why not government?   If a believer wants to bring his or her expertise and the principles of Scripture into such a position, why not?  

But, ultimately, what you could say is that our "power" comes from the greatest source of power in the universe - the One who created it!  So, essentially, we have unlimited power, the power of the Holy Spirit - but we are taught in the Scriptures how to use it.  It is not to subjugate people, but to lift them up; not to settle scores, but to wield it to defeat spiritual enemies. 

So, one should not be afraid of a Christian influence, but we have come to a point where there are people in power that are not reverential about God and the teachings of His Word, and not respectful of Christians.  The FiveThirtyEight story tries to advance a theory about the role of faith and the practice of Christianity in our nation today, stating: "There’s a sense...that the country is in the midst of a reckoning over what it means to be Christian in America...On one side, there are the people who see Christians as the victims of a successful campaign to infuse the country with secular values, forcing Christians — particularly conservative ones — to accept values they violently disagree with. But many Americans think Christians occupy a very different role. In their version of the country’s current drama, Christians are the villains, ensconcing their own beliefs in law and politics even as their numbers dwindle. There’s a thread of unease on both sides — as if the one thing everyone agrees on is that these two ways of thinking about Christianity in America simply can’t coexist."

The article provides data from a A FiveThirtyEight/PerryUndem/YouGov survey of "likely voters." It says, "...we found profound disagreements about how much power Christians really have, and the role they should play in the country’s politics and culture."

This paragraph offers a summary of the findings:

Are Christians victims? It depends on who you ask. Nearly half (46 percent) of survey respondents told us that discrimination against Christians is a problem in American society today, while a majority (54 percent) think it’s not.

It also notes, "They were also divided along similar lines about whether far-right Christians are trying to impose their beliefs on other people: A majority (56 percent) agreed they are, while another 33 percent disagreed, and 10 percent weren’t sure."

All right, let's pause for a minute.  Were there any qualifiers on that survey question?  Or did the surveyor merely use the pejorative term, "far-right Christians" and leave it up to the respondent to determine what that meant? You have to define terms.  There is a move afoot to describe Christians who believe the Bible, who take a stand for life, for marriage as defined by the Scriptures, who believe that God made two genders, and who cherish religious freedom and desire to see Biblical principles influence our society as "extremists."  So, you have to be careful when you start haphazardly assigning labels. 

The summary also says, "A minority of Americans support views that could be described as Christian nationalist, an ideology defined by social scientists as the belief that the U.S. is a Christian nation, and should be returned to its Christian foundations — by force, if necessary."

Whoa, whoa, wait a minute.  Where did that add-on come from?  "By force, if necessary?"  Who believes that.  The bias is clear - if you believe that America was founded as a Christian nation, you get the label.  But, where did the "force" part come from?  That is an outrageous contention.  This may be an attempt to extrapolate what seems to be a significant Christian presence in rallies in Washington on or near January 6, 2021 to the lawlessness inside the Capitol that day.  But, it is certainly not representative of the Church as a whole.

Reading on, we see these words:

According to our survey, only 27 percent of respondents agreed that the “government should favor Christianity over other religions,” and even fewer (22 percent) said that “God has called on conservative Christians to take control of our politics and culture.”

Furthermore, "Only 13 percent said that 'the federal government should advocate for Christian religious values,...' and 19 percent said that 'the federal government should stop enforcing separation of church and state.'”

I think the whole tone of this survey shows a gross misunderstanding of what the majority of Christians believe regarding involvement in our government.  Let's take the question about whether or not the federal government should advocate for Christian religious values.  The fact is, that everyone has a worldview - a view of the world.  That view should inform all that we do.  So, when you elect politicians that do not possess a worldview that is rooted in the Bible, they are going to act accordingly. You have seen that over the last few days in the vote on the so-called Respect for Marriage Act. You can advocate for Christian values not because you want to consolidate power or suppress other people-groups, but because you believe that God's ways are best and reliable for governing a people; after all, as John Adams said, the Constitution was made for a "moral and religious people."  Take out the morality, that in so many ways reflects Judeo-Christian principles, and you have an ideological free-from-all.  

Our desire as Christians should be to win...win people to Jesus Christ.  When you depend on people with unchanged hearts to make decisions that reflect God's ways, it is an exercise in futility. But, we should vote for people and advocate for policies that reflect Christian values, because we love God and we love people and believe that the Bible offers a sound way for individuals to live and thrive in a society.  As we embark on Thanksgiving, we can reflect on how God has blessed our nation.