Gary responds to a recent critique of Christian Nationalism. While the article brings up a few good points, it is marred by poor scholarship and sensationalism.
The political sphere is a created government like family government and church (ecclesiastical) government. “God has instituted civil government just as He has set up the church and the family. To say we want nothing to do with civil government is to say that God’s institution is not important.”[1] We are created in the image of God. God is the Governor over all creation, and He has called us to be delegated and limited governors under His one, all-embracing, and unlimited government (cf. Isa. 9:6–7): self-governors, family governors, church governors, and civil governors. The civil or political sphere is an area of legitimate governmental activity that has a designated jurisdiction (juris=law + diction=speak: to “speak the law”) and a set of prescribed laws for its operation. It has its dirty elements when evil men practice evil schemes by not following the law. “So is business, law, labor, education, sports, and just about every other activity you can imagine. It’s part of the human condition known as sin.”[2]
The burden of proof is on the one who thinks that the politics of running a government is any more dirty or dishonest than the politics of running a bank, labor union, trucking company, college, or even a church. Because of its life in a goldfish bowl, the governmental process may actually be a bit cleaner and more honest than the process of running most other social institutions.[3]
Christians should be involved in politics because it’s dirty. “Dirty” is not the same as inherently sinful. Because we live in a fallen world, all things are tainted by sin. To claim that where there is sin there cannot be Christian involvement is to deny involvement in everything! God expects Christians to clean up their own lives after their conversion (Acts 26:20). The clean-up process should extend to the family. Remember, children are to obey their parents in the Lord (Eph. 6:1). This means sinful attitudes and actions must be substituted with godly attitudes and actions. Husbands are to love their wives (5:25), and wives are to be subject to their husbands (5:22). Certainly the church has the responsibility to get its house in order (1 Peter 4:17). Most of the New Testament epistles were written to churches, some of which had serious moral problems (1 Cor. 5:1–8).
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths takes a closer look at God's Word and applies it to erroneous misinterpretations of the Bible that have resulted in a virtual shut-down of the church's full-orbed mission in the world (Acts 20:27). Due to these mistaken interpretations and applications of popular Bible texts to contemporary issues, the Christian faith is being thrown out and trampled under foot by men (Matt. 5:13).
Buy NowGary has been around long enough that what he has written 30 years ago is now current again. Christian Reconstructionism was a movement that bothered a lot of people in the 1980s and 90s and today the boogeyman is Christian Nationalism. The arguments against both are nearly the same, even though Reconstruction and Nationalism aren’t the same. What they actually have in common is bad and unbiblical critiques by authors who should know better. You can read the article for yourself here.
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[1] Robert L. Thoburn, The Christian and Politics (Tyler, TX: Thoburn Press, 1985), 17.
[2] John Eidsmoe, God and Caesar: Christian Faith and Political Action (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1984), 56.
[3] Daniel R. Grant, The Christian and Politics (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1968), 12.