Book could not have been published at a more important time in our society. He brings up something that I have been struggling with and seeking guidance on, how involved is a Christian to become involved in the political process? I do see that many of us Christians have over stepped the boundaries.

I try to live my life with my faith as the guideline, it also guides how I vote, so for example, I’m pro-life (not anti-choice), anti-death penalty, I believe that we should all be willing to help each other out, but not depend on the government to take care of us. I do not believe that voters should look at religious affiliation when choosing their candidate. It shouldn’t matter if the candidate practices islam, catholicism, the various forms of protestantism, or judaism, as long as the candidate doesn’t try to decide that we all should be of one faith.

I also believe that it is impossible to keep faith out of politics if a candidate truly has a significant faith. If it guides your life, it guides all of your life, not just the non-political part, KWIM?

First of all, I do not see Jesus accepting the position of President of the US. His purpose was to lead people to the kingdom of God. I believe He saw a need for political rule, but that it was as antithetical to spiritual salvation two thousand years ago as it is today.

However, my thoughts wander to imagine the chain of events that would have evolved out had Jesus been elected President in November of 2000 and four planes loaded with hate filled Saudis were in the air on September 11 of the next year. My understanding from the New Testament is that He would have advocated turning the other cheek. Nowhere in the New Testament does anything indicate that Jesus advocated retaliation. As a matter of fact Jesus is spoken of as coming to replace the old ways under the laws of Moses with its eye for an eye rule of law. This I believe has lead to what is commonly referred to as the “replacement theory” that has resulted in some very poor treatment of Jews.

But I digress. Jesus was a pacifist. He would raise war with no one. Isn’t that what got him crucified? Wasn’t Pilot offering to free Jesus or Barabbas? And the crowd chose the war-monger G W Bush, I mean Barabbas. Jesus wouldn’t win even if he did run.

DaFish,

It was not intended literally.

If you read the book, you will find that these guys don’t believe Jesus would have any desire to be president nor do they believe the U.S. would elect him.
The writer’s intent seems more to try to have people think through what Jesus’ politics would be before placing any faith in our political parties. I also believe they would disagree with the idea of Jesus as a pacifist if by that you mean not engaging in conflict. They argue that he would obviously not avoid questions of justice they only suggest they he would approach it non-violently. They Christians should be working harder to create peace through justice than anyone else is willing to attempt to create peace through war.
Even if you end up disagreeing with them the book is an interesting read and adds an alternative to the typical American reading of the Bible.

I think the point being made here is that you have two political choices: Christ or Chaos. Those who attempt to chase a secular vision of problem- solving like to pat themselves on the back that problems are being solved through “reason” (translation: sheer will of the most talented and dominant in a society). But in the end, it is folly to ignore the reality of our Creator, having enetered human history in his second divine person in order to save mankind, and the resultant demands He makes on the political order so that his salvific mission may be fulfilled. God has a rightful claim on human society. Good luck ignoring it!

So turning out the money changers from the temple and saying He would come with a sword just get tossed out the window with the rest of whatever you guys want to interpret from the Bible. I don’t say this to justify anything the current nationalist politicians of either party have to say, but in order to deliver His peace, not the peace of this world, He would also deliver justice.

John Deal,

Justice will be delivered you can be sure of that.

Jesus taught us that this world (government system) was not under His contro, but under the control of Satan. He will be the King and Ruler over the Kingdom to come, the new earth that will be made new after all the wicked ones are removed from this earth.

Satan had tempted Jesus by offering him all the kingdoms in this world and their glory. He promised to give it to Him if he would only bow down and worship him. Satan was actually able to offer the world to Jesus because God had placed it all under his control. That is why we are told Jesus was tempted, Jesus never denied that Satan did not rule this world. In fact, scripture tells us time again that Satan is the ruler of this world until Jesus returns to it again. [Mat. 4:8, 9; Luke 4:5, 6].

The problem most Christians have, including myself at one-time is accepting this truth, trusting government and the world system, believing we can change the world system. It it is easy today to see that Satan rules the world, before I believed this because of faith that the Word of God is true, but now I see it by sight and this has only caused my faith to grow stronger.

The truth is we can only speak the word of God concerning His truths, but we certinly cannot change the world, only changed hearts can change the world, and only God can change hearts by people hearing His word and desiring and learning who He is through scripture. But the truth is that Satan is the ruler of this world, and the US is very much part of the evil world system that is spoken about in scripture.

D. Walker,
I agree. This is why we should limit government as much as possible. The grand socialist movements of our time will do nothing to further God’s work, in fact, they remove ours eyes from His Kingdom. It is only on the individual level that one can be converted. No King (or President or Democracy), Catholic or Protestant, ever converted anyone to Christianity in the true sense of the word conversion.

John Deal,

If you can admit that God does change hearts so that people can change their ciecumstances, then you should have no problem with churches receiving funding initatives for their faith based services that are open to EVERYONE.