Why Are Christians Relying on Politics

[MennoSota]

Over the past years I have noticed a distinct lack of any call to prayer in Christianity within western countries. Instead I observe Christians picking up the sword of government to force their image of Christianity upon society.
Conservative Christians and Liberal Christians both use the Bible to condemn their opponents and create a prooftext to justify their behavior.
Christians seem to have placed their faith in politics and then ask God to make their political plan work. What will people do if God's plans are not their plans? Will they repent and walk in step with the Spirit or will they try to manipulate the path God has ordained?
Why have Christians stopped praying as their weapon in battle and instead picked up politics as their weapon in battle?

 

[MennoSota]

33 people looked. Everyone chose not to comment. Yet, there are long threads bashing leftists and fascists all in the,name of God. This is sad.

 

[ok doser]

You dint put "trump" in the thread title

 

[annabenedetti]

Have you heard of a book called Bad Religion, by Ross Douthat?

It has a chapter in it called City on the Hill, and I'd saved this quotation:

"This trend has helped ratify a shift we examined in earlier chapters: the steady conflation of religious belief and partisan politics, to the detriment of both. As the two political coalitions have become theological worlds unto themselves, messianic and apocalyptic in equal measure, it’s become harder and harder for Christians to find a place to stand on public issues that isn’t straightforwardly partisan. The more that politics becomes the landscape of good versus evil, real Americans versus fascists or socialist, liberty versus tyranny, the greater the pressure to simply conform your theology to ideology. Whether they’re Protestant or Catholic, lukewarm or zealous, believers inevitably find themselves pressured to “join the side they’re on,” instead of trying to do justice to the inevitable complexities of political life in the City of Man."


​

I have the book marked up pretty well. I don't know where it is at the moment or I'd add to the above.

It seems when religion in America is inextricable from politics, it tends on the left to focus on social justice and on the right it's the culture wars. But more than anything, American religion is evangelicalism and all that goes with it: the fight against abortion, homosexual marriage, and against diversity of thought or behavior or religion or color or sexual identity in just about any context. They're pro-Israel, pro-Ten Commandments in the public sphere, pro-Trump as Divinely chosen, and so on.

For some Christians, depending on belief, conflict brings the promise of the Rapture, or the End Times and the Second Coming. Many of them have a strong Christian nationalism, and of those, many admire Putin as exemplar. (Which I continue to find mind-boggling.)

Anyway. I don't see any of this changing for the better, but only getting worse. To which more than a few evangelicals would likely say: Maranatha.

 

[Foxfire]

Over the past years I have noticed a distinct lack of any call to prayer in Christianity within western countries. Instead I observe Christians picking up the sword of government to force their image of Christianity upon society.
Conservative Christians and Liberal Christians both use the Bible to condemn their opponents and create a prooftext to justify their behavior.
Christians seem to have placed their faith in politics and then ask God to make their political plan work. What will people do if God's plans are not their plans? Will they repent and walk in step with the Spirit or will they try to manipulate the path God has ordained?
Why have Christians stopped praying as their weapon in battle and instead picked up politics as their weapon in battle?

If the flock has drifted afield, the shepherd has neglected his charge.

Congregations tend, by and large, to follow the lead of their clergy.

IMHO

 

[MennoSota]

If the flock has drifted afield, the shepherd has neglected his charge.

Congregations tend, by and large, to follow the lead of their clergy.

IMHO

Good point. From my observation our seminaries are doing a poor job in preparing shepherds. The marketing schemes are advanced, however.

 

[The Barbarian]

Not everyone has forgotten:

Today, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to add my voice to the cry which rises up with increasing anguish from every part of the world, from every people, from the heart of each person, from the one great family which is humanity: it is the cry for peace! It is a cry which declares with force: we want a peaceful world, we want to be men and women of peace, and we want in our society, torn apart by divisions and conflict, that peace break out! War never again! Never again war! Peace is a precious gift, which must be promoted and protected.

There are so many conflicts in this world which cause me great suffering and worry, but in these days my heart is deeply wounded in particular by what is happening in Syria and anguished by the dramatic developments which are looming.

I appeal strongly for peace, an appeal which arises from the deep within me. How much suffering, how much devastation, how much pain has the use of arms carried in its wake in that martyred country, especially among civilians and the unarmed? I think of many children will not see the light of the future! With utmost firmness I condemn the use of chemical weapons: I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart. There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which are inescapable! Never has the use of violence brought peace in its wake. War begets war, violence begets violence.

With all my strength, I ask each party in this conflict to listen to the voice of their own conscience, not to close themselves in solely on their own interests, but rather to look at each other as brothers and decisively and courageously to follow the path of encounter and negotiation, and so overcome blind conflict. With similar vigour I exhort the international community to make every effort to promote clear proposals for peace in that country without further delay, a peace based on dialogue and negotiation, for the good of the entire Syrian people.

May no effort be spared in guaranteeing humanitarian assistance to those wounded by this terrible conflict, in particular those forced to flee and the many refugees in nearby countries. May humanitarian workers, charged with the task of alleviating the sufferings of these people, be granted access so as to provide the necessary aid.

What can we do to make peace in the world? As Pope John said, it pertains to each individual to establish new relationships in human society under the mastery and guidance of justice and love (cf. John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, [11 April 1963]: AAS 55, [1963], 301-302).

All men and women of good will are bound by the task of pursuing peace. I make a forceful and urgent call to the entire Catholic Church, and also to every Christian of other confessions, as well as to followers of every religion and to those brothers and sisters who do not believe: peace is a good which overcomes every barrier, because it belongs all of humanity!

I repeat forcefully: it is neither a culture of confrontation nor a culture of conflict which builds harmony within and between peoples, but rather a culture of encounter and a culture of dialogue; this is the only way to peace.

May the plea for peace rise up and touch the heart of everyone so that they may lay down their weapons and let themselves be led by the desire for peace.

To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.

On 7 September, in Saint Peter’s Square, here, from 19:00 until 24:00, we will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world. Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace! I ask all the local churches, in addition to fasting, that they gather to pray for this intention.

Let us ask Mary to help us to respond to violence, to conflict and to war, with the power of dialogue, reconciliation and love. She is our mother: may she help us to find peace; all of us are her children! Help us, Mary, to overcome this most difficult moment and to dedicate ourselves each day to building in every situation an authentic culture of encounter and peace. Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us!

Not just Francis:

Anglican leaders echo Pope Francis’ call for day of prayer and fasting for peace
Senior Anglican leaders have endorsed Pope Francis’ call for an ecumenical day of prayer and fasting for peace, with a particular focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. Pope Francis made his call on Sunday in his traditional Angelus address to crowds in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican. It has now been endorsed by the acting primate of the Anglican Church of South Sudan, the secretary general of the Anglican Communion, and the deputy director of the Anglican Centre in Rome.
http://www.anglicannews.org/news/20...-for-day-of-prayer-and-fasting-for-peace.aspx

Pope, patriarchs lead prayers for peace in Middle East
Pope Francis traveled July 7 to the southern Italian Adriatic port city of Bari to host a day of reflection and ecumenical prayer for peace in the Middle East.

Arriving by helicopter in the early morning, the pope stood in front of the Basilica of St. Nicholas and greeted the patriarchs and other representatives of Christian churches.

Among them was Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and all Africa.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of external relations for the Russian Orthodox Church, represented Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.


Texas Religious Leaders Call for Prayer After Mass Murder at Church
The Southern Baptist Convention, of which FBC Sutherland was a member, released the following statement Monday urging prayer and counseling for the children in the community as well as for the friends and relatives of the victims.

Our hearts are heavy for the people of the Sutherland Springs community in the aftermath of the tragedy at First Baptist Church Sunday morning, November 5th, 2017. We acknowledge that this is an act of senseless evil and we lean on the grace that is ours in Christ Jesus for healing, peace and hope. The SBTC is currently assessing needs. We will stand with First Baptist Church and with the community of Sutherland Springs in the days, weeks, months and years ahead. We are one body. One family.