You are absolutely correct IMHO. There is a great and needed distinction between the gospel/church and political/government, that all ministers of the gospel must not be ashamed to articulate.

Politics seems to build the ego and influence of a man, while the gospel makes a man realize he must lose his life to save it.

Luke 17:33 “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

Blessings,
Chris

I am suggesting that politics is not the mission of the church. It never has been. Participation in the political process is not necessary to the advancement of God’s kingdom. The mission of the church is not societal transformation via political influence. The gospel changes people and changed people influence culture.

Human governments do have a role in society. They can be a deterrent against unchecked wickedness. Legislation can help the governing power fulfill its role in society of commending the good and punishing the evil (Rom. 13). Yet, legislation cannot change a stony heart into a heart of flesh or give dead sinners life.

My point is that the church must not abdicate its God-ordained role to settle for a lesser aim of political influence.

Have you ever heard of a city, county, state and other taxing bodies giving tax breaks to businesses coming into their areas? They do this to encourage the business who they expect to economically impact/ benefit, their community. As Chris points out, many churches do have a very positive impact on their communities – such as food pantries, clothes closets and other benevolent services. Yes, the church could pay taxes and still perform these services, but the government recognizes these services and assists in them by not taxing them.

Don’t get too comfortable in not paying taxes, though. I don’t think it will be much longer before incorporated churches will be paying higher taxes than most business.

Grace,
Wes

Paul and Christ are not trying to tell people to pay taxes for democracy sake. They were telling those in Jerusalem and the Roman congregation to not owe anything to anyone….so that they will not be burdened as they love and share the gospel of God.

It’s interesting that the U.S. Government has enacted laws to provide for tax relief. So we must have to ask the question….why? Our lawmakers are wise to understand that the people should govern themselves and taxes (at least in the beginning of the country) were only there to pay bills. Meaning, ….that the citizens had already paid the bill, yet were simply imposing taxes to offset an already incurred transaction. Unfortunately, we have made a good system of bills and taxation and have convinced a people that taxes are democratically driven for the benefit of the people. That could not be further from the truth. We would do well to have sharp men and women of God to populate the government to lend better understanding to bills and taxation…..so that… what is rendered unto Caesar (U.S. Government) is not frivolously demanded.

In the meantime, we pay what is law… whether frivolous or not, because we are joined to this people. And in some cases Caesar likes to provide relief for what he deems is worthy (i.e. property taxes for religious institutions)

Thanks for your patience,…Blessings,
Chris

You are absolutely right in stating that we as Christians have a divine stewardship of the political power that we have been given in our “one man, one vote” system of government. I agree with you 100%. However, I don’t agree with you that there are not those within evangelicalism seeking political clout. You mentioned Dr. Kennedy in your post over at your place (I too admired him greatly). We could add to his name men such as Dr. Falwell too. Might I also mention my opinion that one of the reasons Southern Baptists has been so reluctant to biblically address our membership numbers is the goal of “political clout” (i.e., ‘look at us, we’re 16 million strong!’).

I am not saying that Believers should abstain from politics. I am saying that Believers have a greater message than any – ANY – politician. That is the message of grace through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Bart, I seriously have a problem voting for either of the men running for President this year. I don’t see a vote for McCain necessarily as a vote for righteousness; not any more than one for Obama. They are both men of the world and I am sick and tired of having to vote for the lesser of two evils. So McCain has a conservative voting record – that does not make him the right man for our nation at this time. Had the men of Jerusalem been given the stewardship to vote for or against Nebuchadnezzar or Zedekiah, who do you think they would have voted for? We know that Nebuchadnezzar was God’s choice because of the sins of the nation. I hope and pray that I am not sounding angry or offensive on this issue. I seriously have grave concerns for our nation – and particularly the church in America that has become so intermingled with one party or the other that we are losing our prophetic voice. For example, now we have a woman running for Vice President who is the mother of five – one of which is a four month old who has Downs Syndrome and another who is 17 years old, unmarried and pregnant. Of course the evangelical right is jumping with joy because she is pro-life – but what about her biblical responsibilities to her family? I am not “against” her, but I am concerned for her and her family – the responsibilities she has there and the responsibilities she will have as the Vice President. I do not look forward to this November and the responsibilities of my “voting stewardship.” This year, I see it in too much of a conflict with my “gospel stewardship.”

Grace,
Wes

PS., who keeps picking these “anti-spam” words. Every time I post my word is “gentleness.” Are you trying to tell me something???? 8->

Do you think that the Government is recognizing the value of religious and/or other service organizations that benefit the good of the people as better than payment of taxes? It seems that the lawmakers of our government have seen fit to induce or to reward certain people groups that render gracious acts to people as more value than taxes being paid.

There is a lot of wisdom in that kind of thinking….

It seems that the government is happy to have certain groups not pay taxes, because it is of greater benefit to the nation that they exist, not to pay taxes, but to render gracious acts.

Blessings,
Chris

My point is simply this: I’m not sure that we can wash our hands entirely of the political realm of this particular nation and say that we’re going to focus solely on “spiritual” matters while leaving “political” matters to others.

In our system, political power is not something that we are seeking, so much as it is something that we have already, by virtue of the fact that we are voters. The question is not, therefore, whether we are clamoring wrongly for political power, but whether, having it as we do, we owe any debt to God for our stewardship of it.