Christians in Politics pt 2

@Yeshua1

The bottom line is that I believe (and have said) that if you believe God has given you the duty to vote, that it is God's will for you to be involved in politics, then you should vote and be involved in politics. I said I believe that God's will is for me to abstain from voting and to abstain from politics.

I enjoy learning about the reasons people believe as they do. I expect and hope people will strongly voice, back up, and support their positions. I also believe that I can express my beliefs just as strongly even if they oppose yours.

Why do you believe that I should vote, that I should be involved in politics, even when I believe that for me to do so would be a sin?

 

I do not know. The early church would say that they were wrong. They expected soldiers to stop serving if possible when they were saved. But I am a retired soldier, so I did serve in the military.

Since that is not something that I am facing it would be inappropriate for me to decide if another person should or should not serve in the military.

I will note that while I served in the military I never assumed a political role (I did not care much about politics for most of my service). I was a Combat Engineer and went out with tankers, but my role was force protection (I was not in an offensive position) so the situation did not come up for me. It could have very easily arisen as I was deployed several times.

Do you believe that people have a duty to serve in the military?

 

I do not know if you are practicing Christianity correctly or not. That is between you and God.

My view is that political involvement equates to disobedience (I do believe that you, if you are involved in politics, have divided loyalties and would be better off using your voice in the church rather than in politics). So I would classify your position as anti-Christian.

But so what? You consider those who preach free-will to be preaching false doctrine. You considered me, as a Christian, to be neglecting my "duty" by not voting (even though it would be against my belief).

Christians do not have to believe other Christians are perfect, or that they hold perfect beliefs. Our beliefs on these issues is not what makes us Christian. But I hope that each of us at least believe that our beliefs are correct, whatever they are at a given time.

 

Do you believe your view is correct?

 

That is up to the individual, not me. We cannot argue from silence.

And why WW2. You realize we did not enter WW2 because of the Nazis...correct?

 

Could be going too far. That was the early church, not mainstream Christianity today.

I do not know of a passage telling people it is OK to be a tax collector, soldier, etc., but I agree many were saved.

That is why I say it is an individual decision, but one that should also be taken seriously.

 

There are specific vocations that are wrong for Christians.

You deny it, but it is wrong to be an abortion provider (it is murder). It is wrong to be a phorn photographer. It is wrong to be the owner of an adult book store.

I never said Christians cannot be in the World. I never said Christians cannot have a voice in political issues.

I said the voice of the Christian us the Church, not the world.

 

The earliest church as well (perhaps by necessity).

I do not think the Church can make the decision for an individual. A church can decide who will be in good standing with the congregation, but not with Christ.

 

Yes. I talked about this a few weeks ago (about John the Baptist). Of course, John was describing repentance and not instructing folks on the Christian life.

I personally think it is going too far, but it is a legitimate interpretation of Scripture. How can one be a secular judge and not judge those in the secular world? How can one be a soldier and live at peace with all men, loving their enemies as themselves, living quiet lives, etc.?

I suppose those were the types of questions they were asking.

To be fair, even though I do not fully hold their views, they did have much better support for their positions than those in opposition have voiced on this thread.