Is Jesus a White Republican?
"I don't preach a social gospel; I preach the Gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, "Now is that political or social?" He said, "I feed you." Because the good news to a hungry person is bread."
~~Bishop Desmond Tutu~~
I am a Republican. At least, that's how I tend to vote. But, I am a follower of Christ first. And lately, I’ve been thinking about this idea of Jesus agreeing with my political ideologies and voting practices. This isn’t even a voting year and my candidate won in the last election, so I’m not entirely sure why it’s even on my mind. It seems almost nonsensical to wonder, but I sometimes wonder if Jesus might be bigger than my political posturing.
My thoughts on this aren’t well-formulated yet, but I just can’t seem to get my mind around it. Reducing Jesus to formulas and polarized and biased opinions somehow seems wrong. Maybe a Jesus who can be reduced to an issue is not a Jesus worthy of worship. Who has ever sang a song about how much God hates abortion or how disagreeable He is to homosexual marriage or how appalled He might be if a Democrat runs the White House in the near future? That would sound ridiculous.
The Jesus of the Bible seems so much more than that. So much more…phenomenal? Grand? Majestic? These are not words I would use to describe the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or any number of independents. Jesus is so much bigger and more amazing than our proclivity to use Him as a talking head to back up our political ideologies. He seems more concerned with knowing me and caressing my face lovingly like a father with his child. He seems more concerned with feeding my hungry soul.
Author Donald Miller hits on this idea his book, Searching For God Knows What:
“I met a guy not long ago who was very conservative and had opinions all over him, and he was saying why God agreed with his political ideas and why that made his political ideas right. The whole time he was talking to me...I was feeling like this guy with the opinions was presenting a kind of Jesus who didn’t even exist. His Jesus was just an invention of his imagination, someone who more or less justified his position concerning a lot of different political opinions. Sitting there listening to him made me feel tired. People like that should have an island.”
Like I said, I don’t have any really structured or formulated ideas about why I’m thinking about this. I just know Jesus is more…
My thoughts on this aren’t well-formulated yet, but I just can’t seem to get my mind around it. Reducing Jesus to formulas and polarized and biased opinions somehow seems wrong. Maybe a Jesus who can be reduced to an issue is not a Jesus worthy of worship. Who has ever sang a song about how much God hates abortion or how disagreeable He is to homosexual marriage or how appalled He might be if a Democrat runs the White House in the near future? That would sound ridiculous.
The Jesus of the Bible seems so much more than that. So much more…phenomenal? Grand? Majestic? These are not words I would use to describe the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or any number of independents. Jesus is so much bigger and more amazing than our proclivity to use Him as a talking head to back up our political ideologies. He seems more concerned with knowing me and caressing my face lovingly like a father with his child. He seems more concerned with feeding my hungry soul.
Author Donald Miller hits on this idea his book, Searching For God Knows What:
“I met a guy not long ago who was very conservative and had opinions all over him, and he was saying why God agreed with his political ideas and why that made his political ideas right. The whole time he was talking to me...I was feeling like this guy with the opinions was presenting a kind of Jesus who didn’t even exist. His Jesus was just an invention of his imagination, someone who more or less justified his position concerning a lot of different political opinions. Sitting there listening to him made me feel tired. People like that should have an island.”
Like I said, I don’t have any really structured or formulated ideas about why I’m thinking about this. I just know Jesus is more…
posted by C. E'Jon Moore @ 6.7.05
2 Comments:
"He seems more concerned with feeding my hungry soul."
That Jesus is concerned with feeding your hungry soul is correct but not while glossing over what is right and what is righteous. To seperate God's infinate, personal love for us from His infinate stand for justice is a shallow understanding of God and our relationship with Him.
All through the scriptures we see a strong and undivided relationship between those who truly walked with God and strong counter cultural behavior that brought them many enemies for their unpopular "views".
There will be a day when we will have the luxury of the pure uninterrupted peace of perfection, now is not that day.
God can not be "more concerned" with feeding your hungry soul because His care for your your soul and His righteousness are two sides of the same coin. He is wooing your soul that you might be more like Him not that you would just be liked more by Him. And being more like Jesus is to more and more love what He loves and despise what He despises. If Jesus hand truly rubs your cheek then the other will point and push you to action on behalf of Himself and His kingdom and all He stands for. We "feel" like a son when we behave like a son.
Diogenes--
Democrats kill babies? They support abortion, yes, but ultimately, abortion doctors kill babies. Now, would Jesus vote against abortion? I believe so. That is not in question. But, I find our political parties are much like the Pharisees and Sadducees of his own time...two different politcal parties (classes) with different views but the same goal. Yet, he publicly villified both sides. Democrats have killed many people by supporting "a woman's right to choose." Republicans have killed many people through war and the occasional short-sighted policies (e.g. The Fog of War). i have a hard time believing Jesus is a God of "the better of two evils." I believe that diminishes his capacity to be a Lord and Savior to all.
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