The Pursuit

Christians and Government - Part 1

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 | church, discipleship, government, ministry, philosophy, politics, service, teaching, tradition

As I stated in my final question of the week, I am writing a series on Christians and Government. I have some ideas about how much Christians should be involved in the Government and I would like to express them. I have not quite figured out exactly how many parts this series will be. This is what I am thinking for possible topics: Christians and Voting, Christians and Politics, Christians and Military, Christians and Lobbying, and possibly more as I think of them.

Most of these ideas stem from thinking about the Roman Catholic Church. For over a thousand years Roman Catholicism played in world history as a major state power. The government and the church were essentially one after Constantine’s conversion. The Pope was able to coerce Kings, Queens, and their Lord’s to act according to his will. Many atheists refuse to listen to the Christian message because of the crusades that slaughtering many Muslims, Slavs, Mongols, and even other Christians during the medieval period. There are also many controversy with the Catholic Jesuits in the which was a Catholic group started by the Catholic Church. The list could probably go on and on with bad examples that we can see from history.

The main point I want to make in this post is that for over a thousand years, the church and the state were united. When the state did something in history, then the church also did something in history. If the state made a bad or immoral decision, then the church ultimately got blamed. When non-believers look at history, they do not see a normal state with expected corruption. They see a state claiming to be made entirely of converted Christians and they see some of the most horrifying corruption ever.

This series will be about how I think American Christians should act and react to these things. I hope you enjoy this series and I hope you interact with what I have to say.

2 Comments to Christians and Government - Part 1

Alan Knox
January 8, 2008

This sounds very interesting, Lew. I’m looking forward to your series.

-Alan

Mary
January 8, 2008

This is something that I’ve thought about as well. I’m glad that you’ve brought it up.

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