Protesting, Boycott, etc.

This is a great post from Steven J. Camp. at his blog CamponThis.

I encourage you to read the entire post.  Steve deftly discusses the issue of Christians participating in social issues.  I love this paragraph, especially the first paragraph.

I ask you... why do we in the church constantly become outraged when we see non-Christians living like non-Christians? Why do we "require" that unbelievers live in some sort of comfortable legalistic "righteous" bubble before they come to salvation through Christ? Have we forgotten what we were like before we tasted the kindness of God in Christ for our salvation? Have we forgotten how we were slaves to various lusts and passions of our hearts? Have we forgotten how sinful we were apart from God's grace? Have we forgotten how depraved we were and to what depth of disobedience we plummeted? How dare we hold any non-believer in derision and set ourselves above them thinking we now as Christians could not ever succomb to the depth of sin they might be in. What arrogance; what self-righteousness; what non-Christlikeness. Oh may we remember beloved: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).

He has much to say but he ends with this important insight.  The church has lost its identity.  We have forgotten who is head of the church and why he created the church... for the sake of the Gospel.  To bring forgiveness to a broken, sick and sinful world.  It is God's job to change the world.  It is our job to tell the world what he did in Jesus.

The strength to fight spiritual battles is not found in us, but only in Christ the Lord. In other words folks, brace yourselves, we are inconsequential and impotent when it comes to using human means to execute spiritual warfare! 2 Cor. 3:5 removes all doubt when Paul says, "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God."

And...

The Church in America has lost its impact, insight, and identity because it has lost its identification with the head of the Church, Jesus Christ. We are more associated with the political process - Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Christians than with the work of Jesus Christ. We have sought and become a political-economic force rather than a spiritual one. Why is it that we can assemble five thousand Christians to champion a cause or boycott an artists public display of sensuality, but at that same time its virtually impossible to gather five hundred Christians for prayer meeting? The problem with the world is not the world, ladies and gentlemen. The problem with the world are Christians trying to sneak into heaven incognito.

What he is talking about here is Christian vocation in the world of politics.  He's got it right!

Thanks for the great post Steve!

Technorati Tags: Vocation,Politics,Christian Protest,Dobson

The ubiquity of religion in this campaign season is distinctly un-Lutheran. Uwe Siemon-Netto

Read the insightful article at http://concordia.typepad.com/vocation/2008/04/election-08s-fa.html

The ubiquity of religion in this campaign season is distinctly un-Lutheran. Uwe Siemon-Netto

Uwe lays out a nice contrast between the Two Kingdoms, right and left hand, the Church and the State. In this election cycle we would all do well to pay attention to our theology.

Here's a taste:

Nine years from now, in 2017, Protestants will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. This is a good time to remember its theological treasures, which differ from earthly treasures in that they multiply when shared. Where the world is concerned, Lutherans have perhaps the soberest message of all Protestant traditions. Like Paul and Augustine, Lutherans know that our secular reality cannot be fixed. They know that it is finite. It will disappear. Until that happens, though, we must roll up our sleeves and manage our fallen world as well as we can, preventing chaos and lovingly serving each other - not by the gospel, which would be impossible, but by natural reason. We are free to act rationally in this world thanks to our knowledge of our redemption in the kingdom of grace. But the gospel has nothing to say about traffic rules, illegal immigration, the price of gasoline, or the deployment or withdrawal of forces to or from the Middle East. The gospel cannot really be associated with any worldly cause. The gospel will illume the Christians' good sense, we hope, and affect their personal comportment to the extent that it makes others curious about their faith. But the