{"id":5546,"date":"2018-01-02T17:43:14","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T23:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5546"},"modified":"2018-01-02T17:43:14","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T23:43:14","slug":"reusing-keep-silent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/02\/reusing-keep-silent\/","title":{"rendered":"Reusing to Keep Silent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Dewayne Bryant<\/strong><br \/>\nSome Christians view\u00a0the political process\u00a0as a no-man\u2019s land for the faithful.\u00a0They see it as\u00a0a crass enterprise, unfit for anyone who seeks to imitate the character of God.\u00a0After all,\u00a0Jesus said that\u00a0His kingdom was\u00a0not of this world (John 18:36).\u00a0Since\u00a0Christianity seeks to change the world through the transformation of people\u2019s hearts rather than military power\u00a0(cf. 2 Corinthians 5),\u00a0what should be the Christian\u2019s involvement in politics?\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nMixing religion and politics has a long history of abuse. In medieval Europe, governments compelled people to follow one particular religion. This became most apparent during the wars between Protestants and Roman Catholics over a variety of territories in Europe. Often, a king expected his subjects to embrace his religion of choice, whether Roman Catholicism or some variety of Protestantism. Something similar goes on today in Islamic countries, where\u00a0citizens\u00a0are expected to be faithful Muslims, while other religious minorities, particularly Christians, can expect persecution.<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nThrough the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus taught all believers to love their neighbors as themselves (Luke 10:25-37). This\u00a0can take many different forms, including\u00a0preaching the gospel,\u00a0teaching others about Christ,\u00a0and offering emotional and material support to those in need. But can it also mean to participate in the political process?\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nScripture includes examples of believers participating in government. The prophet Daniel served as a high-ranking Babylonian statesman who served as an effective official for the king, to the point that Darius sought a legal loophole to free Daniel once his enemies had sprung their trap (6:12-13). Given his description as one seated \u201cat the king\u2019s gate\u201d (Esther 2:19), Mordecai likely served as an official in the Persian Empire.\u00a0Sergius\u00a0Paulus\u00a0seemed to continue in\u00a0office once he became a convert on the island of Cyprus (Acts 13:12).<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nIf we look at examples such as North Korea and nations in the Middle East, we can make a positive case for\u00a0a Christian\u2019s participation in government. Simple observation reveals that\u00a0nations\u00a0can and do inhibit or prevent the spread of the\u00a0Gospel. The case can be made that \u201cloving our neighbor\u201d\u00a0means not only that we provide them spiritual, emotional, and material aid, but do\u00a0our best to ensure that those in charge of making policy treat them as they should be treated. Queen Esther did this very thing when attempting to prevent the massacre of the Jewish people (ch.\u00a04), as did Daniel when he advised king Nebuchadnezzar to\u00a0practice righteousness and mercy\u00a0(Daniel 4:27).\u00a0God had instructed the prophet Jeremiah\u00a0earlier\u00a0to tell those in exile to \u201cseek the welfare\u201d of the city of Babylon (Jeremiah 29:12).\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nPaul indicates that the ruling authorities are considered servants of God (Romans 13:1-7). While the context indicates that the Christian should be submissive to the ruling powers, we should also consider the fact that ruling authorities\u00a0must\u00a0understand right from wrong. In other words, they should be moral people. How can a person truly be moral if he is ignorant of, or acts in defiance of, the Word of God? Scripture includes several examples of believers such as John\u00a0the Baptist\u00a0(Luke 3:19) and Paul (Acts 24:25) who saw to it that the authorities understood morality.\u00a0In the Old Testament, the prophets Isaiah (ch.\u00a013-23) and Amos (ch.\u00a01-2)\u00a0rebuked other nations for their sins.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nThere is one concern of which believers should take note:\u00a0America\u00a0culture is becoming increasingly hostile to religion in general, and Christianity in particular. Anyone who has not heard the now-commonplace objections that Christianity is violent, abusive to children, and anti-intellectual should read the writings of the new atheists without delay. Similarly, the ACLU has made it clear that their agenda is complete separation of church from state, although in practice this means a complete exile of the Bible from the public square.\u00a0Freedom<b>\u00a0of<\/b>\u00a0religion has become freedom\u00a0<b>from<\/b>\u00a0religion, at least for a vocal minority.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nThrough the examples of believers such as Daniel and Esther, we make the case that God wants\u00a0all\u00a0of His people\u00a0to seek the welfare not only of the city in which\u00a0they\u00a0live,\u00a0but\u00a0of the world.\u00a0While our commitment is to\u00a0make a difference\u00a0in the hearts and lives of those around us, it also seems appropriate that we use politics as an avenue through which we can effect change for the glory of God.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Dewayne Bryant Some Christians view\u00a0the political process\u00a0as a no-man\u2019s land for the faithful.\u00a0They see it as\u00a0a crass enterprise, unfit for anyone who seeks to imitate the character of God.\u00a0After all,\u00a0Jesus said that\u00a0His kingdom was\u00a0not of this world (John 18:36).\u00a0Since\u00a0Christianity seeks to change the world through the transformation of people\u2019s hearts rather than military power\u00a0(cf. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[83,66],"tags":[927,770,1051,141,1215,87],"class_list":["post-5546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-think-excerpts","tag-dewayne-bryant","tag-elections","tag-feature","tag-government","tag-october-2012","tag-politics","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Reusing to Keep Silent - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/02\/reusing-keep-silent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reusing to Keep Silent - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Dewayne Bryant Some Christians view\u00a0the political process\u00a0as a no-man\u2019s land for the faithful.\u00a0They see it as\u00a0a crass enterprise, unfit for anyone who seeks to imitate the character of God.\u00a0After all,\u00a0Jesus said that\u00a0His kingdom was\u00a0not of this world (John 18:36).\u00a0Since\u00a0Christianity seeks to change the world through the transformation of people\u2019s hearts rather than military power\u00a0(cf. 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