A Tale of Two False Kingdoms
This post is based on the intersection between religion and politics in the US over the past few decades. The "religious right" is by far the most vocal, but there is also a faction of American progressives with religious trappings. At the risk of gross oversimplification, I can distill these broad categories as follows.
The Christian Nationalists on the right demand political power in order to enforce their vision of God's justice and morality at gunpoint.
The Christian Socialists on the left demand political power in order to enforce their vision of God's compassion and charity at gunpoint.
Every political debate becomes a tug of war. Both will wax eloquent about how their vision is holy and just, and those who disagree are vile sinners. I know many readers are outside the US, but may nonetheless see parallels with their own local and national debates. If you are not Christian or even outright irreligious, you will also see similar false dilemmas.
Image credit
Don't like library book censorship? Groomer!
Object to the welfare state? You hate the poor!
Oppose "deporting" illegal immigrants to prison camps? You support crime!
Denounce government schools? You want people to be stupid!
Condemn taxes and tariffs? You're selfish and greedy!
Resist calls for war? You're a coward!
This goes on and on ad infinitum as people bicker. Such behavior is not the way of Christ. When tempted in the desert, He was offered political power. He refused. Christ asked people to follow instead of demanding their obedience. Remember also, God does not show favoritism, but what we do to the "least of these," we do to Him.
The parables of Christ depict His kingdom as an inverse of human governments. He healed the sick, He fed the multitudes, and He washed the feet of his followers. Government offers its counterfeit of these services, but built on a foundation of violence instead of love. The Bible says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with me." Contrast this with government taxes, liens, confiscations, and SWAT raids.
The question of politics is always framed as, "which side are you on," but I ask you, "should we be taking sides with any of these factions in the first place?" A man cannot serve two masters, so we must choose between Christ and Caesar. Politics enshrines the Seven Deadly Sins as virtues. Our task is to navigate the issues of our day using scripture and reason as our guiding light, not the vanity of men, their invented titles and laws, or their squabbles for power.
There have always been a debate if Christians should run for any political position, what is your take on this? As we can see today, the game of politics is dirty and mostly unfair.
The more I learn about politics and human psychology, the less I think there is anything wholesome that can come from trying to participate and change it from the inside. It's like saying you want to reform the Mafia by becoming a racketeer yourself. Everything the government has is stolen, and everything it does is with an implicit or explicit threat of violence.
Romans 13 is the usual text brought up to counter challenges to political legitimacy, but I ask when government fits the description there. Officials today are a terror to those who do good. In my personal experience, the "Christians" running for office act more like Pharisees than Christ. But there may be opportunities.
But despite all that, I don't say it is impossible for Christians to participate in politics quite yet. Especially at the local level, it may be possible to mitigate evil and do good in spite of it all.
Woww thank you for this wonderful explanation, you actually hit the nail on the head.
People constantly polarize themselves on an issue.
I don't like joining a group of people because usually there is a concept or fact that I agree on with all groups but then I do not agree with ALL sentiments. So I prefer to be outside those groups and discuss each topic with my own thoughts behind it.
The snakes are cleverer than you think. Watch this:
I gave James Lindsey a chance to be coherent. His content was recommended to me by someone who seemed semi-sane, and I remembered the hilarity of his fake studies.
He's addicted to his own word salad. Sargon is right, he isn't stupid, but he is deceptive. He does like exploiting Christian Nationalists when it suits his agenda, whatever it is.
I don't entirely trust Sargon or Jordan Peterson, but they seem less toxic. I also have no idea who the woman hosting this video is. Peterson's opening statement about Lucifer is theologically dubious, but Lindsey's reply is nuts.
I'll have to finish the video later.
Her name is Karlyn Borysenko. She is the reason James Lindsay lost his mind, because he did some great work exposing the occult origins of Marxism, but got so much wrong about the actual doctrine of its modern incarnation that he's been getting relentlessly criticised ever since. I won't get into it here, in fact I almost didn't comment at all given the community your post is in, but I've been seeing a lot of back-and-forth arguments about Christianity being, ah, in trouble, to put it mildly, and I figured you might want to see for yourself what's going on.
Christianity is always in trouble. The best deceptions are cloaked in an illusion of holiness, and charlatans are always eager to lead good people astray. There is no singular Antichrist, or at least there are innumerable antichrists at all times. The 'anti-' prefix in this sense is not a polar opposite, but more of a counterfeit. Broad path to destruction, narrow is the gate, etc.
Locally, the Christian Nationalists see pedophiles and criminals everywhere. Funny how so many are Catholics. Something-something-pedophile-priests, something-something-deal-with-the-plank-in-your-own-eye-before-pointing-out-the-speck-in-your-brother's-eye.
Also, the broad obsequious response to Trump and his jingoism is painful to see in people who claim to follow Christ. I try to argue against his policies using what they say matters: reason, theology, and constitutionalism. Their responses show they use none of these as their political compass. And of course since I live in a red part of the country, dissent can only mean I'm a Democrat at best, or a godforsaken commie at worst, because that is the limit of their political model.
The thing that is driving me insane now is that people are looking at things politically. Like, the people themselves are looking at things and saying things the way politicians do. Like Trump or Biden or whoever would lie about something and even if they know they're lying it's like "meh, I don't care as long as we win".
The base of both parties tend to exemplify the "party above principles" position, and trying to seriously examine thorny issues inevitably leads to the kinds of accusations in the post. I've experienced it. The echo chamgers and engagement algorithms get some of the blame, but it isn't really a new phenomenon.
@jacobtothe, I paid out 1.683 HIVE and 0.000 HBD to reward 4 comments in this discussion thread.