The Bible and...: Part 10c: Politics

The Bible and...: Part 10c: Politics
Friday, August 16, 2024 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / The church / Thought for Today

Today we return to “The Bible and…” resuming our discussion on the Bible and politics, dealing with the topic of Christian Nationalism.

Christian Nationalism. If there is one “Christian” movement that is linked to hyper-conservative, extreme right-wing politics, it is Christian Nationalism (also sometimes known as Christian reconstruction). Sadly, those who make the connection, typically the Political Left, have a valid point.

Not that long ago, I saw a reference to a podcast on Facebook where the pastor/teacher was teaching that Christians need to rebel against ungodly leadership (in context, we’re talking of the political party that currently controls the White House). That is not atypical of Christian Nationalists.

Normally I don’t respond to Facebook posts, it doesn’t do any good. The teaching was so egregious that I felt a response was necessary (even knowing the likely result). I dared to reference 1 Samuel 15:23, where God equates rebellion with the sin of divination or witchcraft (depending on translation), along with Romans 13:1: “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (NAU). 1 Peter 2:13–14 is also worth noting: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right” (NAU).

As expected, I was excoriated by most of those participating in that thread. That doesn’t mean that as Christians we blindly follow government dictates. If I’m directly commanded to do something unbiblical, my obedience is first to God. Nevertheless, the issue is framed in terms of obedience, not rebellion. Rebellion as just mentioned, in God’s eyes, is a serious sin.

What we forget is that the “American way” was founded and based on rebellion, in this case rebellion against English taxation. Rebellion is woven into our fabric, enshrined in our politics. That’s certainly not unique to us, ever since Adam and Eve rebelled against God, rebellion is part of everyone’s fallen human nature.

In essence, Christian Nationalists are rebelling against our government, what the government is doing, and against how tax money is used. And on one level, fair enough, as our government is doing things that are evil. But nowhere in Scripture do we see any indication that Christians are to rebel and form some sort of theocratic government. In a few ways, one can see parallels between Christian nationalists and hard-core Muslims: both groups are seeking to established a type of God-based theocratic government, with their own selves in charge.

There are some huge differences: the Qur’an directs such a move for Muslims, the Bible, as we’ve just seen, does not. The Qur’an has numerous suras (verses) that urge fighting and violence, the New Testament does not. We’ve seen atrocities committed by some Muslims in the name of Allah. We don’t see that being done by Christian Nationalists.

So, what’s the problem? The problem is that the Christian Nationalists are seeking to solve a spiritual problem by political means. We’ll examine that in more detail in the next post.

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