A helpful word from Pastor Tullian about transforming culture:
Given the recent uproar in Washington this past week, I thought it might be helpful to post a short section from my book Unfashionable regarding the role of politics and cultural change. Wherever you might land politically, it’s helpful for all Christians to remember that the Kingdom of God is not flying in on Air Force One.
Read the full post http://www.crpc.org/blog/?p=806
a comment about your title:
ReplyDeletedepends on what you mean by politics? if you mean the process by which people come to a collective decision, then yes, change happens through politics. but if you mean politics as a "totally-other," abstract entity equal to "they" or "society" or "culture," then i place my trust in messiah over caesar (i use the term caesar as a biblical analogy, not literally comparing our current governmental system as equivalent to 1st Century Greco-Roman world).
corey, look forward to catching your blog from time to time. hope the family is well.
did you know that is Nelson's cousin? he is a pretty awesome guy
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that he notes that NY, Cali, Miami, etc. advances cultural change more than DC. I don't think we should be surprised by that. Representative govt. is supposed to rule and represent the values and ideals of those whom they represent, the electorate. Thus, elected govts are supposed to respond to cultural changes that are in line with the changes made by those that elected them. Those that don't rule in such a way that represents the people, probably won't be elected to rule over and over again - at least that's how the system is supposed to work.
ReplyDeleteAll helpful comments. Thanks for responding. Do you thing that we (Americans) put too much hope in the decisions made by our leaders in D.C. for the advancement of the gospel and the transformation of our culture?
ReplyDeleteI do think we put too much hope in the govt. Some of that I think is derived out of a belief that more things are rights than really are. So, everything that we "want" is a right and because it is a right, the govt. is responsible to provide it for me - oh but don't tax me or inconvenience me in order to get this, but give it to me nonetheless. So we desire our country to look more like the kingdom of God and instead of seeking it first in our hearts, our neighborhoods, etc. we just want the govt. to do it for us. Yes, we should desire our rulers to rule in such a way that reflects God's Kingdom, but we should not put our hope in an individual with a seal on the podium. Our hope for change is in individuals and communities seeking to live out the Kingdom of God.
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