Assume there’s a direct line between your political viewpoint and the Word of God.Īssume that the Bible directly supports your political party, your view on immigration, tax, and vaccine passports. Step 2: Assume Your ‘Jagged Line’ Political Convictions Are ‘Straight Line’ Issues
If we assume that all political issues are ultimately ‘straight line’ issues, we’ll be taking the first step toward polarising and fracturing our churches. It’s assuming Jesus and the apostles gave direct commands on climate change policy and immigration, tax benefit and public schooling. In other words, step 1 is assuming that the Bible gives clear positions on the political issues of our day just like it teaches us about salvation, judgement, and the second coming. For such issues, none of us should presume to possess “the” Christian position, as if we were apostles revealing true doctrine once and for all time.’
But the path from biblical text to policy application is not simple. These are important, and Christians should bring biblical principles to bear when thinking about them. Think of everything from trade policy to healthcare reform to monetary policy to carbon dioxide emission caps.
Most political issues are not straight-line issues. Accordingly initiate the church-discipline process with a member who is advocating for abortion.īut for a jagged line issue, there is a multi-step process from a biblical or theological principle to a political position.
For instance, the Bible explicitly teaches that murder is sinful abortion is a form of murder, so we should oppose abortion. In fact, here are 4 easy steps Christians can do to make this awful scenario a reality: Step 1: Ignore the Difference Between ‘Straight Line’ Issues and ‘Jagged Line’ IssuesĪ key first step is to ignore the difference between ‘straight line’ political/social/ethical issues and ‘jagged line’ political/social/ethical issues.Ĭhristian theologians Jonathan Leeman and Andrew Naselli explain the difference between the two:įor a straight-line issue, there is a straight line between a biblical text and its policy application.
0 kommentar(er)
