by Caroline Quek
It is common for us to hear that Christianity and politics do not mix. Several years ago, a comment made by a Christian minister was that ‘everyone plays politics, but we can choose to play good politics’. The simple statement challenged my worldview, and it made me think through this issue.
My immediate response to the statement was one of defense. The knee-jerk reaction was that I do not like politics, not even within the small scale of ‘politics’ at the office. Upon reflection, my ‘ideal’ of not engaging in politics of any sort was crushed. In an office setting, whether I actively seek to impress my superior or choose to sit quietly in a corner doing my work, either response reflects that I have chosen my way of engaging in the politics within the office at that time.
At a larger scale, are the State and the Church always opposing each other? The book of Ezra gives us a good example of the state and church. Many decrees issued by the Persian political policy were recorded in the book of Ezra. Some decrees aided the rebuilding of the temple, while others hindered it. Finally in Ezra 6:14b "They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia." This serves as a good reminder that God’s wisdom and guidance is behind everything, including the church and the state. Therefore the state is not necessarily evil.
Perhaps the dichotomy between Christianity and politics was to prevent Christianity from being downgraded, but the irony is that it is resulting in the very thing that it set out to prevent! To view Christianity as anti-political is to delegate God only to the realm of the spiritual.
God is the God of everything, be it spiritual, intellectual or political. There is no area where God’s reign does not extend. Christians ought to engage in politics (good politics - if there is such a term), not because politics is great or it gives us power, but because God is the God of all!
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5
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