All posts in Politics

• October 29, 2012

  Re-Membering the Dismembered Body of Christ

  

  Re-Membering the Dismembered Body of Christ
  by Brian Zahnd

  That they may all be one…that the world may believe.
  —Jesus (John 17:21)

  I’m kind of depressed.
  Or at least a little bit sad.
  Politics is the pathogen of my mental malady.
  Every election cycle it gets worse—
  Like an unholy Civil War re-enactment.
  Brother against brother.

  The American presidential election is dividing the Body of Christ.
  “I am of Obama!”
  “I am of Romney!”
  Is Christ divided?
  Was Obama crucified for you?
  Were you baptized in the name of Romney?

  Yet the Body of Christ is divided. Not merely that one votes for the donkey and another votes for the elephant (this is to be expected), but that Christians are breaking fellowship over “donkey vs. elephant” allegiance. Vote for my candidate or I will not call you my brother! This makes me deeply sad. As it does the Holy Spirit.

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• September 6, 2012

  Hitler!

  

  HITLER!

  We live in an age haunted by the ghost of Hitler—a pale specter sporting a swastika and a Charlie Chaplin mustache. Hitler! What a loaded word. A name so stained by evil that it’s disappeared as a surname, assuming only the ignoble role of ultimate pejorative. When we want to fear-monger we compare somebody to Hitler. The more heated the rhetoric the more likely it is that the ghost of Hitler will appear—summoned from the grave by our séance of accusation.

  This is especially true on the internet. Godwin’s Law states—

  As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.

  Essentially this means a political discussion on Facebook with more than a hundred comments has nearly a 100% chance of Hitler showing up! Somebody is going to call somebody else a Hitler. This hurling of the Hitler epithet is not the result of reasoned analysis (though it may pretend to be), but is a pure act of scapegoating.

  Hitler drew horns on the Jews to scapegoat them, now we draw Hitler mustaches on our enemies—but it’s the same thing! It’s the air the devil breathes.

  BZ

  7 Comments / America, Politics / Brian Zahnd

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• September 4, 2012

  A Christian Voter’s Guide

  

  A Christian Voter’s Guide

  Praise be to Nero’s Neptune
  The Titanic sails at dawn
  And everybody’s shouting
  “Which Side Are You On?”

  I am fine with a Christian voting for Mitt Romney if they feel that action best reflects their commitment to follow Jesus Christ. I know sincere Christians who will do this.

  I am fine with a Christian voting for Barack Obama if they feel that action best reflects their commitment to follow Jesus Christ. I know sincere Christians who will do this.

  I am fine with a Christian voting for someone else (Green Party, write-in, etc.) if they feel that action best reflects their commitment to follow Jesus Christ. I know sincere Christians who will do this.

  I am fine with a Christian choosing not to vote because they don’t like any of the options and view it as inconsistent with truly believing that Jesus is Lord. I know sincere Christians who will do this.

  I am not fine with a Christian who insists that their particular way of voting is the only faithful Christian response. Such Christians are narrow-minded partisans who divide the body of Christ over politics. This is a grievous sin.

  “This is my commandment: That you love one another.” -Jesus

  BZ

  (The artwork is Puritan Place by Harold Town. The quote is from Bob Dylan’s Desolation Row.)

  1 Comment / America, Politics / Brian Zahnd

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• July 6, 2012

  Election Season and Your Soul

  

  This is an intensely pastoral post. (It’s essentially the sermon notes of a message I shared with my church on Friday night, July 6.)

  I understand my pastoral vocation as something like being a doctor of the soul. I am to tend to the well-being of human souls entrusted to me by Christ.

  Be responsive to your pastoral leaders.
  Listen to their counsel.
  For they watch out for your souls.
  -Hebrews 13:17

  Over the past twelve years I’ve become increasingly aware of how damaging an excessive political passion is to the human soul. Put simply, too much politics hinders the capacity for love—and love is the purpose of the human soul. We are created to love God and one another—this is the essence of human flourishing.

  But every four years a kind of madness comes upon us in America—a political mania that is becoming increasingly acrimonious and bitter. All of this is damaging to the soul. So with this in mind I would like to share with you a Ten Point Christian Voters’ Guide. (No, not that kind…a much different kind.) Read more

  6 Comments / Politics / Brian Zahnd

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