There Will Never be a Savior on Capital Hill

This week's Bison article:

I saw an interesting post on facebook last week. (Ok, busted. I get all of my news from facebook and twitter.) A student posted a concern about Christianity being tied to one political party. What struck me as interesting, however, was the first response. After a pretty generic statement that neither political party has a monopoly on biblical principles, the very first response was something to the effect of, “Well, I am pro-life.”

Of course, it has long frustrated me that this is oftentimes the only issue which many evangelical Christians consider when voting. But it reminded me of other things I have heard recently—namely, the idea that a certain U.S. Representative was something to the effect of, “God’s representative.”

Now, the representative in question is definitely a Christian and a man I respect. But when it comes down to how he votes, he votes much more like a republican than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that. Especially considering the district which he represents, it is both unsurprising and appropriate that he would vote nearly always with the majority of the Republican Party.

But, “God’s representative?” That’s a weighty statement to make. And I’ve been thinking, what exactly would God’s representative look like?

Let’s start with the obvious: God would be pro-life. But I think that God’s version of pro-life would be more complicated than focusing only on abortion. After all, God cares about the life of unborn children, but also their impoverished mothers. I’m sure that God would really care about the quality of life for poor people throughout the nation—after all in Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount the poor who are blessed are not the poor in spirit but simply “the poor.”

Another group which sticks out as being close to the heart of God is resident aliens. God really loves and sympathizes with people who are outside their homeland. That is what he called Abraham to be and that is what he has called all Christians to be. So he would probably be really excited about fixing our broken immigration policy. I’m sure that he’d be more welcoming than most. God’s greatest complaint against Israel was that they disregarded the “widows, orphans, and resident aliens.”

Speaking of orphans, God would probably really want to reform adoption and foster care laws. Suffering innocents are a people whose cries he always hears—think Hagar and Ishmael. Not only would this be on his platform, but it would probably be top priority. I don’t know that I’ve EVER heard ANYONE campaign on this issue, but to me it seems incredibly important.

This is just the beginning. I could talk about God’s command that we care for the environment and how his representative would probably not want us raping the earth for oil—wherever we may please. I could mention that God’s representative would probably not be too friendly towards big business, since, it is generally the rich who are the exploiters (James 2). But I think that I’ve made my point.

The common denominator is that God is the voice for the voiceless. As Christians, we should be the first to defend the rights of the minority. We worship the father of the fatherless—the one with a heart for those who cannot care for themselves. Anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus should not steal power from those whom the world casts aside.

But instead we have formed the “moral majority” and decided that we have the numbers to prove we are always right and everyone else can just deal with it.

This is a sad state indeed. Our attitude looks much more like the world than anything reflective of the kingdom of God. THIS, we do in Jesus' name.

It is no wonder that in Amos, God said he didn't even want to hear our worship any more. Our behavior is a mockery of his heart for the oppressed.

But, really, is this a platform on which anyone could be elected? Probably not. The wisdom of God is foolishness to the world. Where does that leave us? It leaves us dreaming inspired kingdom dreams and personally working to empower the powerless. I think of people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Theresa who dedicated their lives to the people for whom God’s heart cries out.

And while I dream and pray for the Spirit to infuse my dreams with Kingdom realities, I do not expect to find a savior on capital hill.