Muslim vs. Christian View of Politics

As I was listening to a podcast of The White Horse Inn called “The Mission Statement,” part of the discussion touched on the difference between Reformed Christianity and Islam regarding their view of politics.

The difference was summarized along these lines:  the Islamic view of politics if most faithful to its creed when religion and civil law coincide. In the article, “Islamic Politics—Introduction”, we learn, “One of the most controversial aspects of Islamic politics is the concept of jihad, or “holy war.””

Khurshi Ahmad explains, “A Muslim is one whose outlook on life is permeated with this consciousness [of the pillars of Islam]. . .  Jihad has been described in the Qur’an and the Sunnah as the natural corollary of these pillars of faith. Commitment to God involves commitment to sacrifice one’s time, energy and wealth to promote the right cause. It may be necessary at times to give one’s life in order to preserve Truth.” (Khurshid Ahmad, Islam: Its Meaning and Message, 3rd ed.  Leicester, UK: The Islamic Foundation, 1999, pg. 39.)

In contrast, Christians are consistent with their creed when religion and politics are separate. To a Christian there are two kingdoms in this world, the kingdom of God and the kingdom(s) of men.

Dan Bryant writing in the September/October Issue of Modern Reformation magazine explains, “While God instituted the authority of the civil magistrate, he did not institute it to be a means of redemption. Its task is temporal justice; limiting the effects of wickedness. The kingdom of God will never be advanced by the state or through politics. God alone accomplishes redemption, graciously drawing rebellious men and women to himself, bringing them into his holy body, the church, the bride of Christ, which has the risen, reigning Christ even now as its head.” (Dan Bryant, Modern Reformation Magazine, “Christianity & Politics:  How Shall the Twain Meet?”)

Understanding these different views, I now understand that to separate the state and religion is to gut Islam of a central tenet that defines their religion.  Any one that asserts that Islam can be integrated into Western political society is only deceiving themselves.  Either Islam will relent (not likely), or the West will have to someday use force against Islamic forces in order not to be swallowed up by Islamic Theocratic law.

As for Christians, we are called to preach the Gospel, and there is no other option.  If Islam should gain a foothold in the United States true Christians will continue to do so--even at the pain of death or persecution becase we are taught, ". . .do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28 ESV)

The Leaven of the Gospel—The Saturation Commission

From Gospel Centric:
“Christianity must pervade not merely all nations, but also all of human thought. The Christian, therefore, cannot be indifferent to any branch of earnest human endeavor. It must all be brought into some relation to the gospel. It must be studied either in order to be demonstrated as false, or else in order to be made useful in advancing the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom must be advanced not merely extensively, but also intensively. The Church must seek to conquer not merely every man for Christ, but also the whole of man. We are accustomed to encourage ourselves in our discouragements by the thought of the time when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. No less inspiring is the other aspect of that same great consummation. That will also be a time when doubts have disappeared, when every contradiction has been removed, when all of science converges to one great conviction, when all of art is devoted to one great end, when all of human thinking is permeated by the refining, ennobling influence of Jesus, when every thought has been brought into subjection to the obedience of Christ.”—J. Gresham Machen, Originally published in The Princeton Theological Review, Vol. 11, 1913. Read the whole article: Christianity and Culture by J. Gresham Machen

The Gospel of Steve Jobs

Tim Challies passed on this post from Andy Crouch at Making Culture. 

“As remarkable as Steve Jobs is in countless ways—as a designer, an innovator, a (ruthless and demanding) leader—his most singular quality has been his ability to articulate a perfectly secular form of hope. Nothing exemplifies that ability more than Apple’s early logo, which slapped a rainbow on the very archetype of human fallenness and failure—the bitten fruit—and made it a sign of promise and progress.”

Jobs articulates the gospel of our age: follow your heart.

But mankind needs to know that "[9 ] The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV).  Furthermore, this self-delusion prevents people from seeing escaping the wrath of God:  "[18 ] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." (Romans 1:18 ESV)

Politics and Theology

John Yates is a pastor in Washington, D.C. and seems to encapsulate the ideal of ministering the gospel of the Kingdom of God among the kingdom of men in his article, "Meditations on Ministering Between Calvary Hill and Capitol Hill "


His place of ministry is all of our ministry, even if at a different level; we are to ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:30) in this world; we are to represent the love and Holiness of our God to our neighbors whom we live shoulder-to-shoulder with each day. We must sacrifice ourselves for their sakes.


While on vacation I read an article from the Book Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, entitled "On Turning Muslim Stumbling Blocks into Stepping Stones." by Warren Chastain. (Ralph D. Winter, ed. and Steven C. Hawthorne, ed. 3rd edition; William Carey Library. 1999.)

Chastain describes a meeting with a young man who asked him, "Why should I spend my life reaching Muslims when they are so unresponsive?"

Nate floored me with his question. I found myself unable to give a quick answer to a problem I had mentally wrestled with for two decades! . . . Basically he was facing the issue: he had a lifetime of service for the Lord before him, but he wondered whether it was wise to sacrifice it for a people as unresponsive as the Muslims. I could easily sympathize with him-- and he didn't know half the problem! Our Stumbling Blocks Psychological block ". . . the psychological block of our own attitude. Are we willing to lay our lives on the altar? A statement by Bishop Hill captures the heart of the problem: "Look to the heathen without Christ, and you will find an altar . . . and may God help you be a sacrifice."

Between Two Worlds: Packer on Engaging and Learning from Culture

I'm on vacation and doing a little blog reading while I have a little extra time. I was reading the post from the link above, and was compelled to comment on the excerpt from Packer's book. I know the need to contextualize the Gospel in the culture you find God has put you to minister, but I still think that the culture we should know the best should be the Kingdom culture of Christ.

As ambassadors of this culture, we have the great challenge of being charged with this duty even in the midst of the remaining corruptions of our sin. To seek after Christ and His righteousness gives us our purpose for living. May we seek to pursue God's grace for this task.

The Culture War And The Christian Response

The secularization of our society has been used by political leaders to centralize government power into the hands of a few people. The growth of the welfare state is an example of our county’s move away from religious practice. The establishment of compulsory state education is another example. These two social issues were once the province of the church and the family.
A great shift has occurred in our views of government “as the major dispenser of political, social, and economic favors.” (John P. Stead, “Developing a Biblical View of Church and State,” in Think Biblically!, 2003). “Governmental institutions are now seen as something to be captured and used by a particular interest group for its own ends.” (Stead) Even ‘Christian’ leaders have accepted this premise, but God calls Christians to a higher and more vital purpose than dominate our culture in an effort to create a Christian counter-hegemony.
Yes there is a war, but it is much more fundamentally rooted in the origins of all problems, Sin in our soul. In Ephesians we read more of the Christian warfare, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against power, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Paul tells us, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience if fulfilled.” So the war that mankind is engaged in is for more than man’s culture, but for the very soul of mankind.
Christians, then, must reevaluate their role in this society and return to the mandate to preach the Gospel: the Jesus was sent from God, born of a virgin, died on the cross as a sacrifice for sin, and was buried for three days and rose again on the third day, and now lives in heaven ruling over the affairs of men until he returns again to judge the living and the dead.
In the meantime we must live on earth for the purpose of declaring the Gospel and living lives that are consistent with those who have been called out of culture and into a new kingdom where we have our citizenship.