I recently listened to Greg Boyd debate Jim Wallis on the level and nature of Christian involvement in politics. One phrase that stood out to me was Boyd’s comment about Christian witness and manifestation of the Kingdom of God here on earth and within society. He said that for Kingdom people to delegate to the State that which squarely rests as the responsibility of the people of God is that it impoverishes the imagination. Voting our values sounds great, but are we living our values? If it is truly the vocation, calling, and responsibility of the people of God to not only live out but carry out God’s justice, why would we want to hand over those tasks to an entity whose primary mechanism of operation is threat of force? But that isn’t how Jesus came to transform the world.
If bringing the Kingdom to fruition here on earth is part of the task of the Church, then I must ask : How lame is the gospel of Jesus if we had to use a kingdom of the sword rather than rely on the power of the gospel to transform society peacefully? If the gospel is truly powerful and able to transform, then why do we need a “God and Guns” solution to injustice?
For affluent Christians in a society where we often have more than we need, it is easy to give away our money in taxes or charity and believe that we’ve done our part or given our share of wealth. It’s quite another thing to do the work of justice ourselves.
