Preaching politics

Our pastor used that text for his sermon as well. He touched on how Christians have become used to the government fulfilling a role that was tradtionally the church’s through the ages — that of helping our neighbor. He reminded us that perhaps like the church of 2 Thessalonians we are enduring hardships, but that is no excuse to abdicate our vocation as a Christian. And pointed us to a resource from synod called “Just in from the Hill.” I hadn’t heard of that before.

My pastor preached this text as well. The most profound aspect of the sermon related to the portion of the text where Christ asked whose image and inscription were on the coin. The answer of course is Caesar’s. He then asked us all, well if the coin is Caesar’s because his image is on it and his inscription is on it, then what belongs to God?

Answer: Us; our whole selves. We are made in God’s image, God’s name was written on our heart in baptism. We are what is to be rendered to the Lord.

It goes back to ‘what are people putting their faith in’–The promises of the Savior or the promises of politicians? The choice is clear.

I would like the opinion of whoever would care to reply to this question: Do you think it would be “crossing the line” to make this article available (with permission, of course) to my congregation, perhaps as a church newsletter?
http://steadfastlutherans.org/blog/?p=337
Thanks!

Jones @6, is it really strange that someone who hates Republicans might also reject Christianity? I think it happens more often than we think.
For many years, the GOP has so co-opted American Christians that regular commentators on this blog say this year that it’s a SIN to vote for the Democratic nominee for president. (A sin!) In fact, one commentator here constantly refers to the Democratic Party as “demonrats,” with the silent approval of all.
Moreover, while every rumor about Barack Obama has been cussed and discussed on this blog, no mention ever is made of provable Republican failings, e.g., the report that found that Sarah Palin had behaved unethically as governor.
Thus, the impression I have is that this is as much a pro-Republican (or anti-Democratic) blog as it is a Christian blog. Indeed, I suspect that I would get much less of a reaction here if I blasphemed Christ (God forbid) than if I attributed moral blame to the GOP.
I’m sure you’ll disagree, but I am persuaded that many American Christians, by demonizing the Democratic Party (particularly while tolerating, if not defending, the same or greater moral failings in the GOP), have given nonChristians every reason to think that they cannot believe the gospel without also believing in the GOP.

Jonathan – “silent approval of all”?

No, we’ve just gotten tired of it. He’s been at it for quite a while and there have been a good number of posts calling him on it. It hasn’t changed anything, and the arguments about it were a long time ago.

I think you’re sort of new, or at least I don’t remember you commenting before the last couple weeks, but we’ve had long, Long, LONG, discussions about McCain, Palin, Obama and stuff. There has been a LOT of criticism of both McCain and Palin; not as much as about Obama, but most commenters here seem to think there is more bad stuff about Obama than McCain, not that McCain is good.

Maybe those discussions took place before you got here, but they’ve taken place, ad nauseum. Aside from cranks like Mr Demonrat (who’s not so bad outside of political junk), most people here are pretty disgusted with the Republican party and have no trouble with (rightly) ascribing all sorts of horrible things to it. You should have been here during the Republican primaries if you wanted to hear bad stuff about the Republicans!! It’s just that the Democrat party is generally held in even lower regard.

It’s election season. The discussions are mostly about elections. Big surprise. Come back at just about any other time and you’ll see very similar discussions on other topics. Just ask Michael the Little Boot and fw how some of the discussions about theology have gone. I’m not sure what the record is, but I think I remember seeing one of those go on for over 300 comments. 100+ comment threads on theology isn’t exactly rare. You’ve come in during election season, so obviously you’re seeing all the election stuff getting the focus.

Stick around. This really isn’t intended to be a Christian blog, if that is meant to be a blog just focusing on “Christian stuff”. It’s a Christian blog in that it’s run by a Christian (Lutheran flavor) and is aimed at discussing life, the universe, and everything with the view of Christians. (the answer is 42, but no one here believes me)

The blog started as more of a cultural discussion blog for a magazine, and it is still largely aimed at achieving that. Right now, the culture is very heavily engaged with the election, so the blog is too.

Webmonk @11, thank you.
You’ve been here much longer than I, so it appears I have mistaken the purpose of the blog. I stand corrected. Maybe it’d be best if I came back after election.

Stick around all the time! Too often Christians (any group) will get into yes-yes parties if there’s a lot of agreement and will tend to start spinning off into all sorts of, um, interesting? issues.

Obviously, all the non-me people around here are sadly mistaken in their opinions, and I am of course the only one who really understands thing rightly. Right?

:^)

What is there which does not rightfully belong to God? Is there some other god for those other things? I think not. There are two kingdoms, one of each hand, but there are not two gods, nor is a divided life spirituality courtesy of pietism an orthodox, Biblical view of things.

Johnathan,

Excellent defensive of your opinions! I tend to agree with you on this point. While I can’t blame or fault Veith’s blog (it is pretty tame and balanced, really), I agree with you about the horrible impression American Evangelicalism has left on the GOP. I pray for the day when libertarian Republicans finally spin them off! They weren’t always there, though most can’t remember a day when they weren’t.