In the previous post, I wrote about Linguistic Tomfoolery. In this post I give an example of the same in the Church.
(1) “I remind Hill staffers and K Street lobbyists and military officers that real political action starts in the teaching ministry of our church and then flows outward from there — from our relationships with other members to our families, and our work places and beyond. First “Be,” and then “Do.” (2) Don’t tell me your interested in politics if you’re not pursuing a just, righteous, peace producing life with everyone in your immediate circles. (3) Paul asked the Jews of his day; ‘You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?’ (Romans 2:21). (4) I’ve got a few questions of my own. (5) You who call for immigration reform do you practice hospitality with visitors to your church who are ethnically or nationally different from you? (6) You who vote for family values do you honor your parents and love your spouse self sacrificially? (7) You who speak against abortion do you also embrace and assist the single mother’s in your church? (8) Do you encourage adoption? (9) Do you prioritize your own children over financial comfort? (10) You who talk about welfare reform do you give to the needy in your congregation? (11) You who proclaim all lives matter do all your friends look like you? (12) You who lament structural injustices do you work against them in your own congregations? (13) Do you rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep? (14) You who fight for traditional marriage, do you love your wife, cherishing her as you do your own body washing her with the water of the word? (15) You who are concerned with the economy and the job market do you obey your boss sincerely from your heart, not as a people pleaser but as you would obey Christ? (16) You who care about corporate tax rates do you treat your employees fairly? (17) Do you threaten them forgetting that he who is both your Master and theirs is in heaven and that there is no partiality with Him? (18) Finally, as you share your opinion about all these issues on social media do you gladly share the Lord’s Supper with a fellow member who disagrees? (19) Do you pray for his or her spiritual good?
All politics is local said former Speaker of the House of Representative, Tip O’Neil. He spoke better than he knew.
Jonathan Leeman
Minister — Capital Hill Baptist Church
How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age
1a.) It is simply not the case that real political action starts with the teaching ministry of the Church. No, real political actions starts with the teaching ministry of the home.
1b.) Notice in the first sentence how, for Rev. Dr. Leeman, that the sequential ripples starts with our relationships to other members, and then to our family and then to our workplace and beyond. Again, we see ecclesiocentrism here. Accurately described the sequential ripples start with our family and then to other members of the Church and then to our workplace and beyond.
#1 is not an insignificant point. The Church is forever trying to insinuate itself as the be all end all Institution. It’s not.Clearly the Church is monumentally important just as the family is monumentally important. Each of those Institutions compliment the other and it is a significant error in teaching to imply one or the other is always subordinate to its counterpoint.
2.) Here we applaud Rev. Dr. Leeman for a point well stated.
5.) Wouldn’t the logical corollary for those who wanted an Immigration Reform that resulted in closed borders be; You who call for immigration reform do you practice hospitality with visitors to your church who are ethnically or nationally the same as you as you are seeking to encourage them in light of the country being taken over by the stranger and the alien?
7.) Shouldn’t the question here be, in order to be logical; You who speak against abortion do you also embrace and assist the single and unmarried women in your Church by encouraging them to be sexually chaste before marriage?
11.) How is it that someone is a hypocrite who says all lives matter while not having any friends that don’t look like them? All lives can still matter even if I don’t have any friends named Jose, Levi, Tyrone, Mohammed or Han Soo. This is just so much cultural Marxism dressed up in pious sentimentalism trying to look Christian.
(12) “Structural Injustices,” sure sounds a great deal like “White privilege.” I mean up to this point we have heard that Christians are hypocrites if they want immigration reform but don’t break bread with someone of a different ethnicity. We have heard that we are hypocrites if we say all lives matter but don’t have friends who don’t look like us. Now we trip across the idea of “Structural Injustices” and if I read that in this context it sure sounds like “White privilege.”
(17) If God has no partiality the way that partiality is used in the sentence above how can there be elect and non-elect? I mean certainly there is partiality with God. Election teaches that. The idea that Christians are not to be partial comes in a very specific context in the book of James. Having said that I do affirm that employers do need to treat their employees consistent with their productivity and work ethic.
(18) I am not interested in sharing a Church let alone the Lord’s Table with someone who is on the wrong side of abortion, the wrong side of Christian Caucasian ethnocide by way of immigration overload, the wrong side of Cultural Marxism. But I will pray that they repent so that one day I might be able to join them at the Lord’s table.
