Home > Work > Just Politics: A Guide for Christian Engagement
1 " Does not a one-sided focus on the issues that happen to be favored by either the Left or the Right suggest that one's political agenda is shaped more by secular ideology than careful biblical, theological reflection? "
― Ronald J. Sider , Just Politics: A Guide for Christian Engagement
2 " Christians must be ready to lose politically rather than engage in dishonesty or corruption. "
3 " Christians must be extremely vigilant against the ongoing temptations of idolatrous nationalism. Christians in the United States are especially prone to embrace this evil, but the temptation lurks in every nation. "
4 " Are national boundaries sacred? Are they ordained by God? do the citizens of a rich nation have the right to use their abundant resources just for themselves? Or to keep out immigrants from poor nations who seek greater economic opportunity? "
5 " Christians have too easily, and too often, fallen into the trap of supposing that the nonhuman creation has worth only as it serves human purposes. This, however, is not a biblical perspective. "
6 " Christians today should never claim that democracy is the Christian form of government, but we can and should claim that biblical principles fit better with democratic government than with existing alternatives. In addition, Christian virtues--honesty, tolerance, love for neighbor--strengthen democratic life. Therefore Christians should actively nurture democracy in their own countries and around the world. "
7 " Great economic inequality inevitably produces injustice in a fallen world; therefore Christians must oppose it. "
8 " So we work for better political and economic systems, knowing that sin precludes any earthly utopia now, but rejoicing in the assurance that the kingdom of shalom that the Messiah has already begun will one day prevail, and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord. "
9 " At a time when end-times novels are by far the most widely read evangelical books, we need to hear Noll’s warning that if evangelicals continue to be influenced by the kind of historicist dispensationalism that tries to identify current events as the detailed fulfillment of biblical prophecy, “there is little intellectual hope for the future” of responsible evangelical political reflection.[19] "
10 " Any political engagement that claims to be Christian must be concerned with the full range of things that the Bible says God cares about. "
11 " Since Biblical faith calls us to generously share our resources with needy people, Christians in rich nations ought to promote generous immigration policies that make it easier, rather than harder, for poor immigrants to enter their country legally to seek work. "
12 " Somehow, if our grandchildren are to live in good, just, healthy society, we must find ways to restore wholesome, joyous, faithful marriages and families. "
13 " The Old Testament allowed and regulated a number of things that were not the Creator's will. Jesus implicitly taught this when He acknowledged Moses's acceptance of divorce and then returned to the Creator's original intention. "
14 " ...marriage is not some human fabrication that persons can mold into any shape they choose. Every person, no matter what they may say or believe, has been made by the Creator in such a way that the biblical understanding of marriage and family works best. Of course, it is true that God has given persons freedom to reject God's way and to act apart from it, and human laws should provide the space for people to do that. But this does not mean that laws need to neutral. God gives sinners the freedom to choose to disobey him in many ways, but the moral laws God has embedded in creation exact consequences for sinful behavior in our bodies, emotions, and relationships. In an analogous way, public law should provide freedom for wrong behavior without remaining neutral. "
15 " Contemporary society urgently needs to recover a deep respect for the full sanctity of human life, but our neighbors will hear our words much more clearly if we live out a completely pro-life vision in every area of life. "
16 " Marriage is not a human invention. Nor is it some uniquely Christian idea. Marriage is central to the order of creation. Marriage and the nuclear and extended families that flow from marriage are simply the way the Creator designed reality. Marriage and family are universal human institutions essential to the well-being of all people everywhere. "
17 " For the first three centuries, every Christian writer who discussed killing said that all killing was prohibited--whether in war, capital punishment, or abortion. Whether or not the early church was correct in thinking that is what Jesus intended, it is perfectly clear that in the one case where Jesus was explicitly called upon to affirm the Old Testament's call for capital punishment, he refused. "
18 " I believe that all people should be free to believe and worship as they please. I also believe that people should be free to act in ways that I consider ethically wrong. But there is at least one important restriction on this freedom that every just society must maintain. My religious and ethical freedom does not include the right to kill other people. "
19 " In a pluralistic society, people should be free to do many things that others consider stupid or sinful. But tolerance toward others does not extend to allowing them to kill other people. "
20 " Both biblical principles and historical experience suggest that one important thing we need is the right kind of state intervention to correct the injustice in today's market economies. "
