Personal Liberal
A few weeks ago I was reading “the atheist with whom I sometimes agree” Allahpundit over at hotair.com. I think it was a post about some liberal Christian who thinks that government is the solution to all of our problems. Allah stated that he thought that the Christian faith was more in line with the liberal politics of our day. This is unfortunately a fundamental misunderstanding of what Christianity is all about and it is the mistake that liberal politicians like President Obama make. It is the same mistake that advocates of the liberal social gospel make in the foundation of the theology. They interpret the care that Jesus mandated for others as a function of the government. This is the last thing that Jesus meant when he spoke of feeding the poor and looking after the oppressed. While I have not studied the theology in depth it seems to come down to a passage in Matthew 25 which reads.
34.Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come , ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35.For I was an hungred , and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty , and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in :
36.Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick , and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37.Then shall the righteous answer him, saying , Lord, when saw we thee an hungred , and fed thee? or thirsty , and gave thee drink?
38.When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in ? or naked, and clothed thee?
39.Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40.And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41.Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed , into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42.For I was an hungred , and ye gave me no meat : I was thirsty , and ye gave me no drink :
43.I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44.Then shall they also answer him, saying , Lord, when saw we thee an hungred , or athirst , or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45.Then shall he answer them, saying , Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
This appears to be the main crux of the social theology that I have been exposed too over the years and many social gospel practitioners have quoted this as the basis as well. But if you examine the text it clearly is directed at me as an individual and not at an entire government. Indeed Jesus said that His kingdom is not of this world and His aim was not to start a political movement whether it is a left wing or right wing. His aim was to save men from their sins and in turn would lead them to individual works such as the ones he calls for in Matthew 25.
So he calls us to be kind of personal liberals but not collective/government liberals. What do I mean by this, well in the passage above and any where else you read Jesus advocating for the oppressed he keeps saying YOU. He does not say we or you guys or for that matter Uncle Sam. He says YOU. There are no implications that he wanted the Roman government to give meat to the hungry or drink to the thirsty, he said YOU. He was interested in the personal redemption of the people he was surrounded by and not the structure of the government and its institutions. He is still interested in our personal redemption today and not if Medicaid will last until 2050.
When we allow the social gospel and its application to politics, to rule the day we lead others to think that the solution can be found in the structure of the government. If all we needed was another social program to save us we indeed would have made it to the Promised Land by now and we would have no need of a savior. The overabundant list of failed government social programs should prove to us that this approach fails to solve the root causes. It treats the symptoms but is not the cure, and the symptoms keep coming back.
Now there is an institution that is called not explicitly but implicitly to get at the root cause of our social ills and that is the Church. It is because the Church is uniquely endowed with the answers to what ails society, in a word sin. It is neither lack of funding nor lack of education that causes poverty, crime and wars; it is the sin of man. The church has the solution and the solution is Jesus Christ himself. Now don’t get this twisted we as Christians understand that the Church is not the building or the governing structure of the institution but is the collection of individuals who are called into new life in Christ. We are called to individually and through our community of faith to feed the hungry and cloth the naked. Indeed this is not a coerced call to help our fellow man but should be borne out of our commitment to Christ because after all faith without works is dead.
So what about where we stand as far as the government is concerned should we abandon it. No we should strive toward a government in which it is possible to let the Church thrive in its roll of pointing the way to Christ. We point the way to Christ often times by meeting the needs of and caring for the oppressed as the Church. The church now has to compete with governments that ask nothing be done to get at the root causes of our social ills. It is human nature to go the easy route. Jesus, through the Church ask us to put away our sin receive forgiveness and walk after him. We should also strive for the government which does not violate God’s law. If the government begins to advocate for sin, then it is our duty to call our government into account for this violation.
