The Christian and Political News

[Ken]

I'm resurrecting this 8-year-old thread. Two of the people who posted 8 years ago have gone on to their eternal reward.

I don't know that I can make a case for staying up-to-date with politics as being really helpful for praying. It may change how a person prays, but I am not sure it makes a lot of difference in the heavenlies.

The only good reasons I can think of for Christians staying up-to-date on political news are:
1. Recreation: Most people have some sort of hobby/recreation and one type of recreation is trying to understand what the powers that be are trying to accomplish and how they go about it.
2. Being knowledgeable about politics allows a person to push back on right leaning, left leaning, libertarian, or green narratives that many Christians get caught up in.

I think there is a significant difference between trying to understand and wanting to know why politicians are doing the things they are doing vs. having lots of advice for what politicians should be doing and trying to persuade people to adopt the narratives of a particular political party. If Christians are involved in the latter, I think they are getting outside of their role as an ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Your thoughts?

I know Lester has left us; who’s the other?

MaxPC

[steve-in-kville]

Should Christians who do not vote follow political news?

Follow, yes.

Argue, heated debating, spirited discussions... hard no.

[Neto]

I think that "staying up on the news" helps the Christian to understand the culture, so as to know how to speak to the lost, because you need to be able to understand their thinking. (This is why missionaries study ethnology, etc.)

It's an interesting exercise to figure out the news in a foreign culture, since I have no idea who the "good" and "bad" guys are. Or any idea what policies I even agree with.

As 'pioneer' missionaries, the elements of national policy that caught our attention the most were those that directly impacted our ability to have access to indigenous areas. Policies were in place that directly opposed all Christian influences in native cultural areas. But local officials were sometimes favorable to Christian missionary activity, and some of these officials appeared to be Christians, if not just "the lamb-hearted" (as the early Dutch Mennonites called non-members who actively helped Christians avoid capture). This was the case for our area - the local Indian Agent openly welcomed our presence in the village, and he also visited the village on a few occasions.

Of the 18 years we were living and working there, the mission actually had an official contract or 'welcome' from the government for a small part of that time. Those in the government who were supportive of Christian activity could not risk open support, so they used 'political work-arounds' to achieve a somewhat clandestine 'welcome'. Sometimes the only way for some missionaries to be able to continue living in the restricted areas was through written authorization from the indigenous people themselves.

(We also helped the local "Indian House" whenever possible. I once went in to translate for a somewhat distantly related language man who was there for extended TB treatment. I had an old dictionary printout for that language that had been discarded, and with that, and my speaking knowledge of Banawa, I was able to explain to him that he would need to stay there for at least a certain number of 'moons'. I know that he understood me, because he got excited, and began to give me a list of things he wanted, fishing hooks, and that sort of thing. Another time I picked up some girls from another tribal group, and took them in to view the body of a 15 year old girl from their tribe who had died from TB. This was to create proof to the tribe that their young girl had not been sold into the sex trade, but had actually died.

Other Wycliffe members helped in more extensive ways - one older man had been on the Indian Agency team that made the first contact with the tribe that he and his wife later did translation work for.)

[HondurasKeiser]

I'm resurrecting this 8-year-old thread. Two of the people who posted 8 years ago have gone on to their eternal reward.

I don't know that I can make a case for staying up-to-date with politics as being really helpful for praying. It may change how a person prays, but I am not sure it makes a lot of difference in the heavenlies.

The only good reasons I can think of for Christians staying up-to-date on political news are:
1. Recreation: Most people have some sort of hobby/recreation and one type of recreation is trying to understand what the powers that be are trying to accomplish and how they go about it.
2. Being knowledgeable about politics allows a person to push back on right leaning, left leaning, libertarian, or green narratives that many Christians get caught up in.

I think there is a significant difference between trying to understand and wanting to know why politicians are doing the things they are doing vs. having lots of advice for what politicians should be doing and trying to persuade people to adopt the narratives of a particular political party. If Christians are involved in the latter, I think they are getting outside of their role as an ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Your thoughts?

I know Lester has left us; who’s the other?

MaxPC

How did I miss that he had passed?

[temporal1]

MaxPC
viewtopic.php?t=7012

[barnhart]

Should Christians who do not vote follow political news?

My observations:
Some two-kingdom Christians around me are informed about politics - typically from politically conservative sources. There seems to be more political interest/discussion in the younger men than the older.

My current thoughts:
I've heard people saying we should be informed. What I've not heard is why we should be informed: I've not heard a rationale for why non-resistant people should be consuming political news. I don't think we should...

...I'm interested in the thoughts of people who do not vote (Positions 1 and 2 in Dan Z's POLL.)
- Should we be informed about politics? If so, why? (Provide a rationale beyond just...being informed about things is better.)
- If you provide a rationale, what are its limits? What involvement with political news does it not authorize, if any?

I have never voted because of my theology of Jesus' Kingdom and at this point, it's quite unlikely I ever will. But I can't muster a sharp "thou shalt not" about it.

However I am not as afraid of "politics" as some are. Mostly because I understand politics to include almost everything about the way you live your life. The root word is Greek for city, or metaphorically the way the lives of people interact when they live in the same space.

This includes the food you buy (which shapes land policy), the housing you utilize (which shapes governing districts and policies), your commercial interaction with the economy (how you earn a living, which shapes the economic landscape), your interactions with law enforcement, your tax burden, the stores you frequent and economic structures behind them (which shape employment and tax base), and the social interactions you have with neighbors, friends and acquaintances, which shape the quality of social life. All these are political decisions and are constantly working to shape society. It is an impoverished view of humanity that overlooks all those engagements and prefers to utilize only government and coersion.

I'm not overly troubled by politically active (voting, party oriented advocacy) believers as long as they meet a few criteria.
1. It should be motivated by more than self interest, such as preserving my stuff. It must be motivated by a longing for universal good.
2. It must allow for for competing visions of the good. Once your political opponents, including other believers become demonic or controlled by Satan, it's a sign that engagement has exceeded it's limits.
3. There must be awareness of the coercive nature of law. It may not be ethical to vote for things you would not join in the enforcement.

Staying informed of current events can be good but it should always follow other directives from the scripture, think on good things, do not harbor anger, love enemies not foster anger at them... ect. It should also be paired with a survey of history so you can detect the development of patterns.

[Neto]

Should Christians who do not vote follow political news?

My observations:
Some two-kingdom Christians around me are informed about politics - typically from politically conservative sources. There seems to be more political interest/discussion in the younger men than the older.

My current thoughts:
I've heard people saying we should be informed. What I've not heard is why we should be informed: I've not heard a rationale for why non-resistant people should be consuming political news. I don't think we should...

...I'm interested in the thoughts of people who do not vote (Positions 1 and 2 in Dan Z's POLL.)
- Should we be informed about politics? If so, why? (Provide a rationale beyond just...being informed about things is better.)
- If you provide a rationale, what are its limits? What involvement with political news does it not authorize, if any?

I have never voted because of my theology of Jesus' Kingdom and at this point, it's quite unlikely I ever will. But I can't muster a sharp "thou shalt not" about it.

However I am not as afraid of "politics" as some are. Mostly because I understand politics to include almost everything about the way you live your life. The root word is Greek for city, or metaphorically the way the lives of people interact when they live in the same space.

This includes the food you buy (which shapes land policy), the housing you utilize (which shapes governing districts and policies), your commercial interaction with the economy (how you earn a living, which shapes the economic landscape), your interactions with law enforcement, your tax burden, the stores you frequent and economic structures behind them (which shape employment and tax base), and the social interactions you have with neighbors, friends and acquaintances, which shape the quality of social life. All these are political decisions and are constantly working to shape society. It is an impoverished view of humanity that overlooks all those engagements and prefers to utilize only government and coersion.

I'm not overly troubled by politically active (voting, party oriented advocacy) believers as long as they meet a few criteria.
1. It should be motivated by more than self interest, such as preserving my stuff. It must be motivated by a longing for universal good.
2. It must allow for for competing visions of the good. Once your political opponents, including other believers become demonic or controlled by Satan, it's a sign that engagement has exceeded it's limits.
3. There must be awareness of the coercive nature of law. It may not be ethical to vote for things you would not join in the enforcement.

Staying informed of current events can be good but it should always follow other directives from the scripture, think on good things, do not harbor anger, love enemies not foster anger at them... ect. It should also be paired with a survey of history so you can detect the development of patterns.

I find your comments here to be interesting - thought expanding. I have never considered that social interactions might be political, or policy forming. I have regarded politics strictly in the context of direct government influence (or attempts to influence).

[Ernie]

So many Politics threads. And now Trump threads. I am wondering if there is anything else to talk about...

As a newer member, you may not be aware; but politics has been one of the more active forums here for years.

JohnH, it is possible to opt out of seeing the political threads if you wish. The moderators here can help with that.

We have the usual right leaning and left leaning perspectives here on MN like most forums do, but I think MN is unique in that it has a higher percentage of folks who don't lean either left or right or barely do. That is why I like discussing politics on MN. While I do not enjoy reading the usual left leaning / right leaning comments, I can count on a number of posters to be able to look at an issue fairly objectively without a left leaning / right leaning bias influencing their perspective.