My friend Matt recently shared on his personal blog his opinions on Why Christians Shouldn’t Hold Political Office. It’s an interesting statement and one that immediately caused me to initially disagree with him. My initial thought is that we need MORE Christians in political offices. But Matt’s reasoning is based in scripture and honest reflection on the challenges facing a Christian holding such responsibilities.
As I shared in my comment on his post though, I do still believe more Christians should be in political office, but I also believe holding a political office should really be no different than any other job. You have a responsibility in this case to your constituents you represent to lead and make decisions and influence policy for the betterment of those constituents as a whole. You won’t please everyone, so don’t think you can or will. I believe the key to succeeding here lies in the key to succeeding elsewhere as a Christian. Rely on God for knowledge, strength, guidance, understanding, etc.
For my reason that political office should be like any other job, I fall back on my statement that we need more Christians in political office. Just like we need:
- more Christian CEO’s
- more Christian plumbers
- more Christian actors
- more Christian police officers
- more Christian teachers
- more Christian accountants
- more Christian restaurant owners
- more Christian scientists
- more Christian doctors
- more Christian entrepreneurs
- more Christian writers
- more Christian nurses
- more Christian professors
- well… you get my point
I believe another thing to remember is that there are political offices at multiple levels that I believe we should be willing to actively participate in if lead. State and local politics: School board members, City councils, County clerks, Judges, Etc.
Yet, another thing that causes me to re-contemplate my viewpoint and join Matt is that we frequently have enough trouble faithfully leading and managing our own churches, perhaps taking on political office is quite a bit risky.
