Please read this post the entire way through before you dismiss it.
This post began in my head just a couple of days ago when I read this from my friend John Bryson on Twitter:
I got excited about this “tweet.” I sent it out to others and posted it on my Facebook page.
Now understand that this was on the day that Americans on both sides of the political spectrum were in a flutter about a speech that the President was scheduled to give to public school children. On this day, on both sides of the political spectrum, many were filled with passion of the political variety. Naturally, calling someone’s passion an idol is controversial.
Political passion is good, but JB called it “the idol of the day.” So, what makes an idol an idol?
A good definition of an idol comes in the language of “god-substitute” from Martyn Lloyd-Jones:
“A man’s god is that for which he lives, for which he is prepared to give his time, his energy, his money, that which stimulates him and rouses him, excites, and enthuses him.”
Passion is necessary for life. A passion even for politics is good. But your political ideology can easily become your god-substitute if it is what most easily rouses, excites, and enthuses you.
It’s often not the bad things that we have to guard our hearts from. Often it is the very best things – our children, our work, our politics – that are in danger of becoming god-substitutes for us.
And how will you know if political ideology – whether conservative or liberal – has become your idol? Measure it by the amount of self-righteousness in your rhetoric.
Here’s the deal: self-righteousness sells. Haughty, self-righteous indignation that sets up everyone who shares your viewpoint as the arbiter of what is good in the world and vilifies everyone who disagrees with you, draws a crowd. Partisan talk shows with lots of yelling will get loyal viewers. Fire off an angry missive or angsty blog post and you will get readers.
But back to my point. Political obsession & idolatry of any kind worries me, but political obsession & idolatry of the conservative variety worries me more, and not because I am a liberal (I’m not) or have a political agenda to promote (I don’t).
Political conservatism is dangerous to the gospel, because in these parts, political conservatism so easily masquerades itself as the gospel.
I know a lot of people on both sides of the political fence who have given in to the idolatry of political ideology. To generalize for a minute: a lot of those (and I would say most) that I know that are politically liberal don’t claim to be Christians. A lot of those (and I again would say most) that are politically conservative, however, do claim to be Christians, and many of these confuse their political conservatism for Christianity.
When political conservatism is confused for Christianity:
1. It creates false assurance: many who are not Christians wrongly assume that they are simply because of their conservative vote.
2. It makes enemies out of friends: Christians forget that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood” and make enemies out of anyone who disagrees with their political ideology.
3. It becomes a barrier to mission: political liberals who are not Christians are given the idea that to embrace the gospel of Jesus means to become a conservative. Naturally they pass on this. But the wrong “gospel” has been presented to them – thus many haven’t even rejected the gospel at all, only a highly politicized version of it.
4. The wrong gospel is passed to the next generation: In training our children to be good conservatives instead of grace-filled believers, we help harden their hearts to the gospel. I grew up in a church that did a better job teaching me to be a political conservative than a lover of Jesus Christ. That was a church that was easy to leave.
Get involved in the political sphere. Have well thought-out opinions. But watch out – the best things in life can have the greatest sway on our hearts.
Has your political ideology become your god-substitute? Is it, as JB says, the thing that gives you meaning, purpose, and passion? Repent and believe the gospel. Turn to the only thing that can satisfy you and the only thing that has authentic power to change the world around us.
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Update: See also Clarification on The Gospel & Political Conservatism
Conservatism, like liberalism is a form of idolatry and a religion unto itself. I believe it was Francis Schaeffer who once said that “conservative humanism is no better than liberal humanism.” He was right. Patriotism in extreme form is a form of idolatry. The Bible definitely makes the case for Christians to practice a form of capitalism, but to conclude that the gross materialism promoted at a shopping mall is a Bibilical model for economics is puching things considerably. Likewise, when in inner city neighborhoods, I see cigarette advertisements consistently and numerous liquor stores. These forms of capitalism are follwing the dictates of the free market, but they are still an abomination. Am I suggesting that Christians advocate socialism as an antecdote? No, not at all, but I am suggesting that Christians be aware of the traps of any worldly philosophy, including those that are based on conservative thought.
I would partially agree with Robert. We do need to be careful that any world system is not our God – and cigarettes and liquor stores are also prominant in communist countries – so no fault of conservatism. As Christians however, we do need to fight against that which is at least the greater evil while we live in a society that allows us to freely do so. I think in that we can at least be salt. “Spreading the wealth”, providing entitlement programs and taking care of everyone may sound like a good thing – but what it really does is demoralize people. It robs them of the inner sense of responsibility, integrity, ingenuity and in essence, life. Those who vote for social programs “to help the needy” do not recognize their own God given responsibility – not the governments – to care for the needy. If you have ever been to post communist countries or a developing country, I can only say that to do so will cause you to see the importance of remaining free of government controls on life as much as possible. So do as Jesus commanded – care for the poor and needy, and utilize the freedoms you have to keep them – before you lose them.
Good point Teresa!
Wondered why pick on Conservatism?
Seems like any affiliation could have been substituted in your rationale. Better argument might have been:
“Why Political DOGMATISM is Dangerous to the Gospel?
Fred – that’s fair. This post & my concern is more about political dogmatism in general than conservatism specifically.
The reason I called out conservatism – (even as a conservative) – is that where we are – Tupelo, MS or even Cordova, TN is that the Church (generally) has adopted conservative politics wholesale. Many now look to their voting record as evidence that you are a true Christian.