A Political Solution Is Not the Answer to a Spiritual Problem

Sometimes I fear that even many Christians think that the solution to America’s moral problems (including the legalization of gay “marriage,” abortion, and so on) is a political one—to work at mainly changing the culture through legislation and sometimes litigation. I suggest that these social problems are spiritual ones—heart issues. The Bible doesn’t say to go into all the world and change the culture; we are told to

Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. (Mark 16:15)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28:19)

Now as we follow this command, we are also told to

. . . contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.(Jude 3)

. . . in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)

The point is, if you just try to change the culture in the sense of just working for political change, what will happen when the next generation comes through who may reject God even more, and then just change the laws back to what they want? Ultimately, any legal document, such as the US Constitution, is only as good as the worldview of those interpreting it. Because of man’s sinful heart, people will interpret such a document to say whatever they want it to say—which we have seen already happen in regard to abortion, the so-called “separation of church and state,” and the gay “marriage” issues.

We need to be reminded that God’s Word states, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

Hearts and minds change a culture. And that’s why the Scripture informs us that we are “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13), but it goes on to warn us that if the salt is contaminated, it is not good for anything. We are also instructed in Mark 9:50 to “have salt in yourselves.” You can’t be the salt until you have salt (and you need to have uncontaminated salt).

Now, I am not saying Christians should therefore not get involved politically—quite the opposite. What I’m saying is that Christians need to understand that we need to be raising generations who are filled with as much uncontaminated salt as possible. They need to be taught what they believe and know how to defend the Christian faith. We need to raise generations of godly people committed to the Lord Jesus Christ, who will have a consistent Christian worldview, so when they get into positions of authority in the government, education, business, and so on, their Christian worldview will enable them to view the legal documents in the correct way—and then be real salt in influencing the culture.

I totally agree that Christians should vote in elections. By doing so, they can help be salt and light to influence the culture for good by voting for those people who have a consistent Christian worldview. I’m adamant about the point that if we just think that all we need to do is vote for some so-called “conservatives” (whatever that word means these days) and it will change the culture, then the effort will fail! We need to be concentrating on raising up hearts and minds who will stand on God’s Word so they can be the ones to influence the culture.

Sadly, most children from our church homes have been trained by the world, and so they have a very secular worldview. When they are in positions of authority, many are voting in a very anti-Christian way, because they’ve been trained by the world and so they think like the world. Many so-called “conservatives,” for instance, are voting for gay “marriage. We need people who have an absolute basis for their worldview—based on the absolute authority of the Word of God.

As Jeremiah warned God’s people, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not learn the way of the Gentiles’” (Jeremiah 10:2). He was telling them they were to influence the world, not the other way round. Sadly, just as in the times of Jeremiah, Christians have by and large let the world influence generations in the church, and now much of the church thinks like the world.

The right sort of political change can happen when there’s been the right heart change to ensure the correct worldview will influence the culture.

You cannot ultimately change a culture from the top down, when it has changed from the foundation up. Sadly, the secular world has understood that by capturing the hearts and minds of generations of young people, they could change the culture from the foundation up. Many Christians look at the consequences of this change and try to effect change from the top down! No. A slow but consistent change into secularism was allowed to occur foundationally, so now it will be a hard, long, slow process to reverse this massive change in the culture. And the way to do this is for Christians to be diligent in working hard to help change one heart at a time, little by little (starting in their homes and churches), and continue to be salt and light as best they can in a culture that has increasingly been overtaken by darkness.

If God’s people return to God’s Word, God may heal the land, which reminds me of this verse (although I recognize that in this passage, the context is about the children of Israel and the Temple):

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken