In previous articles, I have addressed that liberty is great for those who hate politics. Another article addresses the dependency of liberty on people being virtuous. This article is the next step from that. Many people avoid politics for many reasons, but they do this to their detriment. There have been a ton of people who have become more political because whether they like it or not, there is no neutral ground. People are promoting their ideas, or others are putting their ideas on them.
In a liberty book from a Christian perspective, faith seeking freedom, (hyperlink), the first question in the book (the book is just a bunch of questions) addresses the most basic questions of any subject, which is why should I care? Under that subject line, they address the micro question, “Politics is a gospel issue, like being reconciled to God or believing in the Trinity, so why should I be concerned about politics?“ The author (there are multiple contributors that remain anonymous as to which questions they answer)
Say
“Culture is another means of how to relate to each other, and while part of that is political, much of it is not. In this sense, the saying “politics his life“ is true. When we advocate anything that affects the lives of others, we are doing politics in this very broad sense. Most Christians believe that the gospel has implications for the real world, which makes the gospel relevant to politics. This also means that Christians are political, whether they realize it or not.“ 12-13 (faith seeking freedom)
For the first few years of being a Christian, I thought that I did not need to think about politics since I was just focused on Jesus. I thought that as long as I did not think about politics and I did not need to address it because if I knew nothing about it, no one would expect anything of me. Besides, who cares about these people? They are nobodies in the grand scheme of eternity, right?
I was totally ignorant of the fact that no matter what your views are, you are, by default, political. You might not care about politics, but if you do not want animals to be killed for game, as an example, even if you do not care about politics, you are political. The nature of modern politics is that those in office, in general, are a reflection of the will of the people. If a law was passed that allowed animals to be killed easier, you might be offended and think that is morally reprehensible. Another example that some in the church can relate with is whether the church has been mandated to meet together in person and partake in the ordinances of the Lord’s Supper, preaching, and baptism.
Those who follow Christ wish to just ignore politics, but that is not how those work. The world is run by the devil in many ways. The Bible calls the devil the prince of this world for a reason. He is always prowling around, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). A lion who is looking to pounce on someone does not want to be noticed because it does not want to be thought about. The devil is constantly trying to tempt us to fall back under his spiritual rulership and, therefore, his political headship. If you do not believe me, look at how the devil tempted Jesus. He tried to offer him all the kingdoms of this world if you only bowed down to him. The fact that he had all the kingdoms to offer her shows how political he is in that he wanted allegiance to show you how politically wired his reach is and his plan of attack.
If our worst enemy wants to take control of politics, then why do we let him take control of our lives? He loves chaos and turning people on one another. He wants everyone to hate each other so that they are too busy to fill the two Commandments of Christ, love God and love thy neighbor. Christian libertarians hate the subject of politics ourselves but we know that everyone is political by the very nature of having any opinion about the world, and the more conviction you have morally and the more you believe an absolute truth, the less you are willing to comply when atheists or socialists grab the power of the state and try and force you or bend you to their will.
When pondering the Nazi underbelly of politics, I always think of the ever profound and ever-popular James Madison quote,
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.“ James Madison
Politics does not need to be complex, though. It really breaks down into two categories of thought.
Allow people to live their own lives in pursuit of life, liberty, and their pursuit of happiness ( based on what they themselves are compelled to do by those around them, not by law)
Tell others via the law and government how you think they are to think and act, and if they do not agree, punish them until they get the point. (This view, interventionism, can be summarized by political intervention)
The conservatives and liberals or economic freedom
The options are conservative/liberal or true freedom for all.
Often, politics is fighting between different views or versions of the second kind, but they are the same mindset. As I address in the article group thought (link here), the problem with politics is not that people do not care about things, every person has his passion for one thing or another. The problem is they think their passion should be forced on others. At its core, it is self-righteous, you got testicles and arrogant.
Even though Jesus is God, he never sought to force his truth on others. He was a compelling storyteller and did miracles to persuade people that he was gone, but he never went to the religious leaders and asked them to torment or jail those that would not follow his teaching. Even though he is the creator himself, he knows all truth, and the truth comes from him. I just knew Their Way was not an option.
Jesus stood up to the religious political leaders of his day. He did not use force on them but sought to persuade them. At times, he was blunt with them, but it was because He knew they were prideful and thus needed a clear humbling response. We must always remember that Jesus was not just God, he was a perfect man. He showed us true humanhood, a.k.a. he is an example of what God‘s original design was when he made us in his image. To be clear, Jesus was a perfect man, and he still saw it necessary to do politics. Look through the example of Christ to see how he went about life. He sought to persuade all men no matter their stage in life. He believed in the first category of politics, and that is why he stood up through the Pharisees (were the Jewish politicians of his day).
Tim Bankes II
Tim is a Christian author. His worldview that informs his writing is Calvinist, Baptist, and Libertarian. His main series is his Christian picture book series, "About God for Kids", where he discusses the attributes of God in a way kids can digest. He also wrote a Christian Romance novel, libertarian book for beginners, and Christian coloring books. He graduated with a Bachelor's in Biblical Studies from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He has written a book on freedom called “Are You Free” (If you are into listening to books I have it in audio also, Are You Free Audiobook )and he has written multiple children’s books about God. Be Sure to check out the podcast version of the blog, Labor for Truth Podcast. And check out “The Truth About” Youtube Channel. You can find his works at his amazon author page, https://amazon.com/author/timbankes. He even has a free digital ebook on how God is the creator. Get your free copy today at, Greater Creator .Also If you are into Christian Fiction, he has made his first book in his Futuristic Christian Fiction series free, Her Dying Wish
Some of my other favorite books on these subjects that are great for beginners to the liberty movement are: