Pulpit Ministry & the Presidential Election, Part 2
Posted with persmission from Theologically Driven.
As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Posted with persmission from Theologically Driven.
Posted with permission from Theologically Driven.
As an interim pastor charged in part with exposing the Scriptures so as to inform the moral and ethical decision-making of a congregation, I have been forced to consider the role that the pulpit should play in the upcoming presidential election. The simplest model, and one that will no doubt feature prominently in many pulpits over the next few weeks, is what I’ll call the values/proof-text model. It has two basic variations:
If one could manage to be completely objective with this approach, then it is probable that one party’s list of biblical values and the supporting proof-texts would be longer than the other’s. Or, alternately, one might decide that irrespective of the length of the lists, the weight of one or more of the items on the list (say, abortion) is such that the argument for one side or the other is sealed.
“…the nominals are becoming the nones.”
“[T]here is movement in religious identification that should cause us to consider three ramifications….”
Read the series so far.
Addressing church saints, the apostle Peter wrote, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into His remarkable light; who once were not a people, but now are a people of God, the ones who had not been shown mercy, but now have been shown mercy” (1 Pet. 2:9-10). Peter is here paraphrasing multiple Old Testament passages, two of which are especially significant. The first is Exodus 19:5-6, where God is speaking to Israel at Sinai. This passage records the very episode in which Israel became a people of God. The second is Hosea 2:23, in which God is promising the restoration of His blessing to Israel after the nation has been judged.
In both of these instances, Peter is clearly citing passages that were directly addressed to national Israel. Rather than applying them to Israel, however, he applies them to the church. Furthermore, he makes this application in a pretty straightforward way, not inserting any explanations or qualifications. We can only conclude that what God said to Israel in the passages from Exodus and Hosea, He now says to the church through Peter.
Opinion Matters survey: “52 percent of U.K. adults believe UFO evidence has been covered up because widespread knowledge of their existence would threaten government stability, as opposed to 44 percent who say they believe in God.”
“Proving once again that Americans aren’t buying pro-evolution scientists’ dogma, 46 percent of adults in Gallup’s latest survey say they believe God created human beings within the past 10,000 years”
Discussion