Thread by @daniels2_j

@HeiligeBibel 1/ More rested, this may take several posts. All civil laws are rooted in some moral value, whether acknowledged or not. Speed limits, for example, are rooted in a communitarian concern for the safety and lives of all people.

@HeiligeBibel 2/ Even those claiming no religious or moral concerns will posit moral arguments for laws or proposed laws. This is true even when the laws or proposed laws are demonstrably immoral.

@HeiligeBibel 3/ In this regard, one would certainly hope that God's holy Law would in some sense inform Christians as they participate in political decision-making.

@HeiligeBibel 4/ But there's a huge difference between allowing Christian ethics to inform the citizienship of Christians, on the one hand, and seeking to impose (our version of) Christian morality and ethics on the community at large.

@HeiligeBibel 5/ Many Old Testament and New Testament believers proved both adept and courageous in living out their faith within the context of immoral, amoral, and pluralistic nations. This was true even when the nation was a foreign overlord...

@HeiligeBibel 6/ In that connection, I think of Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, and even Jesus, under the Romans. All conformed to both Romans 13's stricture about obeying the government AND Romans 12's call to not be conformed to the world.

@HeiligeBibel 7/ Of course, Christians should feel free to participate in the political process, while also respecting it and obeying its laws, so long as those laws do not command us to go against our faith. (The latter is why Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got in trouble.)

@HeiligeBibel 8/ In the quest for a more perfect union, I would say that Christians should be unabashed disciples of Jesus who recognize that using the Law, whether it's God's Law or human law, will not and cannot make Christians.

@HeiligeBibel 9/ Our energy is better spent proclaiming the Gospel through which the Holy Spirit makes disciples of Jesus Christ.

Just some thoughts.