This is a guest post by a friend of mine, Jonny Craig. He’s much smarter than me, regarding theology, politics, and well…he’s just plain smarter than me. I am excited to welcome him to the blog! If you’d like to guest post, shoot me an email; smahlstadt@gmail.com and we’ll chat. Now…Jonny on religion and politics:

Since long before the American Revolution, the notion that Christians should be involved with government has been broadly taught, accepted and practiced. It doesn’t bear repeating here, nor is it necessary, to tell the tale of Constantine and his Divine calling and the affect that the institutionalizing of Christianity has had on European and American politics throughout history. Simply stated, the idea that God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians have a responsibility, nay, aduty to be politically active has reached a hegemonic level. Whether it’s Jim Wallis or James Dobson, Christian leaders are at the forefront of the fray, rallying troops around their own particular positions and parties. Be it a Faith and Family platform or God’s Politics, the assumption remains the same regardless of party lines: the soul of America is at stake, and it’s up to us to save it.

But beneath all of our cultural assumptions are questions that must be considered. What happens when claims based on Romans 13 are held up against Luke 22? Or when Old Testament passages are understood within their proper context? How do we choose between issues like social welfare which is generally supported by democrats, and fighting for the unborn, a Republican standard? How can we reflect God’s perfect will and Christ’s perfect example in a system that is inherently flawed and considerably un-perfect?

In the two party system, the choices we’re left with are severely lacking in a lot of ways. Beyond that, different Christians will have different ideas of what responsibilities the government should have vs. what the church should take care of. Yet listening to the discourse happening during this election cycle, it doesn’t seem anybody is taking time to reflect on these issues, instead opting for the simple way out and flocking to one ideologue or another. The “hip” Christians circle the wagons around Wallis and Obama, while the “value voters” stand with their familiar flag bearers of Dobson and the Republican party. From the looks of things, nobody seems to see a bigger picture, and that’s concerning.

The Bible does not support any one political system. Arguably, the Bible supports every political system. Free marketers will point to the book of Proverbs or Old Testament laws while liberals want to make Jesus sound like a socialist. Both sides are drunk on their own kool-aid, and both sides want to push their political position. Either way, the problem is the same: God never calls us to be involved in politics. Lets repeat that: God, at no point in scripture, commands, implies, requests or even suggests that we mobilize as a group and support a party, politician or platform. It’s just not there. That’s not to say that voting is evil, or having party affiliation will condemn you do damnation, but it is to say that God is far more concerned with our testimony and our relationship with him than he is with who wins school board, or governor, or even *gasp* president.

1 Peter 2 calls us to live as aliens in a foreign land and immediately follows up that call by telling us to submit to governing authorities. Not influence, not campaign for, not campaign against, but submit to. Our allegiance has nothing to do with America. Sure, go vote, but don’t vote because America needs its soul saved. Don’t vote because God told you to. Don’t vote because you know which candidate is a closer approximation of how Jesus would lead. Just vote because of your opinion. Your flawed, imperfect, finite, human opinion. And then accept the results happily, however the chips may fall. Remember, this world is not your home, you’re just passing through.

Jonny is a 25 year old Seminary student currently living in Des Moines, Iowa with his wife, Kayla, and son, Joseph. He enjoys getting coffee with friends, talking sports and theology and getting out to the movie theater once in awhile. He’s passionate about orphan care and the future of the American church. You can reach him at jmcraig009@gmail.com or on twitter @jonny_craig

Whenever the government provides opportunities and privileges for white people and rich people they call it ‘subsidies.’ When they do it for Negro and poor people they call it ‘welfare.’ The fact is that everybody in this country lives on welfare. Suburbia was built with federally subsidized credit. And highways that take our white brothers out to the suburbs were built with federally subsidized money to the tune of ninety percent. Everybody is on welfare in this country. The problem is that we all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor. That’s the problem.

I posted last year:

Martin Luther King Jr. made numerous profound statements that rattled our nation, and continue to inspire us today. It would be a terrible disservice to his legacy if we merely quoted his famous words and failed to act on the convictions that brought, and will continue to bring about, justice in our world.

I posted two years ago:

In honor of a great dreamer today, I encourage you to keep dreaming. Don’t let circumstances stand in the way of the dream you have in your head, and the convictions your hold in your heart. They can change the course of history.

Dream on.

Audio to the famous I Have a Dream speech: http://ia600402.us.archive.org/29/items/MLKDream/MLKDream_64kb.mp3

May you be inspired to dream a big dream, choose hill you’re willing to die on, and push forward. We need your voice and your work. Let’s honor the great man together as we lend our hand to those who are overlooked, and lend our voice to those who go unheard.

• I heard baby #2′s heartbeat yesterday. Can’t wait for our new addition!
• Big things in store for The Move Project this year.
• Best Kickstarter campaign page I’ve ever seen. Love what Shaun King is up to.
• I’ve been keeping an eye on different newsletters lately. Learning a lot. Trying to add value to people’s lives, while discussing faith and creativity in my own newsletter. Do you subscribe to any newsletters? What’s your favorite? Why?
• I got the Steve Jobs biography for Christmas. I was extremely excited (still am) but won’t get to read it until March-ish.
• On a related note, I have to finish a book once I’ve started. I know productivity people say this is wasteful…I can’t help it.
• I’ll be writing two ebooks this year, one on self-publishing, and one on living in the tension of taking your work seriously while getting over yourself. If you had a pick, which would you prefer?
• My next for-purchase book will utilize much more pricing experimentation than I used with Creative Theology. I’ll be testing the Seth Godin concept of starting low (or free) and increasing price as people purchase. It makes total sense…for now, at least.
• Quick rant on book publishing: Publishers want authors with large pre-existing platforms to ensure they sell books. If you already have a large pre-existing platform, sell the books yourself and make 5x more profit per book. Screw the advance. Use the profit to give yourself an advance when you write your next book.
• OR…work with a publisher that truly adds value. This happens almost exclusively outside of the book publishing. If a publisher helps you build a following, and then either uses that following to build your career or hands over the information, they’ve added value.

Here are the top 7 posts of 2011.

7 is a bit arbitrary…but let’s roll with it. Well…shall we?! 

#1 The Relationship Between Art and Pain - I tip my hat to Gary Molander on this one, as he inspired the series of posts that explored the realtionship between art and ____.

The next few were about Creative Theology. I put a lot of time and effort into showing the development of the book. I could have done a much better job, but I’ll do better next time

#2 Sneak Peek (shh…)

#3 Creative Theology on Kickstarter!

#4 Sneak Peek Pt. 3

#5 The Relationship Between Art and Pride

#6 The Relationship Between Art and Fear

#7 Osama bin Laden, Hell, and A Creative Theology - this was a response to the crowds celbrating the death of Osama bin Laden. Yes, he demonstrated incredible evil, but to watch so many people celebrate his death was unnerving to me. The driving force behind the post was the concept I explore in my book, which is: your view of creation (humanity) is a direct refleciton of your view of the Creator. I hope that makes you a bit uncomfortable.

Here’s to a great 2012!

P.S. if there are any topics you would like me to explore here, or in my monthly newsletter, leave a comment or shoot me an email – smahlstadt@gmail.com.