Two writers, Tony Nassif and R. C. Sproul, Jr., offer Biblical perspectives.

August 1997 – By Tony Nassi*
In just 30 years our nation has degenerated to the point where it’s more acceptable to bring condoms to school than Bibles. It took an act of Congress to protect the institution of marriage. For nearly 40 million babies their mother’s womb has become their tomb.

What is in the heart and mind of God as He sees this national degeneration? What actions, if any, does He expect from His people? What are a Christian’s responsibilities regarding civic involvement? What’s a Christian to do?

Jesus affirms civic involvement when he said, “Render to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and to God the things that belong to God.” (Luke 20:25)

Jesus is saying that there are two aspects of human existence – one human, the other spiritual – each with corresponding responsibilities. Jesus confirmed this when he sent Peter to go fishing and take the coin out of the fish’s mouth and pay the tribute for both of them (Luke 17:24-27).

Many may ask “What impact can one person make?” This question brings to mind the Bible story of the woman with the “two mites” (a few pennies). She probably asked herself the same question. However, Jesus took her gift of love, recorded it in the Scriptures and has been using it to teach Christians how to give for nearly two thousand years. Jesus evaluated her actions based upon one simple question: “What did she do with what she had?” So it is for us today. (Luke 21:1-4)

We are obligated to exercise our civic responsibilities without anticipating the degree of effectiveness. A perfect example of this can be seen in the Book of Ezekiel. God told Ezekiel to warn the children of Israel of impending judgment.

God told him that Israel would not listen but that he should tell them anyway. What was Ezekiel’s response? He was obedient. He fulfilled his responsibility. (Ezekiel 3:1-7)

One great example of godly people fulfilling their responsibilities today is Don Wildmon. He saw the moral decline in our nation and did something about it. Out of it the American Family Association was established.

Another example is the Enough Is Enough Campaign. This group of women led by Dee Jepsen, Donna Rice-Hughes, Mariam Bell and Monique Nelson is spearheading the drive against child pornography.

However, there are many who do not feel the same way about the issue. Many try to excuse themselves from political involvement by saying, “God’s will is going to be done with or without my participation.” This is not necessarily so.

In I Samuel 8:7 we read that it was not God’s will for Israel to have a king. However, God gave them what they desired. He told Samuel not to be offended. It was God they were rejecting and not him. Thus, God’s perfect will for Israel was not effected in government. We may remember that the blessing of God’s sunshine, rain and fertile ground does no good to the farmer until he plants his seed.

The silence of “non involvement” virtually endorses the worst of all possible alternatives. Why? Because withholding the effect of our moral values gives greater strength to those who oppose them.

In Numbers 30 God told Israel that silence affirms the vow that has been spoken. Therefore, silence is action. Based on God’s logic, there was a 100% turn out in the last election. Some voted by their ballot and some voted by their silence. God has given us civic responsibilities to exercise and for which we will give an account.

The great impact of silence can be seen in the story of Moses when he requested Pharaoh to release the Hebrews. Pharaoh said no. Subsequently, God sent ten plagues on the land.

Pharaoh was the only one who made the decision, yet the whole nation of Egypt suffered...and they did not have a voice in their government. What will happen to us who have a voice in our government when we keep silent?

It is interesting to note that Moses did not reproach Pharaoh’s authority, only his policy. We can see that government office in and of itself has no morality. The morality that is administered through the office emanates from the morality of those who hold the office.

A good example of this is the story of Esther. When Haman was the Prime Minister he used the power of the office to perpetrate evil upon the Jews. When Mordecai possessed this office he used it to bring good things to the Jews. Thus, the office of government is like a car or boat. Its power and abilities are directed by those who possess its controls.

Nathan the Prophet saw the importance of this principle and the need to be involved in government when he saw that Solomon’s brother was usurping the throne that was prophetically promised to Solomon. It was Nathan who ensured that Solomon became king.

Here’s my question: “If Nathan the Prophet felt that God’s people should not get involved in civic affairs, would Solomon have been king? Would we have the three books of the Bible that he wrote? Who would have come to the defense of the single mother and the fatherless child?

John the Baptist is another Prophet who condoned civic involvement by God’s people. Imagine this: John is in the Jordan river baptizing when the soldiers and tax collectors come to him asking what they should do (Luke 3:12-14). What an opportunity to set a precedent by telling them to come out of that “God forsaken” system and follow him. He didn’t. He said for them to go back to their office of government responsibility and take righteousness with them. What prophetic words for our nation today.

The Democratic Party and Clinton Administration are involved in what could prove to be corruption in fund raising. Worse yet, if the Communist Chinese are found to be involved our national security could be in jeopardy.

Considering the fund raising scandals, the F.B.I. Filegate, Travelgate, and all the other issues coming out of Washington, D.C., I am reminded of the words of historian and author Edward Gibbon who wrote The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He attributed one of the great causes for the fall of the empire to the fact that Christians were discouraged from entering public service.

Morality in public policy comes only through morality in public office. The nation is crying out for a return to moral values that bring stability to families and accountability for one’s actions. The entertainment industry responded to this cry by offering a ratings system. People don’t want a ratings system. They want decent programming. We need to remind the media that the airwaves belong to the people and the people are speaking out.

Why was there such an outpouring of support from people to Bill Cosby when his son was killed? The reason is that he represents true family and fatherhood. Therefore, people identified with him. He is a ’90s version of Father Knows Best. He became an icon of family values, strength and discipline. People are yearning for a return to moral stability.

In a recent survey nearly 70% of those interviewed blamed America’s problems on the breakdown of moral values. In a 1992 MTV poll of those 18 years old and younger, over 90% wanted less sex on television.

The return to traditional moral values requires moral leadership, and the only way to get this leadership is by electing office holders with high moral values. “We the people” need to raise the level of moral accountability.

Political and social involvement can be done in many ways. First, seek God as to what you should do. Some are called to run for office, some to stuff envelopes for a candidate. But everyone is called to be informed and vote. I would also recommend getting involved with groups that promote your views. Finally, people of faith need to apply biblical values to the ballot box and public policy.

Many say that we cannot return to the days of Ozzie and Harriet. I say, why not? We’ve already gone back to Sodom and Gomorrah.  

* Tony Nassif is author of Jesus, Politics and the Church, which takes a look at the mind of Christ on Christians in politics.

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By R. C. Sproul, Jr.**
Reprinted from Tabletalk, the daily Bible study of Ligonier Ministries.

There are a few easy answers. Look at this one – Jesus told us that if our eye leads us into sin, better to pluck it out. Better to be without an eye in heaven than to have the eye in hell, He says. Here Jesus gets very straightforward; if there is a problem, excise it and don’t look back.

Having seen the damage we do with our speech, one could understandably reach for the scissors. Perhaps a less drastic solution to the problem of the tongue would be not to cut it out, but to cut one’s self off, to join some monastery and take a vow of silence. But before you leave, I have some bad news: it’s not that easy.

My prophetic oracle regarding the tongue is not to ask for more quiet, but to call for more prophetic oracles. Our problem in the church is not just gossip, pettiness, or lies. Our problem is silence. It is not simply the things we say – it’s also the things we don’t say.

Notice the Good News is grounded not in silencing our sins, but in God-glorifying pronouncements. It is with our tongue that we confess our sins and that we confess that Jesus is Lord. We proclaim the Law and we pronounce grace to the ears of God, His people and the world.

The church, however, seems of late to have had its tongue extinguished. There is, of course, the public benediction of grace. But usually it flows not off our tongue, but from our bumper stickers, usually with heretical results. We are more than willing to tell the world all manner of weal. It’s the woes we put the brakes to. Our tongues have not been silenced so much as harnessed, guided by the gentle hand of pluralistic positive pronouncements.

We seem to believe that we are exhibiting the love of Christ by quietly sitting near the bedside of our dying culture. It’s not fear, we tell ourselves, but compassion which stops us from pronouncing God’s Law and the consequences of breaking it. And besides, we reason, studies have shown that people don’t respond well to being called sinners. It turns them off and away, and then how will we be able to tell them the Good News? In the midst of our excuses, it’s clear that it is not so much our tongues that are the problem but the constant flow of rationalizations we tell ourselves in the quiet of our own minds.

How do you feel when you read letters to the editor in your local paper and find there some Christian rube, complete with gross grammatical errors, shouting that homosexuality is a disgusting abomination? Or how do you feel as you drive by your local abortuary and see brothers and sisters carrying signs saying “Dr. So and So Is A Murderer!” and “God Will Judge”? Do you wish they would stop? Do you throw up a prayer saying, “Lord, I thank you that I am not like those harsh, unsophisticated, fundamentalists” and continue on your merry way to your workout? Have you accepted the wisdom of the world which suggests that the only sin of the tongue is to use it to call sin sin?

The fleeing prophet Jonah has become our role model. God calls us to pronounce judgment on the wickedness of the nations – instead we run away. At least Jonah failed in his task because of his desire that God show forth His wrath. He feared the Ninevites might actually repent. Jonah believed they were too wicked for God’s grace. We, on the other hand, keep silent for two far worse reasons. First, we identify too much with the pagans to want to condemn them. We believe the Americans to be too good for God’s wrath. They’re our friends and neighbors, after all. We have to live with them, and wouldn’t want any ill will. Second, we don’t believe in God’s judgment. We have embraced the judgment-less god America loves. We speak no judgment because we hear no judgment. Oddly, we have become mute like the gods we fashion. We have ceased to be His sheep, becoming as the idolatrous calf of the Israelites, formed from the treasures of this world, and marked by a golden silence.

Our identity with the world is such that when a prophet of God does speak we find to our discomfort that he is speaking to us. We then become like the Pharisees who claimed to love God’s prophets by killing them as soon as possible. We no longer kill with stones, but with names which do harm, calling God’s prophets, “harsh,” “judgmental,” “unloving” until they, too, are battered into submission.

An unbridled tongue is a loose cannon. All tongues will be bridled by someone or something. The question is who, or what, holds the reins? A tongue guided and directed by the spirit of the age is ultimately under the control of the spirit of the Antichrist, the Father of lies. A tongue in the firm grasp of the true One Who Reigns will speak His truth. Truth is the arbiter of what we should speak and what we should not speak. We must give the truth to whom it is due. This means we must cease from uttering lies to our culture about their sin.

And we must cease from silent lies, the silence that speaks approval. And we must speak the truth in love. Love does not downplay the sinfulness of sin. Speaking the truth in love to the abortionist is not to say, “Well, God might be a little angry at your unwise use of the gifts He has given you.” A loving truth is the truth which calls a spade a spade, and murder murder, without delicate euphemisms. A loving truth-bearer is one who is willing to accept the pain of being called unloving so that the truth might be known.

May we become like Jonah became, and finally repent. May we speak first our sorrow for our silence, and then pick up the prophet’s mantle. May we thunder with the fearlessness of Elijah. May we confront with the straightforwardness of John the Baptist. May we speak His truth until our voices are drowned out by the trumpet announcing the return of Truth in power.  

** R.C. Sproul, Jr., is editor of Tabletalk, the daily Bible study of Ligonier Ministries and the author of Playing God, a book on bioethics. For more information about Ligonier, call 1-800-435-4343.