tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post5415261268823260024..comments2023-12-27T11:23:38.346-05:00Comments on Vanguard Church - Bob Robinson: Why Evangelicals Have Trouble Moving from Protective to Transformative Social EthicsBob Robinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08576734261775426385noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post-88166857348777747262006-11-08T06:22:00.000-05:002006-11-08T06:22:00.000-05:00Great post, Bob. And great comment from dlw.
I w...Great post, Bob. And great comment from dlw. <br /><br />I was thinking that many evangelicals abandoned this belief of their's (certainly not all) when they voted for Gerald Ford (I think, attended church, but not an evangelical) over fellow evangelical Jimmy Carter- in 1976. I know of one godly man, a pastor, who did it because Ford as a Republican would be more likely to put forward Supreme Court nominees who would vote to overturn Roe v Wade. And I joined him in so voting, at the time.<br /><br />But I don't agree with our good brother James Dobson, that it is our duty to vote for an evangelical Christian running in a race. Surely thinking through everything, is much more messier than that. I don't buy the idea that nonChristians can do no good in the world. If that's the case, than I guess the passages on Cyrus in the OT need to be cut out of our Bibles.<br /><br />Thanks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post-7653054632709237342006-11-07T20:22:00.000-05:002006-11-07T20:22:00.000-05:00upon further reflection, it seems that this really...upon further reflection, it seems that this really is a helpful frame to understand the history of evangelical political activism.<br /><br />My additional spin would be that we are political no matter what(even not voting is a political statement) and, inasmuch as how we act politically affects our ability to form relations with others; relationships where we can share about our faith, we need to deliberate on how we can integrate how we act politically within our missional witness to the world.<br /><br />From a missional standpoint, I don't think one can simply focus on individual souls. How we act as groups also plays an important role, as did the way the Swedish Baptists initially fostered democracy in church, state and industry through their strong association with the Swedish Unionist movement. It was only later when they discontinued this association that it went on to become the Social Democrats that came into power and became a powerful force for secularization in Sweden. <br /><br />The personalization of the faith in much of Protestant Europe, moreso the non-Calvinist parts, is accountable as due to the attacks of the Enlightenment on Christianity, but they have definitely hurt its witness before the world. <br /><br />dlwDLWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17709279441985086959noreply@blogger.com