THIS being the season of Lent, and with the national and local elections less than 30 days away, permit me to talk about God and politics.
Some believe that religion and politics don’t mix; ergo, neither do God and politics.
And this probably arose from the belief of many that politics is dirty.
But I beg to differ.
The word “politics” traces its roots to the Greek word “polites,” meaning “citizens,” and “pols,” meaning “cities.” Literally, it means a city of people or people comprising a city.
In today’s usage, politics is the art and science of governance, defining the relationship between the government and the governed, the ruler and the ruled. And a politician is no more than a person engaged in the art and science of governance.
For what purpose? To put order in society. How? Through the enactment of laws and systems, the establishment of institutions of governance.
Is politics dirty per se? It is not.
Some politicians may be dirty, or may play dirty in politics, but not politics per se.
If you accept that politics is dirty because politicians are dirty, then one can say the same thing for every field of endeavor or profession—medicine, teaching, law, accounting, whatever it is.
There are practitioners in those fields who play dirty, just like some politicians do in politics.
God no less is the greatest—the original—politician, practitioner of politics being “the God of Order,” as described in Corinthians.
It is God who put order on Earth and in the Universe. Remember that “in the beginning, the Earth was void and without form, it was unorganized, in a state of disarray—until God’s Spirit put shape and order unto it and prepared it for humankind. That is why humans were created last, after there was already order on Earth and the heavens (meaning the Universe).
To put order, God instituted a system of laws and a system of governance.
First, the Laws of Nature, which put order on the relationship of everything on Earth in the Universe; for example, the law of gravity, the law of centrifugal force and centripetal force.
Second, the Laws of Man, which put order on the behavior of and relationship among humans. For example, the Ten Commandments and all other laws written in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, among other books of the Bible.
That is politics and that is governance.
This also explains, in part, why the early form of government was monarchical, under which kings supposedly derived powers from God; they governed by divine right.
And the Bible is not wanting in, for instance, advice on how people are supposed to choose the leaders that will govern them.
In Deuteronomy 17, for example, God commanded the Israelites:
“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”’ be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, ‘You are not to go back that way again.’ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.”
While this was clearly a command to the Israelites, one may argue that it has value today—for example, that we are to be governed by our own people and not by foreigners, that our leaders must not acquire excessive wealth while in power (that would be corruption).
If we were to take the Bible seriously, God’s government (His politics) is the ultimate government to be established on Earth.
Jesus Christ was sent on Earth to establish a religion or church (in the way church is perceived today). He came to Earth—and He will return—to establish God’s Government (His Kingdom) on Earth—not in Heaven.
Isaiah 9:6 tells us: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the Government will be upon His shoulders.”
In His ministry, Christ taught of the kind of leadership that those aspiring for power must practice. It’s called servant leadership—definitely not the kind of leadership that we see in the people we elect to public office.
I guess we might have to wait for the Second Coming before we see real change.
