Confessions of a Seminarian

Citizen Commentary

A fraternity brother of mine made a great comment in response to OFB’s republished article I did on Politics and Theology.  It was both insightful and helpful in clarifying my intent, so I want to post that short conversation here.  Thanks for the challenge, Chris!  These are the kinds of conversations I live for…

Chris:

You had to know I was going to post on this

“Both liberals and conservatives have forgotten that it is not primarily the government that should care for widows and orphans, but the church (James 1:27, and over 40 other verses).”

Expand on this.

Why is this the case? Do these verses make it so? Why shouldn’t society (and by that I mean all of society, not just Christians) be held accountable for the plight of its poor and oppressed? Call me a socialist (because I might be ), but the church is incapable of caring for all widows, ophans, homeless, starving, etc. Regardless of whose job the Bible says it should be, it is our responsibility (as a society/government) to do so. I find it hard to believe that you believe that the government (being able to) should not step in and care for the oppressed/unfortunate. I understand the importance of adherence to scripture by Christians, but a call to inaction by scripture? Really? Should compassion be completely ignored because it is separate from the church? Thoughts?

My response: Read more »