8. The Christian Ghetto: Why It's Important for Christians to Be Political

I got together with C. Jay Engel and Ron Dodson to discuss Christian participation in the political realm. Many these days are very conflicted, and even opposed to the idea that Christians should desire to wield political power. They cringe at the idea that someone might try to impose the Christian faith by force. There are a lot of misunderstandings which surround this and we thought it a good time to talk through some of the issues and help Christians come to a healthy, theologically and philosophically sound understanding of the relationship between the Christian, the church and the political. Hopefully they will come to see that the political and the role of the magistrate are a form of God’s grace for us in a sinful world. After closing off this discussion, the three of us quickly realized there were a number of related and important topics we never even touched. There is room for the discussion to continue at future date.