Sunday, January 29, 2017

Simple Test for Determining if a Government Policy is Christian or Not




American politics and policies are undergoing dramatic changes. There is righteousness and fury on both sides. There are also Christians on both sides. It can be hard to figure out whether a policy follows the way of Jesus.

While most laws and federal policies are complex and operate on multiple levels, the basic premises are critical. If that premise of the government policy is anti-Christian, then it is unlikely that the details will override that basic premise.

Jesus laid out a simple test for individual actions in the parable of "the Sheep and the Goats" from Matthew 25:31-46. That test can easily be applied to whether a person should support an action of the government or political leader.

The parable is below in italics. The test is in bold. The text is from the New International Version, but the general meaning is consistent through every Biblical translation I've seen.

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”


While not every government policy can be held up to this test, many of them can. A policy is not Christian if it does not :
  • provide for people's basic needs to sustain life
  • welcome strangers
  • clothe the poor
  • care for the sick
  • care for those imprisoned
You may be attached to a policy or policies that either doesn't support these tenets or actual runs contrary to them. They could appeal to your basic political ideology, your sense of security, or economic aspirations; but it's clear that policies that do not support these tenets run contrary to the teaching of Jesus.

You're going to have to choose which path to follow.



p.s. I delved into this topic in much more depth in a post from 2013, "The Bibles's Blueprint for Decisions in a Democracy."That post tracks a similar line of thinking in Psalm 72.