The Ten Commandments?
Posted by RazorsKissMay 26
Very strawman(nish) – but this is the reason I no longer post on politics.
The unfortunate merge of Christianity with politics, instead of the other way around, comes out looking like this. I don’t like it – so check it out.
The Ten Commandments
of Evangelical Co-Belligerence
by Steve Camp
- Thou shalt keep all family values/moral causes continually before you
- Thou shalt not let the Word of God, doctrine, theology, truth, or
the gospel of Jesus Christ keep you from “standing together” with
anyone to reach our goal of impacting our culture by returning it back
to moral traditional family values through legislation, judicial
process, and co-belligerent partnerships- Thou shalt remember the Sabbath Day and keep it political; rename
it by changing it from the Lord’s Day to “Justice Sunday” (substitute
worship services with political rallies and make sure you feature
non-Christians for a wide tolerant religious ideological appeal)- Thou shalt not take the name of family value/moral causes in vain;
but use every social cultural political co-belligerent means necessary
to strong arm politicians to win the day- Thou shalt honor thy senator and thy congressman as long as they
stand for what we tell them to stand for (this is the first commandment
with a vote)- Thou shalt boycott, protest and petition against all who act
immorally and who try to filibuster judicial Presidential appointees- Thou shalt fault, criticize and belittle unsaved people for living
like unsaved people given every opportunity possible. It’s OK for them
to remain unsaved people, but they just can’t live like they’re too
unsaved. (They can be unsaved, but just can’t be gay; they can be
unsaved, but just can’t be pro-choice; they can be unsaved, but just
can’t believe in euthanasia; they can even remain unsaved, but must be
for a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage)- Thou shalt faithfully turn the body of Christ into The Pope’s
Political Action Committee (TPPAC): The Lord’s Lobbyists; Value Voters,
Patriot Pastors; the Largest Special Interest Group in America; and
most importantly, Christocrats.- Thou shalt not do anything to shrink the mailing list of any
Para-church ministry for three things are always necessary for success:
donations, donations, donations.- Thou shalt always remember to keep your primary focus on the family and not on the faith
(HT: Reasons Why, originally from Audience One)
7 comments
Comment by Steve Bragg on May 26, 2005 at 8:54 pm
RK,
Thanks for this. While my own blog hasn’t abandoned speaking about politics, my blogpartner and I hasve, through prayer, dedicated ourselves to bringing the light of Christ to any situation we do write about.
It is just as idolatrous, in my view, to let politics be the measure of all things as it is to remove Christ from Christianity for the sake of politics.
And what’s up with your comment editor? The text is all black…
Comment by brian on May 26, 2005 at 9:18 pm
I agree that Steve goes overboard on some of the points that he’s trying to make. He could have backed off a little and they would have rung a little more trye.
That said, I do think some of his points hit home – like #s5, 7, and 8.
(ditto on the black text – what’s up with that?)
Comment by RazorsKiss on May 26, 2005 at 11:43 pm
Eh, issue with template transfer between 1.2 and 1.5.
Fixed now. Thanks for letting me know!
Comment by Catez on May 29, 2005 at 7:56 pm
Heh. It is very strawmanish – but there are some points in there. It does sound a lot like some Emergent stuff I’ve read in places – if you’ve read their new creed at Sojourners you may see some similarity. Not exactly the same but it reminds me of those views in some ways.
I agree with not lining up Christianity to suit a political line. Should really be the other way around – easier said than done.
Comment by Catez on May 29, 2005 at 11:51 pm
Thought I’d beteer add some notes to my brief comment. I’m not saying Steve Camp is Emergent. Just was reminded a bit. No.6 for example.
Comment by Chris T, A1M on June 15, 2005 at 12:01 pm
I believe the author of this blog has mistaken the context of Steve Camps ten commandments. This “ten commandments” is actually a “funny” (though addressed seriously on record) on main sign posts of co belligerent activity by one of Christendoms biggest opponents of so called Christian political activism. If you have an interest in further reading on both the emergent church (Steve confronts Brian Mc Laren) and Evangelical co-belligerence, a vast library of articles is avail free of charge @a1m.org. Enjoy and continue the Berean mindset!
Comment by RazorsKiss on June 15, 2005 at 8:01 pm
I know what it’s intended to do.
I happen to agree that those are the biggest problems with Evangelical political activism – and, if you notice, I stated that it was very “strawmannish” – ie: like a strawman.
I don’t take them seriously – but I do agree with the underlying seriousness below the joking – that Evangelicals often set politics above their Lord.
Which is why I don’t post on politics on this blog. I have to deal with vastly more political flak, historically, if I do – and I’d rather stick to what this blog is about. Apologetics.