Quote:
Originally Posted by zeek
Here is a sample of the LCM teaching on politics and the church:
If God's children try to be officers at the gate of Sodom, they will find that before Lot had a chance to convert Sodom, Sodom had converted Lot! Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 1) Vol. 07: The Christian (5)
According to Nee the Bible teaches that it is wrong for a Christian to hold political office. So, professing Christians should not run for or hold public office or work for the government. The business of government should be left to unbelievers.
I worked for the State of Florida for 37 years. It never occurred to me that I was acting unchristian. How about that?
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So to return to the first Post, I would point out that Jesus prayed specifically that we would not be taken out of the world, but rather we would not be of the world.
This teaching by Nee clearly indicates that believers will be overcome by the world, even though the NT promises that the one in us is greater than the one in the world.
The idea that "politics" is somehow dirtier and therefore an unclean profession compared with journalism (look at this charge from Bezos that these rags are simply hit men for politicians) or businessmen (look at how the cigarette companies lied and sold addictive products for a profit, knowing that the cigarettes killed people) or even the church (look at the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic church) is absurd.
Instead I would argue that "we are not ignorant of Satan's devices". We should be aware of what we are getting into and the battles we will encounter. From my understanding the NT does not tell us to run from this battle, but rather advises us to be fully prepared, dressed, shod and armed for battle.
What is the "good news" if not that Jesus has come and lives in us and will rule and reign. Expressing that in your living on your job is the gospel.
2nd issue with Nee's teaching. Why would you base a teaching for Christians on Lot? Why not Abraham? When Lot was taken Abraham didn't say "I'm not of this world". No, he put together an army, chased them down and rescued Lot along with people from Sodom. He was then ministered to by Melchizedek. This certainly seems to be a much better story to base a NT teaching on than Lot's failure. No one has ever said that "Lot was a man of faith".