Although some Christians might be republicans.

When I was growing up, I used to think that if you were a Christian, you had to vote conservative. It wasn’t so much required, as it was that the Conservative party (Basically Canadian GOP) was the Christian party. Not sure how that happened. 

I don’t think my parents taught me that. It’s just I didn’t know anyone that didn’t vote conservative. So if everyone in my church was Conservative, then it had to be people outside of the church that were… NDP. Gasp!!

Imagine my surprise when I discovered I had a Christian friend who was not republican. This American evangelical pastor friend was solidly…. wait for it….. Democrat. Can you say theological/political crisis?

Thankfully, instead of ending the friendship, I started to think. A response which incidentally seems quite rare today. Here are some things I ended up feeling.

1.) Political party and Christian faith are not the same. Sorry! (Had to say that because I’m Canadian, the sorry part) 

2.) God isn’t a Republican or a conservative or a democrat or NDP. Jesus interestingly enough mentioned in passing while his opponents were arresting him that his kingdom wasn’t political. If it were, his followers would have staged a political coup. There might be a lesson there. Just saying!

3.) Jesus modelled bipartisan relationships. Sorry for the political terminology. Jesus had twelve disciples. We know the few famous ones…. like Peter, James and John. Three self-employed businessmen. But do you remember Matthew? Yep the same one who got his name attached to a book in the bible. His occupation is listed as a tax collector or civil servant, or government employee. Then there is another obscure member of the group named Simon. Not Simon Peter but Simon the Zealot. Apparently, this guy was a bit of an anti-establishment sort. Imagine the political differences between him and Matthew. Yet, they both followed Jesus.

So my conclusion is this. Keep divisive politics out of the church! There is no political path to the kingdom of God. Jesus was not a politician, so don’t make him one. Sorry!