Can we separate the heart from the spirit and expect a human to live at all? Can we separate faith from politics and expect a nation to live a healthy existence?
Can we mix faith and politics then? Is there a realistic basis for the so-called separation of religion and government? If politics, ideally, is the pursuit of justice and emancipation of people from poverty, corruption and exploitation, then what is there left for religion to accomplish? If religion indeed concerns itself only with the ultimate destiny of humans in eternal terms and not the present issues of physical existence, then it is religion or faith that has missed its primary mission to serve as the channel for God’s love and grace.
“That you may have life and have it more abundantly” does not only refer to a future spiritual reality but a direct reference to the bounties of Paradise that once existed on this Earth and which we can have partial access to in the present. No, Christ did not come to re-establish Paradise on Earth but in the hearts of humans. For if people realize now that such a wonderful place does exist, then the burdens of this present corrupted world would seem like a passing inconvenience and they would have assurance of eternal redemption far beyond the pleasures of Eden.
Why did the early Christians sing and rejoice in the face of sure death amongst the lions in Rome? Why do they still carry that hope through the many heartbreaking struggles they go through in life in small and great ways in various cultural environments today? Whether we talk of believers in Costa Rica, South Africa, China, El Salvador or the Philippines, we refer to that common seed of spirituality that sprouted from the work that the Lord Jesus began through the Apostles and continues to bear fruit today in the lives of millions of believers.
What the so-called Christian Right in the US refer to as “confronting the culture” is nothing more than living one’s faith within the context of one’s unique social, cultural and political environment. A Chinese Christian must face the same temptations of the flesh as a Serbian believer or a Maori disciple. Issues of pride, greed, hatred, envy, lust and indifference beset both believer and non-believer anywhere in this world. The same motives that lead a president to receive big bribes work upon a lowly clerk who is offered a much smaller bribe. There is no political and religious delineation in giving in to one’s weaknesses. A sin has no political or religious color; it is all black to God. Failure to obey the Constitution is no different from failure to follow the accepted rules of society. The punishments may differ in degree and impact, but the root source and ultimate result remain the same: the passions of the human heart and spirit, that is, and how they affect our eternal condition before the God in Heaven.
If we surrender any government’s responsibility of being ultimately answerable to God, then it would be easy to put up walls of separation between it and God’s requirements in spiritual matters. Many, in fact, have used the doctrine of separation of church and state as an excuse for abusing political power. Furthermore, such a perceived separation has, in fact, resulted in establishing artificial legal constraints or social taboos against those who call themselves pastors or priests from going into politics. No, in reality, it is those pompous titles that some of God’s followers have unwisely chosen to embrace that have prevented them from entering freely into the arena where they may uphold the rights of the people. Isn’t the kingdom of God nothing but the rule or the governance of God over those who choose to trust in Him? His kingdom applies to living souls, in the body or outside of it.
Well, some may ask: Didn’t the Lord Jesus say that His kingdom is not of this world? Of course, that is because He ruled over angels as well but chose not to call them to save Himself from the cross. But did He not give the Apostles power to overcome evil spirits as well as to judge believers in the physical realm? Wasn’t that in itself ruling over the lives of believers as God’s ministers? Did not and does not Christian discipleship prepare believers to become diligent and law-abiding citizens of this world? A believer then who serves as a president or a mayor for God is no more special or different from one who serves as a waiter or a doctor for God. A person then, whether he works as a teacher of the Gospel full-time or one-day-in-a-week, has all the right and the freedom to desire a position in the political administration of a nation.
Was David a righteous person first before he became king of Israel or did he become a king whose righteousness blossomed because his position required it more of him as a leader of a nation? Or, perhaps, his being king was immaterial in relation to his being a “man after God’s own heart”? He was, in truth, a great sinner like most of us. And that is the big reason that not many look at him as a saint or a holy and faithful preacher of God’s righteousness. But show me a person who has written as many songs of poignant and deeply sincere praise and intercession to God and I will show you a person who is a better teacher and servant of God than David. Here was a man who knew God as much as he knew himself and other humans as if he had taken all the basic courses in Anthropology, Psychology, Musicology, Poetry, Military Science and Human Relations that all modern colleges could offer. (But some might argue that David had rebellious children. So does God!)
So, how did David do it? By the Spirit of God.
Under David’s rule, there was no separation of faith and governance. Of “church” and of “state”. There is one God and there is only one kingdom worth living in and working for. The Son of David came to establish that kingdom in the hearts of people by offering the Spirit of God as a gift to those who follow Him. David, as king, had the Spirit of God. Every believer may also receive the same gift of the indwelling Spirit.
Today, Christ desires that we all come under His authority for He has been given all authority on Earth and in Heaven. Politics, at best, is a very poor imitation of the spiritual and legal administration established by Moses over the Israelite nation which reached its military and political glory during the reign of David, bloody though it was. (Solomon’s reign was a peaceful hiatus which showcased the ceremonial or symbolic aspect of Judaism through the building of the temple; but David’s rule was the climax, Solomon’s the slow downfall into idolatry that would result in the nation’s division.) The only viable pattern that could usher in a return to moral, legal, political, social and spiritual rebirth of our country is one that follows the Israelites’ experience as God’s chosen people.
Today, Christians are a chosen nation and royal priesthood of God administering His spiritual laws, not just as they are applied in the family or the smallest village that exists, but also in the largest and most complex nation-states that rule today. The reason nations rattle the weapons of war or ravage other nations through war is because humans, like David perhaps, want to defend their beliefs or their way of life. The difficult task of uniting people and allowing them to live in peace, however, belongs to God alone. If He allows nations to go to war, it is because He wants to show us how much we must all work together -- under His power, not ours -- in order to attain what He desires for us. He cannot give us something we ourselves do not want so badly. He could not give Noah a new and cleansed world without destroying everything that stood in the way to that objective. If it takes wars to cleanse the world of so much hatred and so much cruelty, God must be willing to do it if we are as equally hard-hearted as the people of Noah’s time. War or civil war is the worst consequence in our failure to follow God’s leading through a peaceful spiritual revolution.
But we are dealing with something less traumatic: the coming presidential elections (although in the Philippines that may not necessarily be the case). Every big political event in our country is a big deal. As big as the next fiesta or social extravaganza the cities or the media can concoct. In many cases, we cannot separate elections, fiestas and extravaganzas from one another. They are all one and the same.
We all feel the need to have fun even in the serious task of governing a nation. A song or a dance is a necessary part of our rituals in nation-building. But then, we easily get caught in petty “cultural wars” that distract us from the greater tasks ahead. (Like getting constantly hyped over how the National Anthem is sung during Pacquiao’s bouts.) And yet, for many, this coming electoral exercise is a more complex one as it magnifies the religious conflicts among us which we have brought along into the political arena. As if politics were not confusing enough.
It is then in the light of clarifying the air that I have come out with this series of articles. The main objective is to allow every voter or even non-voter to get to know himself or herself, her country’s history and how we may compare to those countries which had similar struggles. We will always be a unique country with unique challenges; but, in the end, as humans we have a common calling and destiny with all other nations under God’s rule. To truly understand what we are and where we are, we can only see our lot through the perspective that God allows us to see through His written word, the Bible. After all, this holy book contains the history and the great lessons that many strong and stable nations applied to reach progress and stability. To miss that point and opportunity is to be blind to the teachings of our own National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, who used the Bible as the prime source for his noble writings. Hence, in his final novel, we see spiritual regeneration as his prescribed ultimate solution to our nation’s diverse political ills. Faith and governance brilliantly reconciled!
Who is equal to the task of applying such a vision in real terms today?
In concluding this series in the next part, we will expound upon how we can attain the objectives of God for our nation in more practical and specific terms through an active participation in the political contest in May.
(Photo above: A child is not afraid to swim in the dark so long as it can feel the presence of its father looking over it. Why then are so many of us so afraid of the gathering darkness over our country?)
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