Culture & Politics 

This section of my site holds a collection of my perspective on Culture & Politics. To see the detail listing, use the pull-down navigation bar in the upper left-hand corner of this page.  Then click on any item to open up that web page.


A friend posted a 6-minute video clip on his Facebook page and added an annotation asking me to respond.

As it turns out, I've been thinking about the sorts of things in his video clip for quite a while. But when I looked at the Facebook “Comment” box in his post I didn't think I could write anything worthwhile in such a tiny space. And I knew that I’d like to offer several URLs to some resources I've been mulling over, and these don't go into Facebook comment boxes, either. For a few hours, I just let it “cook.” Then I hit on a solution. I have a website, and I can post a robust response on my website and then put a link in Facebook's comment box, along with 2-3 sentences.

But where would I house the post on my site? It didn't fit any of the existing categories. Initially, I named it IMHO (In My Humble Opinion); eventually, I changed it to Culture & Politics.  

I like the term "Culture" because I think our Trinitarian God is all about building culture. It's clear from the first page of the Bible to the last. I think everywhere God sees someone or a family investing in building the surrounding culture, whether it's coaching kid sports, volunteering in the local schools, investing in the neighborhood, serving in the church, or so many other things, God looks down and says, "Way to go. I like that. Keep it up." I mean that regardless of whether or not the person is a Christian or spiritual in some other way or not at all.

And I like the term "Politics" because the Christian life is just plain political. God is building a Kingdom and his followers are its citizens. At the same time, we live at postal addresses in a kingdom of this world. Politics is just a label for the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations between individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. I do not believe God assigns his people to take over the government but to be involved in it, all the while respecting the self-sovereignty that God allows all humans. It is for the sovereign God to decide when to return and bring justice. Christ is sovereign in the Church now, and sometime will be sovereign over all nations everywhere. Our job is to remain faithful until then - and NOT usurp his power in an attempt to force his timing. Religous leaders wanted Jesus to do that in the first century and he went to the cross instead. I am confident that we are to honor Jesus by following his lead.  

So, that's the reason for the name of this section. 

Now and then when I have something to communicate that doesn't fit in any of the other categories on my site I'll post it in IMHO. 

All the best,

Tim Isbell

To consider or to subscribe to the email or RSS feeds from this site just click on IsbellOnline News.