Why Evangelism is Better than a Bailout

I suppose it is fairly worth stating that Mr. Obama’s presidency to this point has been very controversial. But then again, I suppose the nature of the times and of the economy has played a large part in causing that controversy. Since Mr. Obama took office on January, we’ve seen cap and trade bills, bailouts, attempts at health care reform, car czars, and a whole bunch of other things the executive branch is trying to turn into legislation. The one thing in common here is that the Obama administration, along with every other presidential administration in history, has as its purpose the correcting and improving of the status quo. I suppose at the end of the day, that’s the point of politics anyways: to make things better than they were before you entered office.

While politics is a noble and necessary institution, I sometimes think that we as Americans have put too much hope and trust in our leaders and politicians to fix things and give us a better way of life. Obviously, the Obama-mania and cult like status the president has received in the past months is a sign of this, but conservatives have their fair share of all of this as well. They shout, “Now that Obama is in office, things will change!” or “If Republicans could only regain control of Congress, then America will be saved!” I think both of these statements are grossly misguided (not because politicians can’t change things, but because they simply can’t change things enough). Let me try to explain.

The root of the healthcare problem is not that we have a broken system or that we need an overhaul. To a certain extent, all systems are broken (while I suppose that some are less broken than others). The problem with healthcare is that those who run it and those who participate in it are under a curse. You might say, “that sounds ridiculous! Healthcare is messed up because of some hocus-pocus!” No, I don’t mean that kind of curse…what I mean is the curse of sin. The Bible teaches that all people on Earth are fundamentally and ethically separated from God because we are sinful, corrupt, and do not seek after the things of God. Working under those presumptions, we can see that the problem with healthcare is that people approach it as sinful people looking to serve themselves and their own lusts rather than the good of others. HMOs look to only increase profits at the expense o f the little man while participants only look for the cheapest way to get compensation. And the same is true of the bailout situation and the economic crisis. People who sought greed drove the American economy into the ground. For those who don’t remember, the Bible does say that money is the root of all evil.

And so it is with any political issue problem. What we need is not a welfare state: what we need is for people to encounter the life-changing power of Jesus and center their lives around serving others and God and ethical practices. What we need is not for Ron Paul and Austrian economics to win the day: what we need is the American population to come to Christ in mass droves. We don’t need America to reencounter its “Christian heritage” and return to honoring God in some vague sense: we need America’s heart to be broken over sin and for us to find forgiveness and healing in the person of Jesus Christ. We don’t need a bigger defense budget: we need spiritual defense from the powers of darkness. We don’t need climate change, Kyoto, or Copenhagen: we need people to understand the true value of God’s creation and work to conserve it. We don’t need grassroots political activism: we need personal evangelism. We don’t need a Moral Majority: what we need most of all is Jesus.

So my challenge to you is this. Show me a problem that America has, and I will show you that at its roots is not the NRA or the ACLU, but sinners doing sinful things. Show me any problem that this country faces, and I will show you that the root of that problem is you and me. Sin and separation from God is the fundamental problem with America, not Sarah Palin or Obama and their respected political ideologies. America and the rest of the world need one thing only: the personal and cosmic reign of Jesus Christ. Only He is big enough to solve all the world’s problems. We would do well to remember that.

Disclaimer. This post does not intend to undermine the value of political action and participation. Political action is highly valuable, but it lacks power outside of the transforming work of Jesus Christ. For the theologians out there, this blog does not intend to promote either Dominionism or a postmillennial or amillennial eschatological scheme. The author would rather like to note that his American citizenship is less important than his citizenship in the Kingdom of God. He would also like to note that while America needs Jesus most of all, America is not all-important and the completion of the Kingdom does not appear to be complete until Christ comes again.