Topic: Christainity and Secular Politics: The Machiavellian Theory p2 (Read 92 times)

The foundational point of Christianity is NOT to stop being immoral or doing evil. This is a secondary point. But it is not the foundational point of Christianity. Why not? Because no obedience produces perfection, or stops all evil.

The thing that stops all evil is the sacrifice that Jesus did on the cross, and the strength He had to arise from death three days later. This work of Jesus stops evil when a person believes it, and believes in Jesus to raise him from death, pure in the sight of God.

Look at the example in Matthew 25:31-46. Jesus speaking:
When you look at people in life, often sheep and goats look similar. Sometimes some of the goats are much better people than many of the sheep. So, why is it that these good goats would be condeemned, while some of the bad sheep are not condemned? One major reason.

St. Paul says the reason very simply, this way, in Romans 14:23b:
In other words, the sheep who lives an evil life, but does only one good thing in life, gains salvation because he believed in Jesus's forgiveness that Jesus offers to all people. And the goat who does everything good in life except for one bad thing, loses salvation because he doesn't have faith in Jesus to forgive him... as St. Paul said.

Preach and do good. But the only good that is good enough is to believe in Jesus. In your faith in Jesus, attempt to NOT do evil, because for you, your evil gradually destroys your faith in Jesus. If you lose your faith entirely, your punishment will be great for being a bad example, thereby causing others to sin and lose their faith.

Christainity according to the teachings of Christ comes with an upright behavioural system they call righteousness and holiness.

The bible also instructed Christain to avoid some un-christ like behaviors , so the Christain religion stands on moral grounds of ethics and right .

Christainity is all about moral consciousness or conscience, it cannot be separated. The bible also instructed Christains to avoid worldly or immorality.

What are immoralities in this regard, they are evils done against man and the society. Politics is built on greed, desperation, criminality, murder and plotting or conspiracy, aimed at achieving an aim in society.

So you see why the question is right for Christains to separate the church from politics. Pastor Abel Damina thinks he should not politicize his alter because, his congregation is made up of different party members and people without interest in politics.

That's true, we need to make a clear difference between politics, human believes, philosophy of science and religion balance, this life is made of many kind of people with different ways of how they may reason in doing things, not to even talk about when the political, religion and cultural beliefs is being introduced to them, however, we must have the ability and responsibility of making the balance for them all without having one affecting the other.

The crux of Christianity isn't the morality of the people or the religion. The crux is what Jesus, the Christ, did for people by taking the punishment for their sins.

Without the focus on Jesus and His sacrifice, Christianity would be nothing. As it is, it seems to be a game that religious leaders use to play with the minds of people.

Real Christianity is the focus in the heart of each Christian individually. The focus is on the relationship that Jesus has with each person in forgiving them of their sins. Forget all the religious games, and focus on Jesus.

People often navigate politics based on personal philosophies, sometimes diverging from religious doctrines. Scholars may lean towards scientific principles, highlighting the distinction between political ideologies and religious beliefs and thats normal

There's a way you can go in politics and people will not believe about religion than what the philosophy of life gave in them to work on, on a normal day, the philosophy of life does not go along with the doctrine of religion, that is why you could discover that so many scholars in life do not believe in religion but instead, they stand by what they were being told from the law of science, same you cannot compare politics with Christianity or any other forms of religion.

Machiavelli like other scholars was a radical scholar that hated the conduct of the church due to its weak role in uniting Italy.

The Italian political system had an invasion of new economic order of industrialization and it's imperial powers, the constructive forces of unity were over powered for new economic forces to strive.

The economic powers decentralized the concentrated Italian monarchical authority that needed a centralized system of unity, as at the time of Machiavelli, the Italian State was divided into five large states of Milan, Naples, Venice, republic of Florence and the Papal city state at the center which symbolically was the city of power presided by the Pope.

Though the church was able to perfect a consolidated political system but, the church was more concerned about the worldly and materialistic interest of retaining the political authority of the central Italy.

The Machiavellian interest on the separation of the secular politics from morality or the church was first considered for the preservation of the sanity of the state must be without any sentiment of good or bad.

Though Machiavelli hated the Catholic Papacy as the brain behind the disunity of the Italian State, this according to Machiavelli was as a result of the materialistic and political pursuit of the Papacy.

What was preferred is the political utility of the Church in a Secular state. In a similar view, the spiritual authority of the church should be independent while using the state power for administration and adjudication of justice.

Scholarstic view on the nature of the state described the state as a political entity with no norality in politics.

The state has no relationship with the church and it should be morally isolated from any other obligation outside the religious obligation of maintaining and producing virtuously upright citizens for the state.

As it has been made clear by Machiavelli who saw the morality question in Secular politics as fowl and fowl as morally fair.

Then the questions the church of Christ need to answer from the above views of Machiavelli is whether, the church should be involved with the unfair plays of the state politics, to divide the church, to gain materialistic patronage.

Although individual conduct in social, religious and political setting are geared toward creating means of materialistic achievements, the church must not be part of this crave as an instrument of divine institution with all embodiments of holiness.

The conflicting prophecies that are somehow at variance with the majority expectations of the church, have continued to be means of division within the Christian faith.