How Can I Love Church Members with Different Politics? (Church Questions)

Life changing may seem to be hyperbole for a booklet but truly this is life changing.In fact, If I was made the new Constantine, I would make this required reading for all believers. This booklet is invaluable as it seeks to help believers maintain and pursue the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The author(s) uses the helpful categories of "straight line issues" and "jagged-line" issues to distinguish between those things which are "whole-church" issues (gospel issues) and issues of christian freedom.Of course, this booklet does not answer every question but the principles that are articulated here can be of great use to the church today. I highly recommend this book.

I read this booklet in just a couple hours. It’s straightforward and biblical. I’m excited to read more from these authors.

I enjoyed this book as a way to organize thoughts about the importance politics should have in our lives as Christians. It was helpful to see why some people are so passionate about their way of achieving the same goals that can be found across the political spectrum. It is clear that many Christians have the same values but see different ways of achieving the goals and there is more commonality as well as diversity of thought (which is a good thing) than I previously realized.Only problem I had is that the authors are espousing being more tolerant of diversity in political thinking but they take a shameless dig at Joe Biden on the abortion issue which I actually found slightly inappropriate for a book written to bring unity. There were no such call outs for Pres Trump. Seems unnecessary and contradictory as much as I agree that abortion is wrong. It seems like the authors allow for various thoughts on everything except the one issue they care about most. I just found that unnecessary because it might alienate Christian Biden supporters unnecessarily and then turn them off to the entire book which has a very important message for all of us.

Concise and to the point. Very good, and should be read widely.

Very thankful for this. Very thoughtful and helpful in how to live at peace when we see lines differently! Thank you!

There is nothing the enemy loves more than creating divisions in the church, and the topic of politics is the perfect foothold for the enemy to begin his work. Leeman and Naselli do a commendable job of providing readers with a framework for navigating political tensions in such a way that unity and peace can be maintained even amid disagreements in the context of a local church. I commend this booklet to any church member, pastor, or ministry leader committed to maintaining unity in the church, especially in these politically divisive times we live in.

Jonathan Leeman is one of the leading SBC pastors telling people that you can be supportive of the Democratic Party and that this should not be considered a problem for Christians. Christians with common sense and basic moral reasoning abilities understand that this is unacceptable.Here are my specific concerns with this booklet. While there are true things in the book, I found the following ideas troubling:1. The authors consider the following three political issues to be Christian-freedom issues:-Universal health care as a “human right.”-A “progressive income tax.”-Christians voting for pro-abortion candidates supposedly concerned about “whole-life considerations.” (This phrase refers to the idea that the Democratic Party’s other policies are of such a high importance that a Christian could be justified in voting for a Democrat who is pro-abortion.) Their rationale is that (in their view) we cannot be sure what God thinks about each of these topics. 2. The authors claim that the vast majority of political judgments are disputable matters for the Christian, thus being “Christian-freedom issues” and not being the kind of issue about which to divide fellowship or exercise church discipline. Within the context of American politics in 2020, the "political judgments" in question would be the official political platforms of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The authors believe the majority of political issues (moral principles over which the two major parties are disagreeing) are in fact Christian-freedom issues (a.k.a disputable matters). 3. The authors claim that our churches are meant to be "communities of political rivals working together,” and that outsiders should look at a church and be amazed that there are church members who are committed Republicans and Democrats and who are getting along and considering one another to be obedient Christians. The authors make little attempt to offer principles for understanding which kinds of political issues are worth dividing over.They seem to be clear enough that a church member should not be allowed to support abortion, but they make clear their conviction that for nearly every other political issue we do not--and cannot--know God's view, therefore it would be morally wrong to judge someone for having a differing view.While the authors seem to be promoting grace and unity, in fact their approach results in churches having no unity around moral principles affecting society. They silence God. And they silence any who would claim that the Bible does give clear, rational principles sufficient for establishing the purpose and limits of a government.Their outlook results in a false moral judgment against any person who wants to claim that Scripture does have clear and inescapable points of application for modern political questions beyond the obvious ideas that "murder is wrong," or "a fetus is a person."If taken seriously, this book will destroy the Christian witness and reduce churches to the sub-Christian.