Politics vs. Gospel

Dear X,

You said in your last letter that you were most socially active in terms of things like the war, racial problems, and other issues that can be affected by taking political action.

I am sure you realize that John Wesley declared that it is no Gospel if it is not at the same time a social Gospel. “First as a great evangelist and then as a zealous reformer, Wesley grappled with such great social issues as ignorance, education, money, war, poverty, liquor, and slavery. These problems he tackled with holy zeal.”

J.W. Bready, a Christian historian, said, “If Wesley and Whitefield spent their careers as social reformers, they would have lived disillusioned and died heart-broken men. From their efforts, however, emerged the most profound political and social achievements, thus illustrating history’s central truth that the changing of the hearts of men is ever the surest road toward lifting the level of human society.”

I would agree with you in most cases about the great social need in our society. But I don’t think we should go at it backwards.

In Christ,

Jim Wilson

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