Wayne A. Grudem - Politics - According to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture

Part 1
BASIC PRINCIPLES

Part 2
SPECIFIC ISSUES

Part 3
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

C. THE DETAILS OF REVIVAL: WHAT MIGHT IT LOOK LIKE IF GOD BROUGHT ABOUT A REVIVAL OF THE CHURCH AND
A TRANSFORMATION OF THE NATION FOR GOOD?

I have not written this book from the perspective of a lawyer or journalist or professional politician, but from the perspective of a professor with a Ph.D. in New Testament studies and twenty-eight years of experience in teaching the Bible at the M.Div. and Ph.D. level. I wrote this book because I was convinced that God intended the Bible to give guidance to every area of lifeincluding how governments should function!

I support political positions in this book that would be called more conservative than liberal. That is because of my conclusions about the Bibles teaching on the role of government and a biblical worldview (see chaps. 3 and 4). It is important to understand that I see these positions as flowing out of the Bibles teachings rather than positions that I hold prior to, or independently of, those biblical teachings. And I do not hesitate to criticize Republican policies where I differ with them (for instance, in the endorsement of runaway government spending and the continual expansion of the federal government even under conservative Republican presidents). My primary purpose in the book is not to be liberal or conservative, or Democratic or Republican, but to explain a biblical worldview and a biblical perspective on issues of politics, law, and government.

I also want to say something at the outset about Barack Obama, who is the President of the United States as I am writing this book. Because of the conservative political conclusions in this book, at several points I end up criticizing some policies of President Obama and the current Democratic leadership in the US Congress. Although I disagree with many of the Presidents policies, I also find him to be articulate, poised, highly intelligent, and a remarkably effective speaker. And I think it was a wonderful thing for the United States that an African-American man was elected as President. I rejoice that our nation has been able to overcome its previous history of racial discrimination to such a degree that we could elect our first black President. This has been a significant milestone in American history, and for this, even those of us who did not vote for him can and should be thankful.

But I also want to point out that not all black Americans hold the liberal political views of President Obama. Politically conservative black leaders who have risen to high government positions include Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin Powell (a Republican though he endorsed Barack Obama), former Secretary of Education Roderick Paige, Chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele (the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland), former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and former member of Congress and chair of the House Republican Conference J. C. Watts Jr. And one of the most influential conservative economists in the United States is Thomas Sowell. These leaders and many others remind us that black Americans can strongly advocate conservative political positions as well as liberal ones. So one of my hopes for this book is that many black Christians who accept the Bible as the Word of God and supported President Obama in 2008 will consider my arguments from the Bible and perhaps decide that they, too, will support the conservative positions that I argue for in these pages.

I wish to thank a number of friends who helped me with this book, especially Craig Osten, vice president of research at Alliance Defense Fund, whose remarkable research skills in fact-checking and documentation provided me with exactly the information I needed again and again. Craigs input has improved the content of nearly every chapter of the book, and I dont think I could have written this book without his excellent help. David Payne, economist at the US Department of Commerce, provided valuable information and several helpful corrections to chapter 9 on economic policies. Cal Beisner, national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation and (in my estimation) the worlds leading expert on a Christian perspective on uses of the environment, provided valuable information and corrections for chapter 10 on the environment and, at my request, also wrote the first draft of the entire section on global warming, which I then revised and incorporated into this manuscript. Daniel Heimbach, ethics professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower, provided valuable comments for the material on national defense and just war in chapter 11. (Dr. Heimbach brings real-life experience to this topic, because while working as a staff member in the White House, he drafted the just war framework that President George H. W. Bush used in leading coalition forces against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War in 1991.)

Joe Infranco, Jordan Lorence, and Jeff Ventrella of the Alliance Defense Fund gave me helpful advice on specific topics in the book, and Jeff also invited me to present parts of it for some Alliance Defense Fund litigation seminars. Madison Trammel also provided several helpful suggestions about the manuscript. Greg Forster read the manuscript and gave me several helpful suggestions from his far greater expertise in matters of governmental theory and history of ideas. John Hayward called my attention to several British books on these topics. My friend Barry Asmus gave me helpful counsel in the economics section, and Craig Shultz helped me to understand another perspective in my section on tort reform. In addition, my adult Bible class at Scottsdale Bible Church has been a great encouragement and corrected several mistakes as I taught through this material in the class over several months. The students in my class Biblical Theology of Law, Politics, and Government at Phoenix Seminary also provided helpful feedback.

Sharon Hoshiwara quickly and accurately typed most of the book, often on short deadlines. Anne Boyd then carefully typed some of the final sections. Dan Julian helped me with computer setup and troubleshooting and with additional research, and Joshua D. Brooks also helped me with research. Sarah McCurley compiled a detailed table of contents and provided secretarial help in other ways at various times. Sean Reynolds and Joshua D. Brooks carefully compiled the indexes for the book. Joshua and Alyssa Brooks both helped with proofreading.

I am also grateful to President Darryl DelHousaye and the members of the board at Phoenix Seminary, who have graciously allowed me to teach on a half-time basis, which enabled me to complete this book rather quickly. The partners of Marketplace One in Phoenix provided significant support that has increased my writing productivity in many ways.