Dr. Bruce Ashford recently chatted with Steve Noble about his new book One Nation Under God: A Christian Hope for American Politics. You can listen to their conversation at Called2Action Radio or in the player below.
Here are some highlights:
On Christ’s impact on our lives
“God’s salvation affects everything we do in life. The Bible locates religion in the heart, and because it’s heartfelt, it radiates outward into everything we do. It ought to, at least.”
On God’s care for the physical world
“When Jesus comes back, he’s not just going to save our souls so that our souls are floating around in some ethereal neverland, in a Peter Pan-land. He’s going to give us our bodies back. We’re going to have a new heaven and earth that’s going to have it’s own politic, different from ours. But it’s going to be full of art, architecture, song, and interaction of people. So God cares about the physical and material aspects of our lives.”
God cares about the physical and material aspects of our lives.
On Jesus’ lordship
“Is Jesus Lord, or is he not? And if he’s Lord, what is it that you would cordon off and say that’s not under his Lordship?”
On the gospel
“Our salvation sends us back to earth in an entirely new manner. It doesn’t help us escape from earth. In fact, heaven is not our home…. Right now, heaven is like a holding tank for people who are believers. But our home is a new heavens and earth.”
Our salvation sends us back to earth in an entirely new manner.
On whether Jesus was political
“Jesus was deeply and profoundly political. When Jesus declared himself Lord, he declared that Caesar was not. Caesar considered himself a Lord, and Jesus said, ‘No, I’m Lord.’ That’s the most deeply and profoundly political statement that has ever been uttered in the history of the world.”
On whether Christians should hide their faith in the public square
“It is my conviction that it is only Christianity that can cause a community to flourish. So the gospel is a public truth.”
On how we can apply this message
“[God] calls every Christian to be a citizen of a community. It’s your calling. Here’s what you can do: You can live your life publicly with grace and joy rather than anger and fear.
You can live your life publicly with grace and joy rather than anger and fear.
I think we’re all tempted to be a little bit angry right now…We’re all tempted to be a little bit afraid because of the great unknown. We [Christians] are now a minority, especially in our moral views.
I think we have an incredible opportunity in our coffee shop conversations, in sending a letter to the editor of a newspaper, in our Facebooking, and in all the different opportunities that we have to be a person who is an ambassador of Christ. That you speak the truth, but with grace and joy rather than anger and fear.”
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