There is a time and a place for Christians to get involved in other issues than the Gospel, but in the case of the Corinthians Paul saw that those things could be a distraction from the most important thing, the Gospel. Similarly, the pharisees and saducees would come to Jesus with a trick question on a topic that Jesus knew was not as important as the Gospel, he would answer by changing the topic to the Gospel (their sinful state, their unbelief, etc).

What I’m trying to say is that often Christians get too “Republican” (just as one example) and alienate a whole branch of society (democrats). I have made this mistake before. There was a guy I used to work with who was very politically liberal, and I generally fall to the conservative end. We talked about politics a bit, and because we had strong differing views on some issues (ones which really weren’t Biblical or un-Biblical) I could tell he decided that I was an idiot and didn’t have anything good worth saying. When we got around to talking about religion and spiritual things I could tell that he really didn’t take seriously anything I said because he had already decided I was a fool based on my politics. My politics are infinitely less important than someone hearing the true Gospel message, and I believe that I should have done my best not to alienate him by any other issue than the Gospel or one that is clearly Biblical.

But the Bible makes it clear that God wants us to work against injustice and work for the best interests of the poor, imprisoned, orphaned, widowed, etc. When I think about why issues of politics and the environment piss me off, it’s often the injustice that gets to me — the lack of concern for the poor, the collective money that is given to the rich for no good reason, the poor people who live in highly polluted areas and experience the health effects and birth defects and so on so the rich can save some money.

I like to think that all of this disgusts me because it doesn’t recognize the inherent value that God has given people, the value he proved to us ultimately by Christ’s sacrifice. In my mind, being concerned for people’s wellbeing (and proving that concern to them) is part of bringing them to Christ. And part of showing that concern can come through political action, environmental activism, etc.

But maybe I’m misunderstanding or thinking way too hard about what you said. :) These are just things I’ve been thinking about, as I’m trying to figure out what I can do, from the position I now find myself in, on behalf of folks who don’t have much. I’m ashamed of how little I currently do.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that type of stuff lately, and trying to get some close friends to see it too. I think Paul is really saying the same thing in 1 Corinth. 2:2 “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

I read that as Paul saying “I don’t want to talk about anything controversial except Jesus; not politics, not the environment, not gun-control, not music lyrics, just Jesus.”

Also, that news story that Travis wrote about you showed up in the SNews for welcome week. :) The print version’s better and longer, but here’s the link, in case it’s useful to you — the version you posted is better, though. :)