Christians Must Get Involved in Politics, Says Renowned Apologist
Author and apologist Frank Turek is tired of Christians saying they don't want to get involved in politics.
"You won't be able to preach the Gospel if you don't get involved in politics," he told attendees at First Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday. "Politics affects everything we do. The rules we set politically affect churches, finances, your children, what you can and can't do."
He spoke at Concerned Women for America's "Stand Strong Together" conference in support of Amendment 1, also known as the N.C. Marriage Amendment, set to appear on ballots May 8. If passed, the amendment will define marriage as being between a man and a woman.
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Turek pointed out that the church often asks, "If you were to die tonight and stand before God, what would you say?" But the real question the church should be asking is: "What happens if you don't die tonight, what are we supposed to do here?"
While he isn't discounting evangelism, he said if "you want to evangelize, you have to be sure you have political freedom to evangelize." He said that means "getting involved in politics. We're called to be salt and light; we're not called to be tax exempt."
Encouraging Christians to vote on May 8, Turek said marriage laws, like Amendment 1, address behavior. And the government, when passing laws, is typically doing one of three things – promoting, permitting, or prohibiting a behavior. In this case, the marriage amendment will promote marriage, he said.
"Marriage civilizes men and protects women; marriage is the foundation of civilization, and perpetuates and stabilizes society," Turek explained. "Everyone can get married, but if not, they still benefit from it."
If marriage is allowed to be redefined as "genderless," it will give people justification to think same-sex marriage is normal, Turek said. "The other side is trying to legislate their morality," he emphasized.
Public opinion is affected due to laws, he noted, citing the change in abortion laws in 1973. The legalization of abortion gave people intellectual justification to think abortion is fine, he explained.
Turek further argued, "Only 4 percent of homosexuals in a jurisdiction that has same-sex marriage get married. This has nothing to do with marriage, this has to do with validation and strong arm of the law, to get people to accept homosexuality. This is about validation of behavior."
When laws related to marriage are liberalized, Turek argued, it makes marriage weaker, and when marriage is weaker, the country is weakened.
The nation's deficit stems from the breakdown of the family, because financial issues are related to moral issues, he said. "When the family breaks down, the government swells to take care of issues related to breakdown of family. This includes poverty, crime, welfare, kids not being educated."
The breakdown of the family is largely due to the fact that "the church hasn't been the church," Turek said. "If the church had been the church, and had been engaged in every area of life we wouldn't have any of these problems."
