SAVENACA Vakaliwaliwa (FT 4/4) seems to contradict himself.
On the one hand he says religion and politics don’t mix, while on the other hand he uses the religious text from Romans 13 to tell us that Fiji’s current Government is divinely appointed and must be obeyed.
Years ago Mahatma Gandhi remarked: “I am told that religion and politics are different spheres of life.
“But I would say without a moment’s hesitation and yet in all honesty that those who claim this do not know what religion is.”
Savenaca states that “the church should stick to its divine commission of preaching the Gospel of Christ to the whole world”.
But the Gospel is all about the good news of the kingdom of God. Jesus preached it not only by words but by his actions and was crucified for upsetting the religious and political authorities of his day.
His message of the kingdom is not just a “spiritual message” but involves challenging and changing this world to be the place God wants it to be.
As Chris Marshall (2005:51) writes:
“Jesus was not just a spiritual teacher with little interest in politics or social change.
“A non-political Jesus has been a basic tenet to both popular piety and much Christian scholarship for a long time.
“In this understanding Jesus came as a saviour, not a social activist.
“He proclaimed a spiritual kingdom. He was concerned with the salvation of souls not the transformation of society. He called for personal holiness, not political change.
“Some scholars and preachers alike have almost totally divorced Jesus from the concrete justice issues of his day (and therefore our day too). But it is not really possible to isolate Jesus from the social and political issues of his time.”
If we want to quote the Bible please remember that any one text needs to be understood against the total context of its message.
