A Christian's Thoughts on Bersih 3.0

I have to admit: all this excitement about Bersih, about making a change, about politics, about the future... It makes me forgetful and confused as a Christian.


Social Activism and the Gospel
As Christians, should we be concerned about clean and fair elections, about who runs our country? Yes, we should. Our God is a God of justice (which we oft forget/ignore in favour of His softer side), and it should be at the core of our being too. Recently, I have been reading Isaiah, and God's justice is a big theme of that book. Take for example Isaiah 9:8-10:4, which was where I last stopped. Isaiah is seen here prophesying against the nation of Israel for turning away from God and revelled in injustice. For such insurgence, God uses Assyria to pull down Israel, punishing them for not loving him they way they should have as God's people, and for consequently not loving each other as God's people. So should we be concerned about social justice or the gross lack of it? Most definitely.


Here's the part which I always mix up. As much as social justice should be at the core of our being, as a Christian who gets angry when politicians are bullying the people who voted them into place, I forget that social justice is not the core of my being. Using the Isaiah passage to illuminate my point - God was first and foremost angry at Israel, not for mistreating their fellow Israelites, but for turning away from him, the God who had called them his own. Fast forwarding to the New Testament, Jesus answers Pilate, 'my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.' (John 18:36).


Following the Bible's bigger picture, you can easily see the pattern of a Kingdom of sorts, eventually culminating in the Kingdom of the New Creation. From the garden of Eden, to Abraham, to David and Solomon, and finally to Jesus, we see the idea of God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing. The antithesis to that would be the Fall, and the Exile (for further reading, read Gospel and Kingdom by Graeme Goldsworthy). My point is that as Christians, our ultimate concern should be the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:15), and not so much social activism, because though concerns for social justice flows out of the implications of the Gospel, it is not the Gospel. The line is narrow here, and it is all too easy to preach social activism instead of the Gospel. I have to admit, I often find myself doing exactly just that. Time and again, I have to remind myself that it was Jesus who died and rose again for my sins, and it is He who will speak for me at the Day of Judgement, not clean elections or upright politicians.


Politicians and the Gospel
I was there in the midst of the Bersih crowd. I was there when the plumes of tear gas crept amongst us. I am sure many of you were. I am also sure, just like I am, you are angry at the politicians from the ruling party who are somehow responsible in part for our suffering. We are mad, and rightly so, at their blatant acts of corruption, abuse of authority, and subversive tactics. Yet, as angry as we are, we need to stop and remember this:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."-Luke 13:1-5