Someone said that nation building can be a friend or a foe. It is a friend if it draws us closer to God, but becomes the most dangerous foe if it takes our focus away from God. Malaysian Christians have become increasingly aware of the call to help build our nation, and many are responding to the call. This is a good time to establish a biblical worldview that bears upon the subject of nation building.
Three points are worthy of note:
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God deals with nations as with individuals
Christianity has been often labelled as an individualistic religion. The claim is that while the Christian religion gives much encouragement towards personal piety, it is very weak when it comes to making recommendations for structuring communal or social life. This charge is untrue if it means that Christians dismiss the importance of the community. We place the focus on the individual merely because we believe that change must begin (but not end) with the individual. It is very clear from Scripture that God deals with nations as entities in themselves. The Old Testament is full of accounts of God dealing with nations, Israel and her neighbours in particular. Nations were blessed or cursed according to their conduct and moral behaviour. Acts 17:26 says: “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.” God’s eyes are on the nations. Even in modern history, we see God’s concern for nations. Prophecies were often directed at nations.
Do we believe that the nation is an object of concern for our God, or merely an arbitrary human agglomeration that we must work with? Or do we go to the other extreme and think so much of the nation that it supercedes all other human groupings which also deserve our loyalty, such as the family, the Church, etc.? Do we see the nation in a right biblical perspective?
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History as His Story
Most of us are used to thinking of history in linear terms, with a beginning, a middle course and a specific end. This view is actually based on the Judeo-Christian perspective Prior to Christianity, the Classical Greek thought supported a cyclical view, in which historical events were repeated over and over by consecutive societies. The Eastern view of history is quite the same. Even so, not everyone who adopts the linear view finds God in history.
The humanist believes that humans will continue to evolve upwards until they attain perfection and paradise, the perfect society. The Marxist believes that the dialectic of class struggle will eventually produce the classless society (communism), which is their version of the perfect society. Both ideologies are based on the theory of evolution which does away with God. On the contrary, Christians believe that God is active in history. George Bancroft, an eminent historian in the 19th century said, “Providence is the light of history and the soul of the world. God is in history and all history has a unity because God is in it.” The providential view of history is the correct view of history. The end of history, or His Story, is the resurrection and judgement and the eternal life beyond for those who believe.
One area we can very clearly see God at work in history is the march of the Gospel. God has determined the time for each nation to hear the Gospel. He directed Paul and his companions where they should preach and He is still directing missionaries today.
Do we see God’s hand on the nations, and on our nation too, or do we think God is interested only in Israel? Do we need to spend more time studying our nation’s history to see where God is leading our nation and the Church in Malaysia? Do we believe that we, in cooperation with God, have a role to play, a part in shaping history? Or do we think as like the humanists or Marxists that we are but helpless spectators in the inexorable march of history? Our belief will shape our action.
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The Primacy of the Church
The Apostle Paul reprimanded the Corinthians: “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!” (1 Cor. 6:2-3) While the main point was not to bring lawsuits before unbelievers, there is a more general application. We Christians should be the most capable of people to deal with issues of this life and this world. We must take the lead in transforming the nation and the world.
One person who stood for the primacy of the Church was Wang Mingdao, a Chinese pastor. In the first half of the 20th century, anti-Christian sentiment was strong in China. A group of Christian intellectuals took the modernist path and sought to defend Christianity as a rational, practical and relevant faith well suited to address the problems facing the Chinese people. They responded to negative sentiments by building schools, hospitals, etc. Unfortunately, they also believed that God works primarily though the world at large and the Church is just a part of this movement of God. At that time, they believed, God was working through communism. If the Church joined the struggle, then good. If not, even the Church would be swept aside. Wang, however, emphasized the necessity of personal repentance and salvation, and presented the Church as The Alternative Community. Personal transformation on a large scale is the catalyst for national transformation, especially when Christians work together to achieve this. God works in the world primarily through the Church.
Do we believe that God works primarily through His Church, His Body? Or do we try too hard to be “relevant” to the world? Do we honour God by setting the standards or do we just blindly follow the fashion of the time?
Let us set our thinking on God and His Word as we embark on nation building.
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