Authors Urge Christians to Avoid the 'Sin' of Silence
by Bill Fancher and Jody Brown
December 3, 2004
(AgapePress) - A recently released book suggests that if Christians do not become involved in the political processes, they are failing in their calling.Ken Connor, former head of the Family Research Center, teamed with John Revell to write Sinful Silence: When Christians Neglect Their Civil Duty (Ginosko, 2004). LifeWay Christian Stores says the authors make a "compelling" case for civil involvement by using excerpts from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, but at the same time draw readers into a closer walk with God.
"The message in this book is bipartisan -- it is likely to equally offend, and hopefully convict, members of both major political parties," says LifeWay.
Author Ken Connor says it is clear that Christians have both a duty and a responsibility to vote and to be involved in the government.
"God is passionately concerned about our having a just society," he says, adding that "when people are given a voice in the selection and direction of their civil leaders, then they are held accountable -- along with their civil leaders -- for the civil sins of the government."
Connor maintains the Bible is full of incidences where God has demanded that His followers be involved in the political process.
"God, the author of justice, is just very, very concerned about the way in which a country's civil justice system works," he says. "All you have to do is look at [the Book of] Isaiah, where you see that the whole nation of Israel came under God's judgment because of the failure of the governmental system."
According to Connor, America faces the same fate if Christians continue to shirk their responsibility. And a decision not to become involved, the authors suggest, could hinder an individual's relationship with the Lord. The authors write that "if the majority of Christians know God's heart on issues of civil immorality but continually refuse to address these civil sins through their vote and access to elected representatives, then it stands to reason that ... God would reject the majority of our worship in this nation."
Connor is now an attorney in Washington, DC. Revell is associate editor of SBC LIFE, the official journal of the Southern Baptist Convention.
