How Should Christians Address Opposing Political Beliefs?

We've all seen it on social media: people going toe to toe about opposing political beliefs. Some people are just standing for what they believe in, others are intentionally tearing down those who disagree with them. But what about Christians? How should we be addressing opposing political beliefs?

[@STARPATR0N]

This is a difficult topic for me. I struggle with it and I wish there were more pastors talking about this. Almost every topic can and does become political and of course I agree with your views here. However, there is a time and place for rebuke, right? For example, What do you tell a "Christian" that openly mocks Christ in a sexual manner? I've seen political memes like this. How do you give a loving rebuke?

[@ThePracticalApologist]

I would say that a very large part of this is the medium we choose to talk to people. Public posts on social media almost never go well. The failure rate of social media debate is so staggering, I wonder why people do it at all.
I suggest that the next time you see this person face to face, you loving talk to them and let them know that mocking Christ is objectively sinful.
If you'll never see them face to face, then maybe the next time you talk to them on the phone.
And if you never really see each other face to face or hear each other's voices, I'd say that you're not the person to tell them this. Just unfollow them and move on.

[@STARPATR0N]

@@ThePracticalApologist Thank you for taking the time to answer my question! :) God bless you and your ministry!

[@JohnJakeWilliam]

WHEN the early church was about to be blessed with marvelous power, she didn't go to Cesar's (political) throne, but to an "upper room" and the throne of God.
I'm not a Republican, Democrat, or an Independent. I'm dependent on Christ Jesus. That's the teaching of the scripture. The distinction between politics and Christianity is the difference between the State and the Church. One is of the world, and the other is not of this world (John 17). My true citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). Whenever Christianity is connected with politics, one can be sure it's become political.
"Why is it when two "Christians" conscientiously vote, one on the Republican ticket and the other the Democratic ticket on an election? Is Christianity joined to opposing political principles? If so, there are occasions when it opposes itself. {September 23, 1897 ATJ, AMS 581.2} As a Christian, for example, why would I vote for a heathen king (Trump)? "They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction" (Hosea 8:4).
"Any effort to force the politics of the day to conform to the church always results in conforming Christ's Church to the world" {April 21, 1898 ATJ, AMS 241.4} Hence, we have the "Evangelical Conservative Right" NOT being a true witness for Christ. Why? Because they would be calling for Christian unity, not involved in political strife.
"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Eph. 4:31-32). There is no true (good) power in politics, that belongs to Christ Jesus. "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the POWER of GOD" (1 Cor. 1:18).
Many say that a nation cannot operate and be managed without the politics of the country. This is correct. It's only another way of saying that Christ's kingdom is not of this world (John 17:16).
Would the USA, the most powerful country in history, be revealed to us in the Bible? Of course it would be. "Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon" (Revelation 13:11). Horns represent power. So, we have two horns. One is civil, the other is religious in nature. So, what do we have? A religious and governmental power uniting to force a certain kind of "Christianity." Why did the pilgrims flee from Holland? History will repeat itself in the USA.
"And because lawlessness [anti-love] will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matt. 24:12-14).
WHEN "Christianity" gets into politics, religious bigotry and intolerance disguise themselves in a political garb, and do their work in the name of political necessity. {May 18, 1899 ATJ, AMS 303.7}
Blessings in Christ, John

[@JohnJakeWilliam]

Is it Biblical that politics and religion is a dangerous thread in the scripture? Yes, and it has everything to do with God's love, for God is love:
Jesus was crucified by a coalition of political-religious conservatives (the Pharisees) and political-religious liberals (the Sadducees), working through the secular government (the Roman Empire). The reason the liberals and the conservatives could unite in the common cause of crucifying Christ was that they had one vital thing in common:
They hated each other!
Why was Jesus a threat to both parties?
Because He would not unite with either party against the other!
If Jesus had united with the Pharisees (conservatives), He would not have been crucified. If Jesus had united with the Sadducees (liberals), He would not have been crucified. Why? Well, because loyalty to either party justifies the existence of the other.
The dark genius of the game our world’s political parties play is that each side feeds the hatred that sustains the other.
And Jesus would not play that game.
The Pharisees (conservatives) and the Sadducees (liberals) were two versions of the same system, and Jesus was something so completely different than either of them that He simply had to be removed. So they engineered a union of church and state to get rid of Him. The political element and the religious element came together to crucify God in the flesh, because there was one thing, and just one thing, that they could not tolerate:
LOVE!
More specifically, they could not tolerate the radical notion of eliminating all enmity between one another by loving their enemies as themselves, because to love their enemies would be to eliminate their enemies, and to eliminate their enemies would be to eliminate the very reason for their existence as opposing political parties grabbing up power and money from one another.
All political parties and systems are a mixed bag of good and evil principles, whereas the kingdom of Christ is composed only of good principles that arise out of God’s indiscriminate love for all people. As a follower of Jesus, therefore, I cannot be loyal to any one political party, but rather must affirm true principles wherever they may be found regardless of political party.
I am what you might call a liberal conservative, or a conservative liberal, whichever you prefer. Why? Because that’s exactly what we see on display in Christ: a perfect equilibrium of conservative and liberal principles. Therefore, as a follower of Jesus, I have to believe in true and righteous principles wherever they might be found, rather than be loyal to any political party and its entire portfolio of policies.
But most people, myself included, don’t like complexity, because it requires the hard work of thinking. We don’t want to think through the implications of the various issues and compose a perspective based on agreement with the good principles that may be found in both political parties while rejecting the bad ideas that exist in both political parties. It’s much easier to let others do our thinking for us and be simplistically loyal to a political party, because doing so allows us to be intellectually lazy while indulging in the shallow but euphoric satisfaction of getting all hyped up about how “my party is right and yours is wrong.” But to occupy that kind of position necessarily entails disobedience to the gospel of Christ and unfaithfulness to His alternative kingdom. In fact, Jesus commands His followers to enlist themselves in His kingdom and thus to break ranks with this world’s failed systems. To enlist in His kingdom entails committing to the high standard of loving all people, even Republicans, even Democrats, and to embrace righteous principles wherever they may be found.
In a word, we are called upon to love like Jesus loves (Matthew 5:38-48).
*Revelation* *12*
According to the prophecy of Revelation 12, the visible “Christianity” operating on the world stage throughout the Middle Ages was, in fact, a political vehicle driven by the dragon, Satan himself, through which the character of God was grossly misrepresented and by which millions of true believers were slaughtered in the name of Christ. Simultaneously, according to the prophecy, the true church of God operated as an underground movement, in the shadows of the Christ-less “Christian” empire. This underground church proclaimed the true gospel of Christ to the trembling masses who were politically dominated, theologically oppressed, and financially pillaged by “the Christian Church.”
*Revelation* *13*
According to the prophecy of Revelation 13, Catholic and Protestant “Christianity”-“the beast” and “the image of the beast”-will eventually hijack the American political system for purposes of forced “worship.” While many in mainstream “Christianity” are crying out against atheism and secularism as the big dangers of our times, Revelation 13 warns that apostate “Christianity” exploiting the power of the state is the greatest danger to the world. Let it register deeply in your consciousness:
apostate “Christianity” exploiting the power of the state
is the greatest danger to the world
The prophecy of Revelation 13 explains that the church will manipulate its way into politics and use the state to force religious laws upon the public by enforcing a “mark” of allegiance that can be received in the “forehead” or in the “hand”-meaning that some people will buy into it with their belief system and other people will merely comply with it in order to maintain economic security. Every “Christian” motivated by financial self-interest will either believe in or comply with the illicit union of church and state that will rise up like a monstrous “beast” to destroy religious liberty in the name of Jesus.
What much of the world at large despises as “Christianity,” is really an ugly form of pagan nationalism that has hijacked the name of Christ for its political ends. For many of us, it will be a painful realization. But once you see it, you can’t unsee it, and it will open your eyes so wide that you’ll never see politics and religion the same again.
Politics and religion are a lethal mix.
And the separation of church and state is the only doorway through which a human being can enter into the liberating love of God.
The gospel of Christ, by revealing God’s non-coercive love, insists that church and state must remain separate and that liberty of conscience must be preserved, for only those who are truly free can love God supremely and love their neighbor as themselves.