So, things have been keeping pleasantly busy these days. With the ASL class, two beach trips, the Visit to Bethel Headquarters special day on the 14th (is that how it's called in English?) and the circuit assembly, there will a lot to blog about.

One thing that I must blog now is something cool that happened last week. For about three weeks, there has been a local radio station running a talk radio program with the theme "What is the Bible's view on true Christians being involved in politics?" and apparently the host has been interviewing various pastors and religious leaders of the more popular religions in this area. So, we got our turn on last Monday. The host asked for someone to represent Jehovah's Witnesses on this topic and Bethel sent Brother Genao, a special pioneer who was actually one of the first brothers I met in DR, to do so.

It was an excellent discussion that lasted about 45 minutes and I later learned that the host cut out all the commercial breaks in the hour so our brother could have all the time he needed to explain the Bible's viewpoint.

Some of the questions the host asked were:

Since David, Daniel and Joseph all held positions of high authority in the political scheme of their time, does this mean that God approves of his people being involved in politics today?

If God used kings and politically involved people to carry out his will in the past, does that mean that he will use a true Christian, place them in a political position, use them for purpose and therefore, unite religion and politics?

The word "politics" does not appear in the Bible, but the words "kingdom" and "government" do, what is the difference between the two?

Why do god-fearing people or true Christians take the initiative, seeing how the world is today, to better the world now?

What is the official stand of Jehovah Witnesses about true Christians getting being involved in politics?

Brother Genao gave an excellent witness. My two favorite texts that he mentioned and that I felt especially drove the point home were 2 Samuel chapter 8:7, where Jehovah tells Samuel that Israel had rejected him because they were asking for a king and John 6:15, where Jesus, knowing that the people were about to make him king, left to the mountain alone to get away. These two texts really make it clear how both Jehovah and Jesus feel about politics.

Appropriately, January's magazine talks about the difference between human government and God's kingdom, so we are all armed and ready for the repercussions this radio interview might have. Hopefully I'll have some good experiences to blog about soon!