Utopias have generally ended up as hells on earth, so even secular history suggests that utopianism is not a good political philosophy. Christians going into politics need to know it’s a question of achieving the best you can, not achieving perfection. Christians supporting Christian politicians need to be patient, bear with them, and pray they have great wisdom when it comes to casting a yes or no vote on bills that well may be composites of things that we can approve of and things we strongly disapprove of.

Marvin Olasky’s interview with Westminster Theological Seminary professor Carl Trueman, the author of Luther on the Christian Life, appears in the Sept. 30 issue of WORLD. Below are edited excerpts of additional questions and answers we didn’t have room for in print. Enjoy.

You quote Reformer Martin Luther saying, “You cannot be without a wife and remain without sin.” Do you tell seminary students that today?

I say to students who are married that if they’re thinking of the ministry and their wives aren’t 100 percent committed to that vision, they shouldn’t go into the ministry, because it will put incalculable strain on their marriage and it’s not worth sacrificing a marriage for. Church history is littered with the lives of men who treated their wives badly and destroyed their marriages, sometimes if not legally then at least emotionally.

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