theSoulfulMofo
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2001
- Messages
- 4,490
Hi there,
I'm almost finished reading Philip Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew and came across an interesting passage concerning the religious right in the U.S.
Thoughts anyone?
I'm almost finished reading Philip Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew and came across an interesting passage concerning the religious right in the U.S.
In fact, problems seem to arise when the church becomes too external, and gets too cozy with government. As one U.S. legislative aide said after a tour of China, "I believe there is a word of caution for us in the apolitical nature of China's underground church [Note: When Communism took over China, Chinese believers were fined, imprisoned, oppressed and tortured. Yet despite this government oppression, "a spiritual revival broke out that could well be the largest in the history of the church. As many as fifty million believers gave their allegiance to an invisible kingdom even as the visible kingdom made them suffer for it." previous passage ]. We are privileged to live in a participatory democracy, but ... I have seen more than a few believers trade in their Christian birthright for a mess of earthly pottage."
To rephrase her question, Is our first aim to change the external political kingdom or to further God's transcendent kingdom? In a nation like the U.S., the two easily get confused.
. . . . .
As I now relfect on Jesus' stories of the kingdom, I sense that much uneasiness among Christians today stems from a confusion of the two kingdoms, visible and invisible. Each time an election rolls around, Christians debate whether this or that candidate is "God's man" for the White House. Projecting myself back into Jesus' time, I have difficulty imagining him pondering whether Tiberius, Octavius, or Julius Caesar was "God's man" for the empire. The politics of Rome were virtually irrelevant to the kingdom of God.
Nowadays, as the U.S. grows increasingly secularized, it appears that church and state are heading in different directions. The more I understand Jesus' message of the kingdom of God, the less alarm I feel over the trend. Our real challenge, the focus of our energy, should not be to Christianize the United States (always a losing battle) but rather to strive to be God's kingdom in an increasingly hostile world. As Karl Barth said, "[The Church] exists... to set up in the world a new sign which is radically dissimilar to the [world's] own manner and which contradicts it in a way which is full of promise."
Ironically, if the United States is truly sliding down a slippery moral slop, that may better allow the church-- as it did in Rome and also in China-- to set up "a new sign... which is full of promise." I would prefer, I must admit, to live in a country where the majority of the people follow the Ten Commandments, act with civility toward each other, and bow their heads once a day for a bland, nonpartisan prayer. I feel a certain nostalgia for the social climate of the 1950s in which I grew up. But if that environment does not return, I will not lose any sleep. As Amercia slides, I will work and pray for the kingdom of God to advance. If the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church, the contemporary political scene hardly offers much a threat.
Thoughts anyone?