tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post3597431226132966471..comments2024-03-28T09:52:15.415-04:00Comments on Common Denominator: Christians and World (5.3)Ken Schenckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09745548537303356655noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-20012120298878055452010-10-19T01:27:09.328-04:002010-10-19T01:27:09.328-04:00I'm beginning to think that the "lamentab...I'm beginning to think that the "lamentable" evils of things like Just War and of Eternal Conscious Torment maybe aren't as necessary as we think.<br /><br />Jesus' followers would have drawn the sword but Jesus forbade it. The greater good was through the evil but, and here's the big BUT, the victim was willing.<br /><br />Cross Theology does not say we must not defend, with violence if necessary, the victims of injustice. It is a call to Christians (only) to willingly submit to violence afflicting us.<br /><br />Thus it is wrong to <a href="http://www.calvinlsmith.com/2010/06/evangelicalism-and-liberation-theology.html" rel="nofollow">dismiss liberation theology in the name of the cross</a>. We cannot tell "the least of these" to go through injustice and pain in the name of Jesus unless they already are Christians and choose too. Rather we should bear their burden and resist injustice in Jesus' name.<br /><br />Can anyone imagine Jesus telling a blind person to "put up with it"?<br /><br />We really need to see the distinction between the Church and the world with the former called not to privilege but to service of the latter and the latter not damned if it does not become the former.Marchttp://criticalBelief.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-52297894223123129642010-10-18T20:52:06.717-04:002010-10-18T20:52:06.717-04:00JohnM,
I do believe that government is to protect ...JohnM,<br />I do believe that government is to protect its citzenry. This is why the President pledges his oath to uphold the Constitution. Enemies, then, have to be treated as enemies, with care and caution.<br />(The SOM would have us "turn the other cheek" and let power over-ride, which is not practical in the real world, but good government does not do this.)<br /><br />In regards to "government's good", government is a necessary evil, (I don't think government is 'good" except in the negative sense as it pertains to citizens. Postive government is intrusive and invasive, and this is what countries do to protect their interests against their enemies) that it, to defend its citzens from those that do not respect our lives or our liberty.Angie Van De Merwehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12617299120618867829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-40636145997282122252010-10-18T18:19:51.384-04:002010-10-18T18:19:51.384-04:00Sometimes we have to enforce the law too. "...Sometimes we have to enforce the law too. "Government...is force" (attibuted to George Washington). Force means violence, carried out or threatened. Government is not a necessary evil but a necessary good and it is God's will for our good that there should be government. Understanding this may or may not tell me anything about whether or not I personally and privately can fight for any reason, but I do conclude violence is not categorically wrong.JohnMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-84352171950929382252010-10-17T17:36:55.602-04:002010-10-17T17:36:55.602-04:00The Sermon on the Mount has been understood many w...The Sermon on the Mount has been understood many ways, but I don't dare "inform" you of that :). But, what my concern is that this view is a sectarian view of Christian faith. <br /><br />Should Christians ignore what is wrong in the world, because to do otherwise would engage them in "the world"? This is what some think.<br /><br /><br />Or should Christians think that their life is not valuable or important, so they do not act as if it is valuable. They do this by "jumping in the dark" as to faith. Faith is "more important" in this way of thinking.<br /><br />No, I think that the real world and one's personal individual life are both important to value. Otherwise, we become irrelavant to the real world, or we allow evil to prevail by "giving our lives over to whoever is "the determining force".<br /><br />I think all humans are to be relavant and self-determining.Angie Van De Merwehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12617299120618867829noreply@blogger.com