This article came
in an email so, sorry, I couldn�t just give a URL. Tom
Are
liberal Christians phony?
by David Batstone
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The query came into my in-box
this week, with the obvious inference that SojoMail is both liberal and phony.
The accuser identified himself by name, adding that he had his Ph.D. and
hailed from the state of Texas.
Without getting caught up in political labels - my
self-proclaimed "liberal" friends stumble over some of my faith-informed views
- I found his theology intriguing. Without a doubt, he clearly drew borders
that zoned Christians into different political territories.
He opened his note as follows:
Liberal Christians have no
understanding of the God-given role of Government. Liberal Christians are
Peter-Pan Christians who demand that Governments, before the return of Jesus,
foolhardily beat their God-given swords into plowshares and live according to
the Sermon on the Mount. Liberal Christians do NOT realize that the plow-share
things happens during the 2nd Coming of Jesus, when Jesus takes back the
swords from Human Governments as He establishes God's Kingdom on Earth. This
is why our Hero taught us to pray: "Please hurry Thy Kingdom to come, so Thy
will is done on Earth as it is in Heaven."
If you have never had exposure to a "dispensational"
view of history, my accuser's stream of thought may make no sense to you. I
grew up in an evangelical Christian church that espoused a dispensational
theology, so let me explain. God, it is assumed, has divided up history into
different eras, or dispensations, and each will run its course. In our present
era, the forces of good (God's chosen) battle against the forces of evil
(under Satan's spell). God looks to government to practice order and suppress
evil with the sword. This current dispensation will end with the second coming
of Jesus, who will establish God's kingdom on earth.
I often hear non-Christians ask: How can a person who
identifies with Jesus Christ espouse actions that run so counter to peace and
justice? This theological device enables many Christians to discount the
teachings of Jesus as a guide for living their lives. Forgive your enemies?
Feed the hungry? Clothe the naked and care for the prisoner? Not a chance;
you'd be foolish to adopt these practices in the dispensation in which we
live. Governments must take whatever measures are necessary to defeat evil,
and we are commanded to be its loyal subjects.
I guess that's what makes me a fool. I take my faith
journey as a challenge to embody the teachings of Jesus in an era that
cheapens the dignity of life.
In his condemnation of SojoMail, my accuser indicates
yet another key theological marker that is worth sharing:
Liberal Christians live in a world
of make-believe because they focus almost exclusively on the New Testament, to
the exclusion of the Old Testament. Unfortunately for them, the Bible
describes the role of Government in detail in the Old Testament, NOT in the
New Testament! It is the Mosaic Law & the Mosaic Government that is
ordered by God to put to death any person who commits a heinous crime, and
goes on to list about 30 crimes as heinous crimes. In the New Testament Jesus
is just a private citizen, NOT a member of Government (Moses, Joshua, David,
Solomon, etc., were Government Officials). Moreover, Jesus directed His Sermon
on the Mount exclusively to private citizens like Himself, and NOT to the
Roman Government or the Sanhedrin. Note that Jesus did NOT criticize the Roman
Government for not having any Social Welfare Programs. This is because the
Romans were doing what was called for in the Old Testament: the Roman
Government was using the Sword to maintain Law and Order!
If this viewpoint merely represented a crackpot hiding
out on a survivalist ranch in rural Texas, I wouldn't bother to
publish it. But it unfortunately has significant credibility among a swath of
American evangelicals. With my colleague, Mark Wexler, I have just completed
an investigative study of the Religious Right (which will come out in the July
edition of Sojourners magazine). It was jarring to realize that many American
Christians reject the notion of a separation of church and state as a
"humanistic secular plot" to obstruct God's proper ordering of U.S. society.
They want to see the establishment of a theocracy that puts into place many of
the Mosaic laws as established in the Old Testament. At the moment, they are
mobilizing a strong cadre of religious leaders and members of the U.S.
Congress to rewrite the legal system.
How ironic that my erstwhile critic praises the
Roman Empire for fulfilling the divine mandate for right
governance. I fear today that is exactly how the United States is acting in
the world - as an empire bent on the expansion of its own interests. If my
calling as a Christian is to deliver my full support to that empire, than I
indeed must confess that I am a phony.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.milman.uniting.com.au
Ph: 6862 5502 Mobile: 0427 625 502
14 Bushman St
Parkes NSW 2870
'Comfort the afflicted and afflict the
comfortable'.
I prefer to die living than to live
dying!
"War is a poor chisel with which to carve out the
future." - Martin Luther King, Jr
