Eddie Walker

I am not sure if it was last week or the week before last that the Underground Seminary here had a discussion concerning the politics of Jesus. N.T Wright states the following, "With a certain oversimplification we can trace easily enough the three options open to Jews in Jesus' day. If you go down the Jordan valley from Jericho to Masada, you can see evidence of all of them. First, the quitest and ultimately dualist option...separate yourself from the wicked world and wait for God to do whatever God is going to do. Second, the compromise option taken by Herod: build your fortresses and palaces, get along with your political bosses as well as you can, do as well out of it as you can and hope that God will validate it somehow. Third, the zealot option...say your prayers, sharpen your swords, make yourselves holy to fight a holy war, and God will give you a military victory that will also be the theological victory of good over evil...He [Jesus] was neither a quietist nor compromiser nor a zealot."

I find that today there are still these three options available. At times these options can be combined to form a convoluted mess. However, typically I see the Western Cultural Christian as a mixture of the compromiser and the zealot. Why else would we have Christians that are Capitalists, Nationalists, Republicans, Democrats, etc.? I have a hard time believing that Christ would adhere to any of these. If we are to excuse the fact that we adhere to any of the above by claiming that we live in a different Cultural Context, then I would have to wonder as to we can pick and choose those aspects of Christ's life and teaching that are transcendent versus those that were limited to His context. How do we manifest in our lives a much more simplistic view of the Sermon on the Mount? When do we stop justifying our lives? If Christ lived counter-culturally then how do we? I wish that discussing theology and apologetics was all that it would take to live out a Christ like life and convince others to follow suit. I have decided that my political stance is one as a Theocrat and that my view of a socio-economic system falls under Communism. I am a Communist in the true sense of the word. NEVER has Communism existed within a country. It has always been SOCIALISM. I wish that people would get it right and stop perpetuating ignorance. Communism relates to the way in which people share their lives and possessions with one another. I am also quite tired of people claiming to be Anarchists. If this is your claim then how can we accept Christ as our Lord or King. If you claim anarchy, then specify or define what that means. Does that simply mean no government? Or are there other things that are communicated within that.

I will complete this rant with one last discussion. It concerns apologetics. I am tired of people claiming that they don't believe in God or they don't believe in Christ. These claims are fine as long as they are validated by some sort of knowledgeable or intelligent reason. (Not to say that I am okay with people refusing Christ, specifically referring to the fact that I won't be annoyed). N.T. Wright discusses many historical reasons for Christ substantiating prior to His death and resurrection that He was the Messiah. He states that Christ had to validate himself as Messiah prior to His death because the resurrection would have meant very little to the Jews at that time had he not. N.T. also discusses the fact that there were plenty of men that came prior to Christ and after Christ that had claimed to be the Messiah, however, they failed in a number of ways. All this to say that there are plenty of reasons historical and otherwise to acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Messiah. When people say things like, "Well I just don't believe that." I want to say things like, "Well then, you are a moron." It's not a matter of belief, it's fact. Now, whether you want to be a follower or not is a different story. I have ran into too many people that try to describe what they believe, however, they consistently do an ineffective job at articulating any of it because they have never given it thought. This would be an acceptable answer, "Hey, I have never thought about it." So my question is to all of these people, have you not thought about eternal life or eternity because you don't think it exists (meaning all we have is this life, Hedonism), or do you not care? Either of these answers would be acceptable. Just as long as I don't have to hear another moronic response. Another unacceptable response is one where the individual espouses a world-view that is purely synchratic (sp?). Synchratism is where people pick and choose a variety of beliefs to construct their own. This is totally ridiculous. This is to say that, "Hey, me in all of my infinite wisdom, have found out the answer. It was here all along in all of these religions, however, I was able to construct a religion using the right ingredients from each of these." And my response is, "NO, you didn't, you are an idiot, how can anyone else follow this? If you are the only person on the planet that believes this and if you believe that you are right, then everyone else is wrong."

In conclusion, I heard a quote, I don't remember the source but it states, "Only those who are willing to live for their beliefs, are willing to die for them." So for those that "believe" something, stop "believing" and live it. I wish this applied to those who didn't follow Christ as well because at least they would have some sort of integrity. However, I must love them anyways, and I believe that it's clear that that is what Christ is trying to communicate. That people are frustrating and we must love them in a radical way. This is a struggle. In reference to the apologetics comment I will quote St. Francis's instructions to his followers, "Preach the gospel by all means possible and if it's necessary you could even use words."

posted by Unknown @ 12:40 PM