What if God does not will us
To be politicians, soldiers, or theologians?
Would you vote for Christ
If He had the exact opposite
Or mostly opposite stance on political issues?
When we think of diversity today
We think of people who look or speak different
Sometimes we think of people that act different
But when do we consider people who think different?
Even this is now a commercial slogan
But how do we get from thinking we are always right
To a more thoughtful and less crisis driven path?
Most of us will not change our minds if the earth actually shook
But we expect others to adopt our views at the same time
Maybe being right is not the point
Maybe we need to do less shouting and more reading
We start to grasp some truth on Sundays
And then forget it once we turn on the news
We see what Christ did and do the opposite
A more complex and detailed view of Christ
Does include God being angry at others
But this tends to be directed towards the establishment
And the only thing Christ says about the establishment
Is to do what they say but not what they do
When it comes to following our leaders
Everything has a cost
We learn that in basic economics
And the cost of being right
Is not always worth it
The cost of our wealth today
Comes at the expense of many others
From animals to children to the poor to our weather
In the future people may actually die of fungal infections
Wars of the future will be fought more over fresh water
Than over oil or rare earth minerals
We have solved many problems in modern society
But most of them just shift the problem
So they are only solved theoretically and not in practice
We make sure everyone we see is rich
We give poor Africans clean water
But charge more than they can afford for it
We create a nation
That is based on kindness and restraint
And conquer the world in the process
Doing what would impress the most cruel dictators
Individual sins are unacceptable
And should not be tolerated
We should in fact hate sin
But sin is also evil
If done by everyone
Even if it appears unavoidable
Or we have no power to change it
Our society did not get wealthy
By sharing it with others
After all the resources are less than before
And most modern technologies evolve in circles
All of us need to expand our understanding of the world
Reading the Bible should make you want to read other books
If you want to redeem the culture
You need to stop buying from Hollywood
If you want to change those in power
You need to buy less that you don’t need
And reconsider what you actually need
Society seems bent on going 2 opposite ways
Each side thinking the other position is immoral
But what if morality does not divide along those lines?
Is it not worth trying to see the Bible
Without the baggage of denominations or theological history?
There are several ways to change your perspective
But all of them require you want to change
One is a cultural shock like joining the military
Or working with another segment of society
That you have little previous knowledge of
Another is challenging your preconceptions
By the study of philosophy
Other ways include living through major social or economic changes
The challenge is to allow the situation
To expand your world not shrink it
When was it that Christians became afraid of learning?
Being pure morally is not the same as being uneducated
Reject Darwinism or doubt Science entirely
But do learn about the things you disagree with in some way
How will we ever communicate what we believe
If we cannot understand why others believe what they do?
I don’t understand why people think others
Will change their mind without their consent
When no one has their entire life previously
Today we are not up against another religion
Or even a war against unbelief
What we are fighting for is trust
People can be forced to obey
But they cannot be forced to trust
Turning up the punishments
And increasing the laws and surveillance
Does not bring a society together
If we really want unity
We must accept that the government
Has lost the trust of many citizens
And this will not come back easily or soon
This may never come back
We are no longer kind or restrained as a society
And this is a complete break in our social contract
That the government and constitution are based on
Maybe we should learn to live with differences
Rather than seek comfort in conformity
In an age of anxiety
Where some of our greatest problems
Are actually internal and emotional
The best way to fight
Is to push your mind to expand
Otherwise you will always live in fear
And your world will continue to shrink
Do not fear your neighbors
Fear yourself!
The problems for the Church
Are all within our control
The reason why so many do not want to
Associate with Christianity
Has more to do with politics and social issues
Than it does with theological issues
Time and time again I see in the Gospels and the New Testament
That these ideas are strikingly similar to “Non-Christian” values
Non-Christians see this easily but most Christians do not
That is why the world sees American Christians as hypocrites
Yes some have less knowledge of the Bible
But maybe they understand it in spirit better
To be politicians, soldiers, or theologians?
Would you vote for Christ
If He had the exact opposite
Or mostly opposite stance on political issues?
When we think of diversity today
We think of people who look or speak different
Sometimes we think of people that act different
But when do we consider people who think different?
Even this is now a commercial slogan
But how do we get from thinking we are always right
To a more thoughtful and less crisis driven path?
Most of us will not change our minds if the earth actually shook
But we expect others to adopt our views at the same time
Maybe being right is not the point
Maybe we need to do less shouting and more reading
We start to grasp some truth on Sundays
And then forget it once we turn on the news
We see what Christ did and do the opposite
A more complex and detailed view of Christ
Does include God being angry at others
But this tends to be directed towards the establishment
And the only thing Christ says about the establishment
Is to do what they say but not what they do
When it comes to following our leaders
Everything has a cost
We learn that in basic economics
And the cost of being right
Is not always worth it
The cost of our wealth today
Comes at the expense of many others
From animals to children to the poor to our weather
In the future people may actually die of fungal infections
Wars of the future will be fought more over fresh water
Than over oil or rare earth minerals
We have solved many problems in modern society
But most of them just shift the problem
So they are only solved theoretically and not in practice
We make sure everyone we see is rich
We give poor Africans clean water
But charge more than they can afford for it
We create a nation
That is based on kindness and restraint
And conquer the world in the process
Doing what would impress the most cruel dictators
Individual sins are unacceptable
And should not be tolerated
We should in fact hate sin
But sin is also evil
If done by everyone
Even if it appears unavoidable
Or we have no power to change it
Our society did not get wealthy
By sharing it with others
After all the resources are less than before
And most modern technologies evolve in circles
All of us need to expand our understanding of the world
Reading the Bible should make you want to read other books
If you want to redeem the culture
You need to stop buying from Hollywood
If you want to change those in power
You need to buy less that you don’t need
And reconsider what you actually need
Society seems bent on going 2 opposite ways
Each side thinking the other position is immoral
But what if morality does not divide along those lines?
Is it not worth trying to see the Bible
Without the baggage of denominations or theological history?
There are several ways to change your perspective
But all of them require you want to change
One is a cultural shock like joining the military
Or working with another segment of society
That you have little previous knowledge of
Another is challenging your preconceptions
By the study of philosophy
Other ways include living through major social or economic changes
The challenge is to allow the situation
To expand your world not shrink it
When was it that Christians became afraid of learning?
Being pure morally is not the same as being uneducated
Reject Darwinism or doubt Science entirely
But do learn about the things you disagree with in some way
How will we ever communicate what we believe
If we cannot understand why others believe what they do?
I don’t understand why people think others
Will change their mind without their consent
When no one has their entire life previously
Today we are not up against another religion
Or even a war against unbelief
What we are fighting for is trust
People can be forced to obey
But they cannot be forced to trust
Turning up the punishments
And increasing the laws and surveillance
Does not bring a society together
If we really want unity
We must accept that the government
Has lost the trust of many citizens
And this will not come back easily or soon
This may never come back
We are no longer kind or restrained as a society
And this is a complete break in our social contract
That the government and constitution are based on
Maybe we should learn to live with differences
Rather than seek comfort in conformity
In an age of anxiety
Where some of our greatest problems
Are actually internal and emotional
The best way to fight
Is to push your mind to expand
Otherwise you will always live in fear
And your world will continue to shrink
Do not fear your neighbors
Fear yourself!
The problems for the Church
Are all within our control
The reason why so many do not want to
Associate with Christianity
Has more to do with politics and social issues
Than it does with theological issues
Time and time again I see in the Gospels and the New Testament
That these ideas are strikingly similar to “Non-Christian” values
Non-Christians see this easily but most Christians do not
That is why the world sees American Christians as hypocrites
Yes some have less knowledge of the Bible
But maybe they understand it in spirit better