Legislating Morality? (from MLK)

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America, american culture, politics, sin

I didn’t want to lose this quote and it’s too long to micro-blog, so here you go…

From Martin Luther King, Jr:

“Now the other myth that gets around is the idea that legislation cannot really solve the problem and that it has no great role to play in this period of social change because you’ve got to change the heart and you can’t change the heart through legislation. You can’t legislate morals. The job must be done through education and religion.

“Well, there’s half-truth involved here. Certainly, if the problem is to be solved then in the final sense, hearts must be changed. Religion and education must play a great role in changing the heart. But we must go on to say that while it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me and I think that is pretty important, also.

“So there is a need for executive orders. There is a need for judicial decrees. There is a need for civil rights legislation on the local scale within states and on the national scale from the federal government.”

My Favorite Books on Christian Pacifism / Nonviolence / Peacemaking

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christendom, discipleship, gospel, jesus, new testament, nonviolence, pacifism, politics, quakers

The following are my favorite books on Christian pacifism. As always, I don’t (and couldn’t) agree with everything in them but I have found them supremely helpful. Labels are a bit overrated, but I do consider myself a Christian pacifist, which means that I believe discipleship to Jesus means renouncing killing and violence and seeking to overcome conflict (even in the form of attack) using peaceful means. Two clarifications are needed: (1) Pacifism is not the same as being passive. That the two words are so similar is an accident of the English language. Pacifism is about “pacifying” situations of conflict without resorting to violence. (2) There is a huge difference between Christian pacifism and what we might call “liberal” pacifism. The latter argues on the basis of effectiveness: We refuse to kill because that will work better to resolve conflicts than killing. Many also claim that liberal pacifism is based on a naive optimism regarding human nature. Whether this or the opposite is true, I can’t say (because I don’t know and I’m sure it depends on the person). But Christian pacifism is rooted in the good news of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the call to follow him as Lord in life or in death in anticipation of the resurrection to come. Obviously most Christians — many of whom are more faithful than me! — don’t hold to this position, but all of us would agree that we cannot ignore Jesus’ commands to love our enemies and “turn the other cheek,” even if those directives need to be interpreted for specific situations. Anyhow, in this post I’m not trying to convince anyone to agree with me, but merely pointing to some resources that will help one think through the many complex related issues and questions.

Ephesians 1.1 – Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus…

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church, discipleship, ephesians, jesus, new testament, paul, politics

Okay, so I’m not making any promises but I’m going to start blogging through the book of Ephesians verse-by-verse. I’ve actually been thinking about doing this for over a year now and started studying Ephesians in depth earlier this year. Then in his Wheaton Chapel Message, N. T. Wright challenged the students to memorize Ephesians by studying and committing to memory one verse a day. The idea is that if you learn what a verse means it will be easier to memorize, and if you memorize and meditate on it, what it means will actually take root in your life. Well, I’m going for it and we’ll see. Each day I’ll provide the TNIV translation of the verse, walk through it bit-by-bit (with moderate attention to detail), and then I’ll offer my own translation (which is meant to work alongside, never to replace, other translations).

Ephesians 1.1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (TNIV)

There is so much packed into this little verse. A year ago I decided to start blogging through Ephesians but when I approached this verse and saw how much would need to be said, I gave up!

Naming the Beast (Rev 13)

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american culture, apocalyptic, daniel, hermeneutics, new testament, politics, Revelation

Reflecting on the text (Revelation 13)

One of the most notable features of the book of Revelation is “the beast” in Revelation 13 (actually there are two of them). Since the beast is a central aspect of John’s work, we’re going to spend two days discussing it.

The first day will be Reflecting on the Text, focusing on meaning of Revelation 13. The second day will be Living What We Learn, focusing on the application of Revelation 13.

Another way of looking it is that today we’ll be discussing who or what John has in mind when he talks about the beast. Later we’ll explore what John reveals about the beast, and how it applies to us.

Because the beast is such a controversial topic, we need to start by laying out some guidelines for an answer. If we are going to have the right explanation, it must fit certain criteria. More specifically, our answer must correspond to the genres of Revelation.

Do you remember the three genres of Revelation? They are letter, prophecy, and apocalypse (see Rev 1.1-6).

“Political” Musings on the Fiery Furnace (4 of 4)

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America, american culture, christendom, crucifixion, discipleship, gospel, jesus, martyrdom, new testament, old testament, politics, salvation

“They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.” (Daniel 3.28b)

This is my final post offering reflections on the “political lessons” we learn from the very strange story in Daniel 3. See previous posts here,  here and here. So far I have claimed from this story that (1) Politics is a question of idolatry – that is, competing claims for allegiance; (2) Obedience to God sometimes requires disobedience to the government; (3) This “theo-political” showdown is often fought on the battlefield of symbolic ritual; (4) In the ancient world God’s people faced persecution due to their position as a minority outsider in an imperial world; (5) Loyal servants of idolatrous political powers often die needlessly and tragically; (6) Sometimes governments do acknowledge God’s superior power to save; (7) The “political idolatry problem” does not rule out participation in political affairs. Below are the final two of my nine reflections (the last one is my favorite!).

“Political” Musings on the Fiery Furnace (3 of 4)

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America, american culture, christendom, church, God, idolatry, old testament, politics

“They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.” (Daniel 3.28b)

This is the third of four posts offering reflections on the “political lessons” we learn from the story in Daniel 3 about  Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego being thrown into a fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. See previous posts here and here. I’m offering nine reflections in all, and 4-7 are below.

“Political” Musings on the Fiery Furnace (1 of 4)

Tags

daniel, old testament, politics

“They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.” (Daniel 3.28b)

A while back I preached a message on Daniel 3 – the story of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego being thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon. I really enjoyed learning about this story (beyond what I learned as a kid in Sunday school), but afterwards I noticed that this was a text about defying a government, which I found pretty interesting! I took the sermon in a different direction (can’t say everything), but I took some time to write out some reflections about some potential “political” insights we might gain from this story (nine of them, to be specific). I’ll post what I came up with in four parts. This is the first. Keep in mind that these are meant merely to be suggestions. This text is hardly a thorough prescriptive recipe for Christian political activity, but there are many things we can learn from it in this regard.

1.  Politics is a question of idolatry– that is, competing claims for allegiance.

The Forgotten Message of Jesus

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crucifixion, forgotten message of Jesus, gospel, jesus, new testament, obedience, politics, real life church, son of God

In a couple weeks I’ll begin teaching a six-week class called The Forgotten Message of Jesus. I’m very excited about it and have been trying for months to nail down an outline or plan on how to work through it all. Studying to teach about Jesus is incredibly humbling – there is so much I don’t have time to say and so much more I don’t know. Anyhow, I finally put together my plan for the six weeks, so I figured I’d share it here. If you’re planning to come (or listen online), this’ll give you an idea about what we’re going to talk about. I am sure there is too much here and I’ll have to pare it down, but this is what I’m working with for now.

The Shape of Jesus’ Victory (Rev 5.5-6)

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crucifixion, jesus, new testament, politics, Revelation

Reflecting on the text

We mentioned yesterday that first century Israelites expected God to act soon to conquer Rome, redeem Israel, and establish his kingdom on earth. For most people, such hopes centered in God’s promises to send a Messiah, an anointed king who would lead the people of Israel into their glorious destiny.

Naturally, they expected this Messiah to be a warrior. After all, he would be called Son of David; just as David slew Goliath, the Messiah would defeat Israel’s giant enemies.

We can see this for ourselves in many Old Testament texts. Let’s take a look at a few: Genesis 49.8-12, 2 Samuel 7.12-13, Psalm 2; Isaiah 11

What I find interesting is that Jesus played to these expectations. Listen to how Mark summarizes his basic message, “The time has come. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news” (1.15). In Jesus’ day the “kingdom of God” was a token phrase of revolutionaries—if God was becoming King, then Caesar’s days were obviously numbered (see also Luke 1.52-53, 68-71).

Throne Wars (Revelation 4)

Tags

politics, Revelation

Reflecting on the text

Begin today by reading through Revelation 4.

One of the things John is clearly emphasizing is the throne. In fact, out of 62 times the word “throne” is used in the New Testament, 47 are found in the book of Revelation. And of those 47 in Revelation, 19 occur in chapters 4 and 5.

When you think about a throne, what comes to mind? What is (or was in the ancient world) true of the people who sit on them? (Obviously, they are kings and queens, but how does that play out?)

A major question that apocalyptic literature wrestles with is, “Who is King or Lord of all?” In other words, who rules the world? Who is in control? Who has power, authority, dominion?

To ask, “Who is on the throne?” is also to ask, “Who deserves our absolute allegiance? Who is worthy of our devotion?”

John’s throneroom vision draws heavily on three Old Testament passages in particular: Isaiah 6.1-5; Ezekiel 1.4-28; Daniel 7.9-14

In all of these visions (Revelation included), who is on the throne?