God and Political Confusion

 The violent conflicts in Africa and the Middle East are terrible, but not new. The political conflict in North America, Britain and Europe is another matter.

National unity and mutual tolerance is fading fast. Conservatives hate progressives, and progressives hate conservatives. Christian churches are being torn apart by internal ideological conflicts which reflect the wider society.

Many British Christians passionately supported Brexit, while other Christians were horrified and wanted to stay in the EU.

When an American preacher preached on the Sermon on the Mount, many aggressively conservative members objected that these pacifist teachings were too weak and unworkable.

Many American conservatives want to support any leader who supports their beliefs, regardless of how authoritarian, dishonest or immoral he might be.

On the other hand, some progressive politicians are allowing live birth abortions and promoting extreme post Christian policies on gender issues.

Christians used to support strong American military defence against potential Russian aggression. Now many conservative Christians are supporting Putin because he goes to church and persecutes homosexuals. They forget that Hitler also persecuted homosexuals and enlisted the support of churches.

There are Christians who support minimum wage laws, legal protection for trade unions, government help for sick, disabled and disadvantaged people, social justice for racial minorities, and equal rights for women, but they also oppose unlimited abortion and post Christian gender ideology. Who can they vote for?

As I lay in bed early this morning, a bible text came to me.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. Ps 46:1–4 NIV

Everything is shaking. There is an epidemic of homelessness in rich countries because of unjust laws governing tax, real estate investment, low wages and inadequate welfare benefits.

God is our refuge. God is still God. God is not asleep in these confused times.

God is not a left wing progressive and not a right wing capitalist. God is God, and He is good.

Jesus is Perfect Theology

 My father was once invited to join an anti-communist association. He refused. He was certainly not sympathetic to Communism, but he did not want to base his life on a negative, to be focused on what he was against.

The people who invited my father were refugees from Russian oppression in post-war Hungary, so their anti-communist preoccupation was easy to understand.

Many Christian women are struggling to get free of oppressive religious patriarchy. That is necessary and good.

But it is important to focus on God Himself. One famous preacher said: “Jesus is perfect theology.” Jesus was the great liberator of men and especially also women.

I am currently reading an excellent book by Dan Kimball. “How Not to Read the Bible.”
In spite of the negative word NOT, he focuses on how God is positive towards women.

A lot of the ideas are familiar to moderate Christian feminists or egalitarians, but he approaches gender issues from a different point of view.

He is not addressing evangelicals wrestling with patriarchy. He is appealing more to people who may be rejecting the bible and God himself because of the way God seems to be endorsing oppressive patriarchy. 

He is showing readers how to understand the Bible in historical context.

When Joshua was leading the Hebrews into the Promised Land, he had a visitation from God, the Commander of the Army of the Lord.

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. Jos 5:13–15 NIV

The heavenly commander must have been Jesus, because Joshua worshipped him. Angels do not allow you to worship them.

God had told Joshua to kill all the idol worshippers in the Promised Land, but one of them was Rahab, a prostitute who repented and helped the Hebrews. She married a Hebrew leader and became an ancestor of Jesus.

It is easy to become so committed to a political party, or a Christian cause, that we assume Jesus is a member of our party. Jesus also loves your adversaries. Your theological or political opponents may not be entirely in the wrong in every way.

Today, we see Christians divided between Conservative and Progressive factions. So many of us define ourselves by what we are against. There are rights and wrongs on both sides.

Billy Graham was mostly conservative, although he insisted that black and white Christians should not be segregated in his meetings. He also ministered to US presidents on both sides of politics.

Martin Luther King Jr was opposed by many conservative Christians because his civil rights cause was considered to be rebellion against divine order.