Wednesday, January 03, 2018

"My kingdom is not of this world"

Had an impromptu Facebook debate on whether Christians should be social activists: 

i) To begin with, Christian theology is not confined to statements by Jesus. He commissioned apostles to speak on his behalf. He sent the Spirit, who, among other things, inspires the NT.

ii) You misconstrue your prooftext (Jn 18:36). The kingship of Jesus isn't "from this world". That's referring to the source of his kingship, not the sphere of his kingship. His dominion doesn't originate in this world. That's because he himself isn't from this world. Rather, he came into the world as the Creator of the world. Naturally his authority doesn't derive from the very world he made. That's the point. 

iii) Likewise, his kingdom is not established through combat, unlike the Roman Empire, which was spread by conquest. Remember that Jesus is speaking to a Roman military officer. That's the point of contrast.

BTW, we can't emulate Christ in all respects. He's God Incarnate. We're not.

Once more, the question at issue isn't what Jesus said, but what he meant.

Now you're switching to different prooftexts. That's a backdoor admission that your initial gambit was a bust.

Actually, passages from 1 Cor 15 and Eph 1 say Christ is reigning over the world right now. He's reigning from heaven. He's currently subjugating his enemies.

In Acts and the Epistles, Paul is networking with Christian gov't officials. Even at that early stage, there were converts who were members of the ruling class.

"Even though JESUS DID NOT INVOLVE HIMSELF IN THE POLITICS OF HIS DAY"

As the eternal, omnipotent, omniscient Son of God, Jesus is providentially involved in every aspect of human history, including the "politics of his day". 

Your inference is like saying God is uninvolved because we don't constantly see God's activity in the world. Well, most of God's activity is behind-the-scenes. That doesn't mean God is inactive. But God is naturally invisible and intangible. The fact that you don't see Jesus involved in the politics of his day is beside the point unless you think he's a purely human figure.

You act as though God has lost control of his own world. You act as though Satan dethroned God. Do you think God is no longer in charge? Is God in exile?

Do you think Christians should oppose abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, the homosexual indoctrination of children, homosexuals adopting kids, &c? Do you think Christians should do anything to protect the innocent?

If you were in a park, and a rapist attacked you, should an able-bodied Christian male try to defend you?

You're ducking the question. Do Christians have any responsibility to intervene? If a sniper is shooting elementary school children, should a Christian teacher intervene?

I notice that you dodge specific questions and go silent because you don't want to answer them, since that would expose the moral depravity of your position. 

I'm probing a general principle. Do Christians ever have a duty to intervene to prevent harm to the innocent? You evade those questions because you don't have good answers.

No comments:

Post a Comment