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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Citizen of Heaven

I mentioned in The Drunk, The Waiter, and A Conservative Heretic that I would explain my views more adequately one of these days. Today is one of these days. I've been cultivating these views for a couple years now and I'm finally seeing the ideology come from infancy to something more mature. I called myself a conservative heretic because although I have been conservative for the majority of my life; I feel like there is too many complexities in this life to stick to labels and parties, and that's an important revelation. I've heard a lot of conservatives say the same thing, "Oh yeah, that's why I don't call myself a Republican," they say to me. I don't buy that line of carp(sic) at all, and why not? Because that's the same thing I used to say when I was 15. It's a cliche amongst conservatives and I'm getting really tired of hearing it, especially coming from Christians or followers of Jesus.

Poverty and Social Justice


For too long taking care of the homeless, poor, and oppressed has been an issue for one side of the political divide, but I feel that if you are a follower of Jesus then you should be more mindful of the needy. I am not saying it is wrong to have money, but to need it and horde it because you're looking after yourself above all else is wrong. Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself, which means as if s/he were you. Therefore we can reasonably assume that in a world where the dollar is god, we must choose to carry our cross and follow Him. I've watched The Passion and read the story of the Crucifixion several times and I don't recall Jesus carrying a stack of Benjamins with him to the hill they called the Skull. It's very hard to abandon what we've all been raised to appreciate, and that is capitalism, but we must stop thinking in terms of the best of a bad situation. Capitalism is the best way to make money and run a business, but it is not the best way to run the Church. For many of us who were raised in "good Christian homes" of conservative slant have always seen one side of the spectrum, but Jesus saw the full spectrum.

Abortion


Abortion is murder, but in our eagerness to stop the murder are we sending the wrong message to confused pregnant women or those who have already gone through an abortion? Those of us who have always stood very conservatively on the abortion issue have been very adamant that abortion is murder, but then shall we call the woman who had an abortion a murderer? Shall we call the doctor who perform these procedures murderers? If the struggle we wage is not against flesh and bone, are they not all pawns in an epic battle for the souls of every man? Yes, we have free will and yes, there is always a choice; but how long have we looked at the problem as an issue of seeing abortion as murder? When will we start to look at the issues that brought about the misconception that we need abortion in the first place? When will we start reaching out to the women who have had abortions and offer them the message of healing that Jesus offers though the stripes He took on the Cross?

Earth and the Environment


Regardless of what you believe about Global Warming, if you are a follower of Jesus then you are steward of the Earth. A steward is responsible for the well-being and flourishing of whatever is in his or her care. As stewards of the Earth, we have the monumental task of taking care of the Earth and helping it flourish. Eliminating the Global Warming portion of the argument, we cannot call ourselves followers of Jesus, children of God, and ignore taking care of Earth. It's wholly selfish and sinful to cherry-pick the issues we want to be concerned about when Jesus asks us to abandon our old lives and follow Him. The fields are ready, but the workers few; who will answer the call to work? Everyone is called, but only those who submit themselves can be equipped for the work that's ahead.

Homosexual Marriage


Let's eliminate the question of whether same-sex marriage is moral or not, because I think that question will answer itself when we answer a few different questions first. The first question is whether everyone needs love? Yes. Do people search for love by having sex? Yes. Why would homosexuals be any different than heterosexuals who have sex looking for love? All sin is simply sin to God, so why do we treat homosexuality like it's any different from fornication? Sure, homosexuality may be repulsive to you, but fornication isn't it? I think the issue is that you've become numb to fornication, but homosexuality is still a fresh odor in your nose and you're reacting to it. Another question, does God love everyone and desire them to spend their immortal lives with Him? Yes. Are we supposed to reflect that same love and desire for their salvation to everyone we meet? Yes. Therefore, we can conclude that our priorities are wrong if our focus is on defending the sanctity of marriage. Folks, no government can truly take away the sanctity of marriage, because what is sanctified by God is sanctified by God, not man. The only thing the government can do is take away our illusion that the government is somehow tied to our practice of marriage as if government has anything to do with it.

Patriotism


Patriotism is at best idolatry. I realize that may be very hard for some to accept, after all aren't God-fearing men and women of America patriots? The fact of the matter is that because of Jesus we have been given dual-citizenship, but after making a decision to follow Christ you are choosing to forsake your citizenship to this world and taking up a citizenship in Heaven. The government will say you belong to the country you live in, but that is only the skin and bones for they do not own your soul. We are commanded to be respectful to the Earthly governments, which means no violent protesting or anything like that, but we are by no means supposed to be loyal to our governments.

Violence and War


Let me start by saying that I do not condemn soldiers, police, or the average citizen of America who chooses to carry a weapon. Thing is, those who live by the sword will die by it, and yet it seems that the only way we as humans know how to solve problems is through violence and destruction. As followers of Jesus, we are not supposed to do what the rest of the world does; war is their solution, but not our solution. The only way that we should be waging war is through prayer and worship, but beyond that we would be in the wrong.



That was a lot to take in, wasn't it? You'll notice I didn't put references in places where I quoted Scripture, and that's for the simple fact that this is not only for followers of Jesus, but for those watching the parade. If you have any questions or need a reference to a Scripture, just leave a comment down below and I will be happy to dig it up for you. Folks, I didn't write this up so that you could silently agree or disagree, if you have thoughts on this then please comment and let your voice be heard (or your type be read, as it were.) A lot of my conservative friends may be challenged by what I'm saying, or maybe they wont, but ladies and gentlemen we should not be content to watch the world suffer when we lack hardly anything at all.

Hoc est verum,
De Facto

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. You've covered several different subjects and to recognize all the possible things that could be agreed upon or disagreed upon could take several times the length of the original so would be not very productive.

    On poverty, abortion, and helping the poor you line up with the newer conservatives. Those in productive ministry have recognized all these wither or not they agree with those causing abortions to be murderers or not. The only objection on the social issues would be Deuteronomy 8:18 which simply means that one gains wealth so that they can help more people. Capitalism may have greed at times but it has also benefited the poor much.

    American government puts a new spin on theology as far as submitting to authorities goes. In New Testament times the rulers had absolute control and so the simple command was to obey the laws of the land and live in peace. The disciples made sure to obey all the laws and respect everyone's rights and simply live in peace for the practical reasoning that the only thing people should be able to accuse you of is following Jesus too much. With the advent of the type of government that gives everyone a say there does seem to come with it the implications that one must use whatever is in their power to ensure moral behavior, this means having an active role in the political process in this country. Put simply Christians have gone from having no influence to having the ability to influence.

    The issue of gay marriage would fall under these moral obligations as would abortion as the popular examples of today. In terms of marriage being desanctified if anything has done that it is the rampant divorce rate. If gay marriage does anything it simply makes it a perversion. Marriage is inherently religious and to separate it and make it simply a civil rights issue is flawed. Homosexuality has been common throughout the ages and even the encouragement in some cultures, but not the marriage thereof. In truth marriage as a battle in the courts is not truly an issue. Giving tax benefits to whomever wants them is fine. It's the imposing of that upon the church that matters and the hatred by which those that support the homosexual agenda have caused. I am not afraid of homosexuals, nor do I think them worse than those that have any sort of sex outside of marriage, I just believe that it is against God's will and thus not religiously viable.

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  3. Just some clarification for you in reference to Deut. 8:18, I am not against having money, I am against hording it to yourself for vanity's sake. That money can help those in need, in fact the verse you quotes supports what I was saying.

    I'm going to have to disagree with you on two things you examined from my entry. Capitalism and same-sex marriage. Capitalism is the fiscal operating system of an imperialist society, and while America may claim not to be one, they certainly do have a way of contaminating every other society with the Red, White, and Blue. My point was simply that capitalism may work extremely well for making money, but it is not how the Church should be run.

    As for divorce, same-sex marriage, virtual marriage, and anything like that; it cannot de-sanctify what God did not sanctify in the first place, and personally I believe that when a man and woman are married and become of one flesh, even if they are to divorce they are still of one flesh and therefore still tied to each other except through death and unfaithfulness.

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