Blah you know what. I just spent an hour writing a whole new blog post about the book I've been reading but I just decided to delete it. I don't think a blog is the greatest place for me to talk about this issue. I can't really figure out how to make my point through writing (not that gifted) without sounding like some extremist. This is definitely a topic I can only discuss in person where I can interact in real time. I'll post the last few paragraphs because it vaguely gets across the whole thing I was going for.
"So again let me just clarify! This whole exercise/book report I'm doing is just looking at the differences between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God. My point is NOT to say government and America are evil. My point is - I'm seeing in The Church today A LOT of people thinking we can change a fallen government under the control of Satan and turn that government into a Christian one that excerises its Christian power over a blatantly NON-CHRISTIAN nation. That's my point - that a lot of Christians have become obessesed with this myth.
As a Christian and as an American OBVIOUSLY I'm going to act in the political realm as my Christian beliefs lead me. But I'm not going to make it my #1 goal in life because I know even if a Christian gets in power and even if Christian values turn into law - that CANNOT change people's hearts. You cannot force someone through laws to change their hearts. Only the love of Christ shown through me to a lost and dying nation can change their hearts. So let's not foam at the mouths and scream MAKE AMERICA A CHRISTIAN NATION. Let's let our actions do the talking and let the government do its thing."
So there you go...whatevs' it was a good idea but I wasn't happy with the final product. I tell you what. I've got another book about the emergent church that could be pretty interesting [sly grin]. Who knows maybe we'll talk about that. It was just nice to have something to write about for once :(
"So again let me just clarify! This whole exercise/book report I'm doing is just looking at the differences between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God. My point is NOT to say government and America are evil. My point is - I'm seeing in The Church today A LOT of people thinking we can change a fallen government under the control of Satan and turn that government into a Christian one that excerises its Christian power over a blatantly NON-CHRISTIAN nation. That's my point - that a lot of Christians have become obessesed with this myth.
As a Christian and as an American OBVIOUSLY I'm going to act in the political realm as my Christian beliefs lead me. But I'm not going to make it my #1 goal in life because I know even if a Christian gets in power and even if Christian values turn into law - that CANNOT change people's hearts. You cannot force someone through laws to change their hearts. Only the love of Christ shown through me to a lost and dying nation can change their hearts. So let's not foam at the mouths and scream MAKE AMERICA A CHRISTIAN NATION. Let's let our actions do the talking and let the government do its thing."
So there you go...whatevs' it was a good idea but I wasn't happy with the final product. I tell you what. I've got another book about the emergent church that could be pretty interesting [sly grin]. Who knows maybe we'll talk about that. It was just nice to have something to write about for once :(
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1 comment:
Craiggers,
Very interesting post. It is a delicate balance of not trying to push our Christian values on everyone who may not share the same belief system, but also trying to uphold morality in our nation as well. Even though we can't expect everyone in this nation to believe the exact same things as we do (that would be absurd in such a diverse country), I suppose we still have some responsibility to make our opinions heard.
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