Monday, June 20, 2011

Progressive Jesus Freak: Against Anarchy Posing as Liberty

Welcome.

If you are a Dr. King sort of Jesus person, who is sick to death of being sidelined in conversation because of assumptions about a spirituality based on Jesus, then I might have some things of interest to you.
Today's Bumpersticker: Where are we going, and what am I doing in this handbasket?
There was a confluence of news articles the other day. Budget cuts to education because rich people don't want to pay taxes. A new survey shows that Americans don't know much about history. This process was certified during the Bush years because he pushed us into testing for Science and Math. Of course Republicans from Texas don't want us to know about history. They want us to think the Civil War was about states' rights. It wasn't- it was about slavery. They want us to think Texas has always been part of the Good Old USA. Nope. It was the rich northern half of Mexico, and we took it because slave owners were wearing out the soil in the south, and had to take their stock (black people) to fresh territory. They want us to think Mexico started that war. Nope nope nope. The President of the United States (James K. Polk) started it so he could beat them up and that's what he wanted. Et Cetera.
And where does Jesus come in? People would find out that we are not a Christian Nation, and never have been. In fact, we have been a very Un Christian Nation.
We declared our Independence from the Brits because they wanted the White Man to quit stealing land from the Indians. We bought Louisiana because we told Napolean that if he didn't sell, we would take it. We stole California and Texas and New Mexico, etc. to move slaves in and also because San Francisco and San Diego (note Spanish names) had harbors that could be used to dominate the Pacific for the next several hundred years. Then there is Hawaii, the Philippines, Central America, etc.
Republicans would find it hard to get people to blindly salute their Merakin Flag-orino if they actually understood how all those stars got on there. How many thousands died to paste those pentagrams in place.
Jesus preached against the domination of the weak by the strong. He preached against the abuse of power by the rich and the hoarding of wealth by The Temple at the expense of the poor, the sick, the marginal. Romans preached peace through victory, which meant the killing of all opposition: Jesus preached peace by peacefulness.
I'm in favor of Democrats who believe Government is there to make this a better nation, and that was also a Republican philosophy. Lincoln was about Government interference Against Slavery. Teddy Roosevelt was about Government Interference Against the Robber Barons.
Now we have Republicans who are against having a government. That is not conservatism. That is Anarchy. It's not Libertarian, it is Anarchist.
More reflections on the news as it happens. Stay tuned.

Shalom, Mark Dominic Sebastian

4 comments:

  1. Mr. Sebastian is a pal of mine who seems to complain about the same things I do. I hope he keeps complaining.

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  2. With all due respect, for my intention isn't to insult you or make you feel small in anyway; but I absolutely disagree with your association of Democrats and Christianity in the sense that it seems you are implying if our government was more democratic then America would be more of a 'Christian Nation.' Nor do I think we should try to strive to be a 'Christians Nation' (but that's another issue).

    Anyway, politics aren't going to change the world, only Jesus will. Certainly there are things we can each do to make the world better. But when it really comes down to it, being more republican or being more democratic doesn't matter; nor will it ever matter. Not according to Jesus at least.

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  3. Seemingly, Jesus is rather apathetic about politics. The only instruction we receive from the God-Man on politics is in Matthew 22:21. Jesus says "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's." And beyond Jesus, the smartest person to ever live, the only other instruction we get in the Bible regarding government and civil obedience is from Paul in Romans 13. Which, basically he is telling the Roman Christians to trust God and submit to the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire; even it means the infringement of your rights, persecution, torture of your own family, and death. This is counter-American and counter-Libertarian (I mean Libertarian in the JS Mill means it).

    What Jesus really cares about is that we become the kind of people who God intended us to be. The kind of people who each love God supremely and serve people wholeheartedly with all joy and thanksgiving. The kind of people who would walk up to Hitler and shake his hand and treat him like we would our fathers; not because we support Nazism, but because God melts people's hearts through mercy and kindness (Rom 2:4). The kind of people who would seek out sex offenders and want them to be our friends; not because we are masochists and desire to be sexually abused, but because they need to be loved and have Jesus change their hearts.

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  4. What you want is peace on earth and goodwill towards men. I want those things too. It's a perfectly good and right desire. But the thing we first need to recognize is that politics won't accomplish this because you, myself, and everyone around us are wickedly evil and capable of evil beyond our most vivid imagination. To deny this is perhaps one of the greatest dangers we pose to ourselves and everyone around us. For example, Hitler did what he did because he thought it was right and it was just. He didn't think he was being evil. He thought he was being good. Likewise, we run the risk of harming our neighbors if we should ever think we are never without fault.

    What this country needs, what this world needs, is not the establishment and maintenance of some high and lofty political ideology. It needs a Savior capable of convicting people's hearts of the evil they accomplish daily, so that they would seek forgiveness from God; and know that they have been forgiven because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Only then once we realize we have been forgiven from the person whom we have offended the most (God) can we begin to forgive others and realize our own faults before other people. Only then can there peace on earth and goodwill towards men. No politician or group of people could ever make this happen. Fortunately, Jesus is making this happen and will eventually bring it to completion.

    For the glory of God and our joy...

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