It is quite striking how people will use the OT to try and uphold
their "desires" - "theology" - "wishes" etc. So some Mormons use
the OT to have more than one wife at a time. Then we have those
who want to uphold so-called children of God participating in
war, but do not try to uphold observing the 7th day Sabbath
(unless you are SDA and side with SDA guy Dr. Sam Bacchiocchi in
waging war also).
Nor do very many OT users for war use the OT for observing God's
Feasts, not many of all those "religious right people" anyway.
Some in the past used the OT for upholding slavery, and
separation of the races (all that sitting in the public bus, the
section for whites and the other section for blacks etc. etc.).
Yes few it seems today, who call themselves Christian, seem to
acknowledge that Jesus came and established some pretty radical
teachings and theology from what was allowed and permitted
(often, if not in the main, for the hardness of the heart -
remember Jesus telling the Pharisees that on the subject of
divorce and remarriage?) under the OT.
As the writer has said, a NT Christian just cannot get involved
in the dirty, lying, denying, cover-ups, pretence, sins,
compromises, of the politics of this world, where some even have
a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.
The religious right of the USA suppose having one of their kind
in the White House will turn the people back to godliness.
Hummmm, nice kinda thought but according to Jesus the days before
He returns .... "evil shall ABOUND and the love of many wax
cold...." Mat.24.
The overall of it all is DOWNWARD, DOWNWARD.
Saskatchewan (one of Canada's Provinces or States for you USA
folk) is today (November 5th 2004) now the 7th Province in Canada
to legalize same sex marriages, it will soon be the law of the
whole of Canada. Some in the USA will and are fighting it, but it
will come there also eventually, and to reverse the 30 year Row
and Wade law on abortion is just not going to happen. The trend
will be DOWNWARD into more sin and evil, Jesus said so. So why on
earth get involved in the politics of this world that will only
head DOWNWARD into more evil as the day of Jesus' return gets
closer.
The only Joseph and Daniel out there is Jesus. I'll vote for Him,
and wait till He takes control of not only the USA but all the
world, and when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord as the waters cover the sea beds.
Now that is a true verse of the OT which Jesus did not change.
Keith Hunt
Here is the article I was respondiong to.
NO LONGER A CHRISTIAN
by Karen Horst Cobb
I was told in Sunday school the word "Christian" means to be
Christ-like, but the message I hear daily on the airwaves from
the "christian " media are words of war, violence, and
aggression.
Throughout this article I will spell christian with a small c
rather than a capital, since the term (as I usually hear it
thrown about) does not refer to the teachings of the one I know
as the Christ. I hear church goers call in to radio programs and
explain that it was a mistake not to kill every living thing in
Fallujah.
They quote chapter and verse from the old testament about
smiting the enemies of Israel. The fear of fighting the
terrorists on our soil rather than across the globe causes the
voices to be raised as they justify the latest prison scandal or
other accounts of the horrors of war. The words they speak are
words of destruction, aggression, dominance, revenge, fear and
arrogance. The host and the callers echo the belief in the
righteousness of our nation's killing. There are reminders to
pray for our "christian" President who is doing the work of the
Lord: Right to Life, Second Amendment, sanctity of marriage,
welfare reform, war, kill, evil liberals ... so much to fight,
so much to destroy.
Let me tell you about the Christ I know. He was conceived by an
unmarried woman. He was not born into a family of privilege. He
was a radical. He said, "It was said an eye for and eye and a
tooth of a tooth, but now I say love your enemies and bless those
who curse you."
He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be
comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the
earth. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God." (Matthew 5:3-9) He said, "All those who are
called by my name will enter the kingdom of heaven." He said,
"People will know true believers if they have the fruit of the
spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
gentleness, self control."
He knew he would be led like a sheep to the slaughter. He
responded with "Father forgive them." He explained that in Christ
there is neither Jew nor gentile, slave or free male nor female.
He explained that even to be angry is akin to murder. He said the
temple of God is not a building, but is in the hearts of those
are called by his name.
He was called "the Prince of Peace." His final days were spent
in prayer, so that he could endure what was set before him, not
on how he could overpower the evil government of that day. When
they came for him he was led away and didn't resist his death
sentence.
This is a stark contrast to the call of the religious christian
right, who vote for war and weapons, and suggest towns and
villages be levelled to bring freedom and peace to the people.
They proudly boast this country's superiority, suggesting God has
blessed our nation. Today, as I listened to a popular christian
news network, I was reminded that in the last days, even God's
elect will be deceived, (2 Timothy 3:13).
When the religious media moguls preaching prosperity spout their
rhetoric, I am reminded of the difficulty Jesus described of a
rich man's ability to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 19: 24).
Some who believe they are fighting evil will cry to the Lord, and
he will say "I never knew you" (Matthew 22). They will have a
form or godliness but will deny the power (2 Timothy 3:5) to move
mountains through prayer (Matthew 17:20). Jesus explained that he
has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love,
and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:17).
I wonder if the innocent moms and dads, brothers and sisters,
and aunts and uncles, and grandmas and grandpas who were the
victims of US military weapons (the never reported collateral
damages we are protected from in the "liberal" nightly news) felt
the love of Jesus with the shock and awe. I wonder if the
surviving family members now understand His radical love and
that they no longer have any need for weapons or defense.
The solutions to the social issues used to manipulate good,
decent people have no resemblance to how Jesus responded to the
social concerns of his time. He never once mentioned the "right
to life" the year he was born King Herod ordered the execution of
all babies (Matthew 2:16). He knew that passing laws does not
change the heart. As a follower of his teaching I believe in the
right to life, including the children in Iraq who stumble onto
land mines, cross the street at the wrong time, or who are
snugly tucked within the warm bellies of their wounded or
grieving mothers as US fighter jets fly overhead.
These are living, breathing children. The killing of these little
ones are never even reported, and our tax dollars pay for these
bombs. I believe in the right to life for those in the United
States who are unwanted and impoverished. I believe in the right
to life of the naive kid who was promised by the recruiter they
could choose a desk job and still get their education paid or
could see the world or could accelerate their life or could play
a very realistic video game from a cockpit.
I've worked at a shelter, and I know first hand the reality of
unwanted children. I know the reality of this right wing rhetoric
when week after week I begged and pleaded with people to give up
only one night every three months to sit with these unwanted
living children for a few hours while the overworked house
parents had a night off. Of the few I found, many changed their
minds when they discovered that they would need to wear rubber
gloves to change the babies diapers. These "believers" stand on
the street corners holding right to life signs and then vote
against medical assistance for the mothers and their unwanted
children creating an impossible existence for them. The few of
these abortion activists who might adopt some of these unwanted
children generally want the white and the healthy. The ones with
hydrocephalous, tracheotomies, emotional/ mental problems and
communicable diseases along with their life long medical
expenses can be someone else's problems.
I cringe as many christians vote for policies that deny help to
the poor in our own county, who vote to support the war and
military strength, assuring the latest weapons are developed and
that the heavens will be dominated by the military of the United
States. We develop electromagnetic weapons to shatter skulls ,
split the earth and silently destroy a body as a thief in the
night. Studies are even now searching for the frequencies to
override the freewill. These unbelievable technologies are a
reality and DNA specific weapons can or soon will target a
specific nationality I weep as the waters Jesus walked on
become contaminated with uranium. I grieve as the missiles fly
through the atmosphere on the continent where Jesus rose into the
sky, defying death and the grave and where the Holy Sprit first
descended. I cry out at the horrors of war and the indignity of
the prisons so close to where He took captivity captive. So I am
no longer a christian if Christianity has become what is
presented to us by our christian president and christian media.
I cannot support the right of the United States and Israel to
develop and use the most heinous weapons ever imagined. I want no
part of a temple built on the blood of the innocent. The sheep
have been lead astray by the teachings of prosperity and
misinterpretation of the final battle between good and evil. Many
no longer can recognize the voice of the good Shepherd.
Some "good christians" even work at weapons facilities. It is
not a stretch to say that a woman who tightens a last rivet on a
shiny new missile just off the assembly line might be the same
woman who licks the gold star on the attendance chart in morning
Sunday school. The missile could be launched by the kid in the
youth group who reads the invocation and it will find it's
destiny at a "target of interest" which might or might not have
been a result of good intelligence. The collection plate
circulates children are taught to love their enemies and bless
those who curse them.
The statements and lifestyle of Jesus are difficult for me to
understand. What would he say to evil dictators? This God would
not justify 15,000 or more deaths. Even the wrathful jealous God
of the old testament spared whole cities for a few righteous
souls.
For christians, to support mass killings as a way to prevent
future deaths is not at all like Christ. He would not say,"When I
am talking about war I am really talking about peace," like the
self-professed christian President proudly states. Who but God
has the right to determine what price a people should pay for
their freedom? The religious leaders on the airwaves today
respond to the voices of the few brave peacemakers who dare to
speak out. They say that pacifism is insane, and that it doesn't
make sense, but what is forgotten is that logic and faith are
separate entities. I believe in the example of Jesus and his
admonition to love your enemies and bless those who curse you. Do
I understand how this works on the global scale? Do I know what
Jesus would say to all the world's leaders? No, nor do I totally
understand how the example of Christ's life and his message of
love works in the world today. That's why I need faith. Am I
always correct in my assessments and actions? No, that's why I
need grace. Am I brave and unafraid? No, that's why I need the
perfect love that casts out fear. Some put trust in Chariots and
some in horses but I will remember the name of the lord our God
- the Prince of Peace.
Perhaps politics has no place for imitators of Christ.
Who will show the face of Christ to the world? Who will speak His
radical message? I hear from these so called imitators of Christ
that the pacifists are a collection of kids, hippies, socialists
and communists who haven't got a clue. Some of us, however, have
come to our beliefs as a result of careful and prayerful study
of the scriptures and admonishment from our elders. Many are
Mennonite, Amish, Quaker and other Anabaptists, whose ancestors
did not resist their torturers and were drowned, burnt at the
stake and flogged for their pacifist stand. They truly followed
the example of Christ, and their resistance against the
catastrophic effects of the merging of church and state cost
them a great price. Churches today have signed onto the
government plan and have agreed to look the other way in exchange
for tax free privileges. The true message of Christ still exists
to some degree in the quiet of the land to peacemakers, but sadly
these good people have been deceived by the angry words from a
righteous sounding religious media majority broadcasting in cars
and trucks and tractors all over our land ironically preaching
the "good news of war for peace" and convincing 24-7 "liberal"
bashing. I suspect there are many who share my sorrow at the loss
of what it means to be Christ-like, but our voice is seldom
heard. The blaring rhetoric drowns out the still small voice of
the mighty God. Peace used be the opposite of war, Conservative
used to mean the tendency to conserve resources.
Liberal used to mean kind and generous, and Christian used to
mean like Christ.
So I am no longer a christian but just a person who continues
trying to follow the example of Christ. I'll let him call me
what he wants when I see him face to face. Until then, I will
pray that someday people like me will be able to reclaim the
meaning of Christ's identity, and the world will see the effects
of the radical message of Christ's love - the perfect love that
casts out fear.
..........
Karen Cobb is a freelance writer and artist in Santa Fe, NM
..........
Well Karen, as to your last paragraph ... this Website is
dedicated to the restoration of all things, and that sure does
include the REAL Jesus and what He taught and practiced - Keith
Hunt.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment