Imagine the Quaker
an erstwhile mirror site for weblog on newquaker.com
archives | newquaker.comSaturday, May 01, 2004
Bible game cheats. My friend R.F., who used to be an administrator but was later restored to sanity as a professor at the College, walked into my office and handed me an article from the April 20th Guardian on how US Christian fundamentalists are driving Bush's Middle East policy. He and I have had many talks about this subject and I've tried to help him understand the difference between what Christ said and what the contemporary American Church now declares from its pulpits. But things such as the following really defy any sensible, consistent Biblical explanation, and sometimes it just sets my hair on fire:
"In the United States, several million people have succumbed to an extraordinary delusion. In the 19th century, two immigrant preachers cobbled together a series of unrelated passages from the Bible to create what appears to be a consistent narrative: Jesus will return to Earth when certain preconditions have been met. The first of these was the establishment of a state of Israel. The next involves Israel's occupation of the rest of its 'biblical lands' (most of the Middle East), and the rebuilding of the Third Temple on the site now occupied by the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques. The legions of the antichrist will then be deployed against Israel, and their war will lead to a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. The Jews will either burn or convert to Christianity, and the Messiah will return to Earth."
All I could do, really, after reading this was to relate my story about the Seinfeld episode in which Elaine Benes is distracted by people who put their candy bar on a plate and eat it with a knife and fork. At the end of the show, she and Jerry are talking in the diner and she sees someone cutting up an Almond Joy. Jerry says that he saw someone eating M&Ms with a spoon. Elaine finally jumps up and shouts at the diners: "What's wrong with all you people? Have you gone mad?!" That's how I feel about American Christians who think that Christ needs their help through what amounts to game cheats. They're really cheating the wrong game.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 1:10 AM
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Chill the patriot. So you think the possibility of being labelled an "enemy combatant" and shoved in a hole on Guantanamo Bay is real enough. Well, here is the kind of story that raises the little hairs on the back of my neck and makes me think that the forces that attacked the US on 9/11 actually won the very war of terror they started. If not, then our current administration is already admitting defeat through a program of hysteria that will systematically corrupt the very freedoms that al-Qaeda sought to take from us in the Twin Towers terror.
This is just plain wrong. A Saudi Arabian doctoral student in computer science at the University of Idaho, Sami Omar al-Hussayen, was a webmaster for several Islamic organizations and helped to maintain Internet sites that turned out to promote jihad. Now, in a trial that began on April 14, he is being prosecuted under language ripped straight from the USA Patriot Act. He has been charged with "three counts of conspiracy to support terrorism and 11 counts of visa and immigration fraud." His crime? Providing "expert guidance or assistance" to groups that are considered terrorist organizations. [Source: New York Times, April 27, 2004]
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 10:25 PM
Sunday, April 25, 2004
The possibility of Christian anarchy rests inevitably on the metaphysical doctrine that time is real. If time is not real, then we are living in eternity, always with the present being present, a remembrance of the past only, and the future merely anticipated. Many important philosophers have believed in the unreality of time—e.g., St. Augustine, Spinoza, Kant, F.H. Bradley, Russell, Quine—but a philosopher's importance is irrelevant to the truth of his doctrine, even if that does help to promulgate his viewpoint. Alas, we don't live in eternity; being a created being in a fallen world withholds this benefit from me and from you. Time was created for us along with the universe, making possible God's Sabbath, the time of God's favor, and the modality of an unknown future.
Time makes possible human freedom, and with that freedom comes the inexorable opportunity for choice. In all cases, God's will for us is that we choose his leadership, his kingship, in our lives. In the absence of this selective, God has permitted civil government to provide for the safety and welfare of the human race. When the Hebrews pledged their obedience to God, they became a theocracy, with the obligations they were to follow as a holy people [Ex 24:3,7], and thereby evidenced God's ideal of government. Once his people took possession of Canaan, however, not long afterwards showing themselves incapable of maintaining a pure theocracy, God permitted (although he did not approve) the establishment of ruling kings [1 Sam 8:5, 21-22]. Until the kingdom of God is realized—i.e., after Jesus has destroyed all dominion, authority, power, and death, the last enemy [1 Cor 15:24-25]—civil governing authorities are meant to be surrogates. As Christians, living by faith, not by sight, we are no longer of this world, but instead we are aliens and strangers here [Heb 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11], put into service as Christ's ambassadors [2 Cor 5:20]. We are called to be peacefully obedient to these ruling surrogates—obeying the laws, committing no crimes, paying taxes, showing good behavior. "Give everyone what you owe him," says Paul: "If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor" [Rom 13:7].
So what does this have to do with Christian anarchy? Being obedient to ruling surrogates does not require that, in so doing, we also disobey our Lord and act in opposition to what God requires of us. Whenever we have that choice, our allegiance must be to our heavenly king and to no one else. Being obedient to ruling surrogates does not require that we be excited patriots of this world. Until the future gets here and the kingdom of God is consummated, the Spirit of Christ will teach us and light our daily path and government is a luxury.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 9:24 PM
© Merle Harton, Jr. All rights reserved. Biblical references are NIV® unless otherwise noted.
