What Culture War Does to Warriors

CT Online: Furrowed Brows Inc.  According to the article, the culture war's biggest casualties may be Christian joy and hope.  A blurb...

There was violence and disintegration in the day of Jesus, too. Jesus was hardly shy about confronting the patterns of sin in his culture—though he was consistently harder on the pious than he was on the pagans.

But everywhere Jesus went, life blossomed. The sick were healed, lepers were touched, daughters and sons were plucked from the mouth of the grave. Jesus left behind him a trail of leaps and laughter, reunited families, and terrific wine, as well as dumbfounded synagogue leaders, uneasy monarchs, and sleepless procurators. His witness against violence, amidst a culture in rebellion against the good, was neither withdrawal nor war. It was simply life: abundant, just, generous life. And, ultimately, a willingness to let the enemies of life do their worst, confident that even death could not extinguish the abundant life of God.

Comments

[theRevRan]

Just wanted to say hello and tell you that I enjoy reading your blog. Keep up the good work.

[the fundamentalist]

One thing I like about Jesus is that he wasn't political, and went as far as to seperate himself from the political and religio-political structure of his day in order to accomplish the task that God has set before him. He did not want to bring government down, and in fact said render to government what it is due, and give God what he is due.

Jesus avoid the "culture war" of his day cetainly and transformed the world starting at a grassroots level. Like the quote says, it left the leaders of the instutitions scratching their heads.

[Ryan DeBarr]

he wasn't political, and went as far as to seperate himself from the political and religio-political structure of his day

The Pharisees and Sadducees were political parties... Jesus had no problem ripping them to shreds. He called Herod a fox.

And the prophets... they were EXTREMELY political.

The Bible touches every aspect of human life, including the political. Where it touches on the political, we have a need to speak out.

Can the "Culture Wars" be taken too far... absolutely. Is it being taken too far? Maybe by Chuck Baldwin...

[Ted Gossard]

Yes. Our spirit often seems very different, completely at odds with what Jesus is all about, as portrayed (accurately, I think) in this quote.

We're often down-in-the-mouth, and this can permeate all we do. Hardly the life that Jesus wants to bring.