#ItSeemsToMe...
Phil Miglioratti
#ItSeemsToMe...the "lie" of #ChristianNationalism is the lie self-identified-Christians believe that the white-male-middle-class-America version is the only biblical application of the #Gospel.
Dogma ("a set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true"), including #evangelical systematic theologies, blend cultural perspectives and presuppositions with biblical truth. It is impossible to have a biblical statement of belief that does not get contaminated at points of application or intermixed when applied in social or political realms.
"Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the (religious) leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”" John 18:36
Christian Nationalism, while for some is a simple desire for liberty and justice for all peoples, is inexorably bent toward the good old days of a Euro-centric culture which must be restored at any cost.
You can be a Christian who is a conservative person but I do not believe we can be conservative Christians. Christ was radical. Authentic CHRISTianity must not be swallowed up by liberalism nor conservatism. Nor can we be anti-liberal (per se) or anti-conservative (per se). Liberal and conservative perspectives come from persons who are created int he image of God, who is righteous and just while calling for obedience and the freeing of captives.
#ReimagineCHRISTIANITY...In America
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Guest Post - -
Choosing Jesus is not the same as Choosing the Way of Jesus
Conservatives often choose faith in Jesus, without following the way of Jesus.
Progressive often choose the way of Jesus, without the faith in Jesus.
So, to my progressive leaning and exevangelical friends.
You are right that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said that we will be judged according to the fruit (Matt. 7:15-20), that our actions matter, and that Jesus blessed the poor, those who mourn, and those who are merciful (Matt. 5:3-10)—not to mention something about peacemakers! You are right to emphasize the way of Jesus.
But remember that at the center of the Sermon on the Mount is a focus on prayer, a concrete prayer that focuses first on the glory of the Father’s name, and the militant idea of a kingdom, not to mention the giving up of one’s will. This isn’t a vague spirituality with a nebulous conception of God. It is a concrete and demanding practice that is to be seen by God alone, in secret, where you need to mean it. This prayer is a concrete, honest, and even vulnerable act of real faith—not faith in an idea, notion, model, symbol, or conception of God, but the faith in a God who actually is there, a faith witnessed in the wrestling we see in the Psalms.
We must choose Jesus—as a person who is the crucified Savior and Lord of all, who is personally interested in our lives, our calling, and yes, even our own personal holiness and personal sanctification, the person Jesus, who is fully God and fully human.
And before some say that Jesus just pointed to the Father, not himself, well, Jesus was pretty clear that access to the Father and membership in the Father’s family happened only through him (Matt. 10: 32-42). Indeed, no one can know the Father except through the Son (Jesus), for “no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matt. 11: 27). And when Jesus commented about the faith or lack of faith or the need to grow faith, it is Jesus who is the object of that faith, not primarily “God” as a concept.
To my conservative-fundamentalist friends.
You are right that faith in Jesus is central, that orthodoxy still matters, and the Bible is God’s word to us and for us, and we should take it seriously. You are right that we shouldn’t fit Jesus into systems of modern preferences and reasonableness.
But remember that the high and demanding call of Jesus to repent of our sins is not complete if we do not enter onto the way of Jesus, following him in our daily lives for the sake of others (see the Sermon on the Mount), which includes a clear concern for the poor, many times more than the greatness of a nation. If we can’t call those in power who claim the name of Jesus to at least have the cares and concerns of Jesus, if we can’t hold a conversation about how to be merciful, peaceful, and just, without descending into culture war antics, then we probably have lost the way of Jesus. And Jesus will judge you for it.
We must also choose the way of Jesus—a way that seeks to love all, in a concrete manner, not a version watered down through vague concepts of politics, nationality, and trickle-down economics.
The way of Jesus demands that the personal become social and political, that holiness and sanctification are not just ends, but also the means, and should not be so quickly discarded for political gain.
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