what is hanging in the balance now?

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust their lives to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.

1 Peter 4:12-19; NRSVue

Wherever you are as an American on the political spectrum here, you’ll have grave concerns about the past, present and future. We have lived in a privileged existence, and it looks like that is under great stress at this time. One thing most Americans agree on is that democracy itself is at stake here. There is even a so-called Christian disdain against democracy, aligned to some extent with the Christendom of the past, focused on implementing a “Christian” order. That is another subject in itself.

Another matter is just where our priorities should lie as followers of Christ, Christians in that sense. We now live in a different setting in America compared to those who lived at the time of Peter’s writing. Rome was then in charge with no ands, ifs or buts about it. In the rule of Caesar, there was no representation of the people. Now we have that, and as Christians we do well to advocate for what we consider to be good. We still have that freedom at the moment, but the problem now is that everything seems more than less partisan in the limited two-party system here.

What has happened in my lifetime since the 1960s and gaining momentum from the 1980s and 90s up to the present day is a culture war which initially was a reaction to the government telling a Christian institution that it could no longer bar Blacks from its spaces. That was the basis of the founding for the “Moral Majority.” After a few years abortion became the issue which they found united and gave momentum to their cause. The fallout from this race based, abortion, religious freedom platform has been great. There is little to no incentive to work with the other side on issues like abortion, and all kinds of other issues. We’re at a place now where there’s one side spurred on by Christians who want to take over entirely, be the ones in charge, with others in line according to that. So it’s a challenging time since there are a host of Jesus-followers and others who are opposed to that.

What is hanging in the balance now? I think for us as Christ-followers, it’s a time of purging, salvation for us in that sense. What does our faith tell us about the good we ought to be doing? Where do our priorities lie? Is it about our own protection and freedom? Or is it with the values which Jesus taught us: to love our neighbor, to be the neighbor when anyone is in need. To welcome the stranger, the refugee. To advocate for fairness for all. To stand against racial and gender discrimination, particularly right now against the transgender community. To stand against war and the destruction of innocents such as is happening in Gaza, both Israel and Hamas utterly failing in their use of horrific violence.

So all of that and more are important to us as Christ-followers. We won’t be uniform exactly in how we think and approach such matters. But there are certain things that forever should mark us. We don’t advocate force of any kind. We rather appeal by words, and mainly by works, by what we do. We are willing to stand with those who are considered the dredge of society, in the way, a nuisance or even danger which needs to be pushed to the side, cancelled, even eliminated. We stand for the humanity of all. We look for solutions to problems, not imagining there will be perfection in such in this life but pushing toward that ideal.

With that, what do people see in us? Democrats? Republicans? MAGA followers? Patriotic Americans? You fill in the blank. Rather, shouldn’t they be seeing people who are not known as any such, but rather as Christians in the sense of which Peter talks about above? Followers of Jesus, as Jesus taught and lived in the four gospel accounts? Yes, that. That alone is our identity from which we live. There’s no doubt that we all have our opinions on political matters of this world. But we are in allegiance to one Lord, Jesus. Our following of him means that all peoples are embraced as those whom God loves. We continue on in that way, expecting difficulty, maybe even suffering. But the only way we’re to live in this life as followers of Jesus.

seeing life from the point of view of the down and out

On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city;
he sets up walls and bulwarks as a safeguard.
Open the gates,
so that the righteous nation that maintains faithfulness
may enter in.
Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace,
in peace because they trust in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for in the LORD God
you have an everlasting rock.
For he has brought low
the inhabitants of the height;
the lofty city he lays low.
He lays it low to the ground,
casts it to the dust.
The foot tramples it,
the feet of the poor,
the steps of the needy.

Isaiah 26:1-6; NRSVue

Isaiah 26 is another of those great “chapters” in Scripture. There’s a lot in it, and to really understand one “verse” or part of it, we need to consider the whole.

I grew up in a Mennonite church through most of the time of the Civil Rights Movement. It had what I might call a veneer of popular evangelicalism. For example, our church bulletin would let us know when the Billy Graham Crusade was to be on television. For what I think are complicated reasons, I left the Mennonite tradition, becoming evangelical, which I was for decades. All through that time I never heard much of anything and certainly no emphasis on Scripture prioritizing the down and out: the poor, the oppressed and marginalized. One would not guess that God favors the poor and those who are victims. So it’s no wonder that I see evangelical friends posting stuff that is anti-immigrant even suggesting violence towards such.

I wonder, given all the continued disparity and suffering on the earth. “How long, God, how long?” We have seen improvement over decades, but much if not all of that is in danger of being lost due to human greed for power, I don’t know what else to call it, along with consumption and what essentially amounts to a rape of the planet. “Be sure your sin will find you out.” There’s no escape from the results of that.

But we can’t just focus on that. Just reading the section above can help assure us that we in Christ are in the movement of God for the poor, the oppressed, those despised and considered inferior. When I say movement, it sounds like a human thing, but I’m referring to the movement of God. But yes, we’re caught up in that, active in it. Just it says later in this passage:

O LORD, may you ordain peace for us,
for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.

Isaiah 26:12; NRSVue

We not only need to work at trying to understand the perspective and see from the point of view of the down and out, but we also need to see the priority this has in Scripture. Until we do, we’ll be largely missing a key and important part of the gospel of Christ.

the church and Christian faith in a pluralistic world

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and acceptable before God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For

there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
who gave himself a ransom for all

—this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.

1 Timothy 2:1-7; NRSVue

During the time this letter was written, during Paul’s life, or probably sometime later, written in his name as letters sometimes were in the past with some kind of authority (ecclesial? note the pastoral epistles, or my own preference, by the Spirit discerned by the church), Christians did not have positions in government, unless there were instances of those serving in such places coming to faith. The arguably (I believe) disastrous Constantinian revolution in which church and state had essentially merged as one had not yet come to be. The Roman government in the world in which the church was emerging was in charge.

Note Paul’s words (for convenience’s sake, we’ll attribute it to Paul, whoever actually wrote it). What is the church supposed to do? To pray, pray for all who are in authority. During the time of this letter, a number of Roman emperors came and went. Unlike after the Constantinian shift when only Christians could serve in government and the military, or at the very least the empire was Christianized, made “Christian,” setting the table for the Christendom that would survive past the time of the Roman empire, all were expected to either adhere to religious practices connected with the Roman gods, or stay in their place. That was the world in which Paul lived (note Acts 17) and what followed for some generations after.

Let’s consider today. The world itself is far from monolithic. What supposed Christian nations there are, while often wanting to keep their ethnic and cultural identity, there’s no escape from other ethnicities, cultures and religions given the upheaval due to wars and famines along with other factors. Although the United States certainly has a checkered history, the US is a nation of immigrants, albeit bringing many African slaves which gave the nation as a whole, and particularly those in charge and in ownership, unprecedented prosperity. While also often dishonestly and ruthlessly pushing native, indigenous peoples out. In spite of all this wrong, the US along with neighbor Canada have both emerged as perhaps the two greatest melting pots of the nations on earth. I stand to be corrected, but that’s from what I’ve gathered.

Now, trying to apply Scripture, God’s Word, the passage quoted above to this present time. Yes, it was a different world then, quite patriarchal and the Romans with all their religious practices but given the territory that the empire had conquered and occupied, there were certainly diverse cultures and religions present. Notice that Paul doesn’t tell them to pray for the overthrow of the empire so as to put in a godly, Christian government. No. Simply to pray for all in authority, so that the church, followers of Christ might live faithful to their calling in peace. There’s nothing in the words suggesting any kind of takeover, much less the use of force to impose Christian standards or law or principles on others. Instead, Paul and those in that tradition which followed wanted to establish something of an understanding of how they were to live faithfully in the empire along with what today we would call a pluralistic society.

As far as influence goes, “a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity” along with the truth of the good news in Jesus seem to be the only factors in play. Not some Christian endeavor to put the government in some supposedly godly place. This is not at all unlike what we read in Jeremiah’s words to God’s people, the Jewish exiles in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1-9). Unlike what the many false prophets were telling them, they were to settle down in that pagan place, seek its welfare and pray for it, because the good of that empire would be their good. Of course, that would not mean God’s people simply rubber stamp what’s going on. But neither would it mean that they should expect a conversion to the Jewish faith, much less some forced miraculous takeover of Babylon to that end.

Unfortunately, what we’re seeing today in the United States along with some other nations is not at all what Jeremiah and Paul were getting at. While there are different versions of it, it’s essentially a supposed Christian takeover of government, perhaps allowing the presence of other faiths and cultures, but being the ones in charge. What good there was which came with the founding of the United States, even though certainly not lived up to, a law-based democracy in which all people are created equal so that peoples of different faiths and cultures can live peaceably together is categorically rejected. The idea of participation by all in the nation state which I think was the intention of the founding fathers of the United States is denied. Instead of a civil religion which acknowledged the Christian roots which were present, as well as acknowledgement of God as the God of all, while allowing everyone religious freedom, there is the denial of such in what amounts to be a heavy handed white Christian nationalism. The idea is getting back to some ideal which frankly never existed. Or if I’m mistaken in some cultural way, then an ideal which really can’t be replicated given the history which has transpired and the different demographics of the present time. What is advocated or winked at is not quietness and peacefulness, but quite the opposite. A loud, violent voice to create by force a nation which will be Christian in name only. In which those churches and believers who are seeking to be followers of Christ as always in this world continue to live in exile.

on MLK Day, sensitivity to the plight of others

And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

Luke 3:10-14; NRSVue

There’s no doubt that the entire system is wrong and needs to be changed. That was true in John the Baptizer’s and Jesus’s day and is no less true today. In the midst of that, what do we do? Yes, we advocate for needed change, here in the US, “liberty and justice for all.” We listen to the stories and struggles of the others: the people of color, the marginalized, those who face threats and rejection. And we stand with all such, for a better world, a just nation no less.

There’s little use of trying to change people’s minds on issues related to this. To say that public education in inner cities is underfunded and that there’s a lack of equality across racial lines is considered “woke.” Unfortunately nowadays in the US, everything is turned into a culture war issue. Those on the Christian side oppose a national effort to redress the harms and imbalance that our history has wrought on blacks and stand in favor of further marginalizing the marginalized, indeed canceling them out altogether in the name of godliness, even in the name of Christ.

They might say that helping others should depend on the church and voluntary good deeds. One of the questions, very much related to this entire subject is simple: Will such address the problem of a living wage and healthcare? I don’t know how people can deny that either is a right for people, but there are serious Christians who take ethics seriously who consider healthcare a privilege, not a human right, and who espouse a largely unregulated free market with too often low wages, and an unrealistic healthcare option. And you can’t entirely blame the businesses. “We the people” are not stepping up to make sure that everyone has enough to live and flourish.

The US military industrial complex against which President Dwight Eisenhower warned against has been in full sway, a large chunk of the US economy, many of our tax dollars going to that, and now US tax dollars going to the killing of Gazan children and women, civilians in the Israeli bombardment in the wake of the terror of Hamas. Two wrongs don’t make a right. The US, for what good it has done is complicit and implicated in too much that has proved wrong. Look no further in our recent history than Afghanistan and Iraq. God bless all the good wishes in that, and some good in the freedom and wellbeing of women in Afghanistan, happened for a while. And may all of those who wanting to do good sacrificed so much, be blessed.

A nation’s values are reflected in its budget. And Christians more than any other group in the US support war and the buildup of the military. And at what expense? What are we doing? What are we known for, as a result? I ask anymore not what is Christian because I don’t want to hear the answer on that, but what is human. Indeed the way of Christ is to be human, to love our neighbor as ourselves in love for God. To reject all that stands in the way and violates such love.

We can’t be dependent on systems to take care of all the injustice while we go on in our lives of overabundance. So many on the “liberal, progressive” side advocate for justice for the poor and speak against racism, but when push comes to shove, are no better than their political opponents. All too often they are advocates for what is just as long as they don’t have to make the necessary sacrifices. Yes, we do need better systems, but such systems depend on the good will of people. We all have to pull together in this. Words are cheap including all my words here; actions are what matter. And Christians, I would prefer to say those who profess to be followers of Christ ought to be among those who lead the way in this.

So yes, we need to do what we can, just as John the Baptizer said, and that is vitally important. But we also long for and welcome in a reign even now present, the reign of God in which no one is left behind, when righteousness and peace kiss each other (Psalm 85:10). Where Jesus is.

what Jesus really cares about (contra Christians?)

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25:31-46; NRSVue

I find it fascinating how Christians regulate Scripture so that a lot of it doesn’t apply directly to us today. Some say that anything before the resurrection does not apply to us but is under the law and meant for Jews. The book of James is readily put into that category along with the Sermon on the Mount not to mention the above passage. Or really? Even for such, surely this becomes a challenge. After all, Jesus seems to be talking about the final judgment when he divides people or nations like sheep and goats, the one into life and the other into condemnation.

I don’t really enjoy picking on Christians and I know I fall short as well in both understanding and in practice of what I might understand. That said, we still have to take Scripture and the words of our Lord seriously. Much has been made of “pro-life” over the past decades. And yet what is consistently pro-life? The Christians who advocate for that are the same ones who believe their view should be forced on others, whatever their views on abortion, immigration, capital punishment, prison, police, racism, history of wrongdoing, systemic injustice, the military, the military industrial complex, war (evangelical Christians have been polled as more pro-war than any other segment of American society), the proliferation of guns, healthcare (in their view a privilege, not something to be given to all, not a human right), affordable housing, a living wage (which to many of them is opposed to capitalism, the deregulated, unfettered free market), affordable higher education, medical care for pregnant women whose health along with the health of the fetus is at risk, protection for all who are marginalized like the LGBTQ+ community, etc. There seems to be nothing more important to these Christians than their religious freedom which they imagine to be at perilous risk, ironically pressure points brought to bear because of their own actions. And the idea that they force their views by law on all the rest of us. Their gospel evidently is not the power of salvation for all who believe. It certainly is not as big as the gospel of the Bible.

When it gets right down to it, what did Jesus say? As Christ-followers we go with that, and we judge all else in that light.

why a social gospel is important

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4:16-21; NRSVue

The social gospel broadly speaking is concerned about the influence and change of the good news of God in Christ on the ground where people live (for a good summary of it, see this). I have often heard people, specifically Evangelicals say that whatever change comes in society is because people are saved, regenerated by the Spirit, changed, and then can make a difference in their own world beginning with their families. By the way, that’s not only good, but important in itself. If it’s mentioned in terms of a church, and in our individualistic culture and mindset, that seems to have been rare in my experience, it almost always gets back to individuals helping other individuals through the saving gospel. One of the other emphases, however, that I’ve noticed is something like what is sadly, I say, found in bumper stickers of cars, something like: “(Christians are) not perfect, just forgiven.” That seems to put all the emphasis on forgiveness of sins, as if that’s all the gospel of Christ is about. It’s like if you have your ticket to heaven, you’re all set. Akin to Dallas Willard’s good point about “barcode religion (Christianity).” The difference in one’s life in terms of character and good works is brushed to the side, perhaps completely dismissed.

If we’re not concerned about life on the ground in terms of poverty, the wide gap between the rich and the poor, systems that hold racial minorities and here in the United States particularly black people in a disproportionately difficult place for generations, the plight of refugees and foreigners, the lack of equal distributable healthcare for all, living wages, affordable housing, acceptance of all humans and the marginalization of none, human flourishing in general for all (one must not forget the climate crisis), then our gospel falls short of the gospel we find in the Bible.

To really get this, to understand it, one needs to read the Bible from cover to cover. Yes, forgiveness of sins is important, and so is justice and mercy for this present life. This is not about, for example American politics. This is a gospel that because of the needs found, would want its adherents as a whole, not individually of course, to seek to address them all. I didn’t address war and conflict above, because I think that if the problems I listed were seriously being addressed in a sustained way, that would help alleviate much of that. But seeking to help resolve human conflicts would also certainly be in the mix.

All of this is in a Jesus-like way within the good reign of God. It would not be a political party in the United States or represented in the United Nations. It brings with it the very touch of heaven, something the world can’t give. But it is worldly in its influence and outworking.

Yes, the social gospel is a vitally important aspect of the gospel, not just indirectly, but directly. In Christ we are a light for the world in every way imaginable.

the vision of God then and now

The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

Amos 1:1; NRSVue

Amos like the other prophets had a vision which he saw from God. That is what the prophetic witness is all about. Discernment yes, which all too easily seems to be absent from much of the church. If that is not the case, then why is the church swept into the power play of the world as we see in a number of places, including the United States with the religious right? Churches and people swept into that have a vision, alright, but is it the vision of God? The only way that can be discerned is to begin to turn the pages of all of Scripture and with a special emphasis, I say, on Jesus and the prophets, meaning Old Testament or Hebrew prophets. Amos is a prime example of such.

Amos had a vision from God, and it was hardly flattering of God’s people or of surrounding nations. God’s judgment was imminent because of their sins. Amos could see right through rulers and through the people in general. That is a gift of what real Biblical prophecy is all about. Sorely lacking and in too many places seemingly entirely absent in the church. But again, like in days of old, like in the times of the prophets of old, yes, there’s a vision, but one that’s contrary and in opposition to the vision of God. Why does it have to be any different today than it was back then? If you painstakingly read and work through Scripture and especially the Old Testament prophets, and then work through the gospel accounts you’ll soon begin to pick up something of this vision and just how contrary the prevailing vision of God’s people is today.

Today it’s about protecting religious freedom, keeping the immigrant or alien out, denying the evil of the world system and systems within that, denying history, further marginalizing the marginalized to the place where they can no longer be, emphasizing a free market and what amounts to a rugged and often harsh capitalism which prioritizes money over people and over everything else, holding to a myth of olden times that never was, insisting on an absolute freedom as long as it lines up with the belief of its proponents so that others do not enjoy anything of the sort, and backing and being a part of an authoritarian rule which makes their vision of privilege and luxury at the expense of others, the law of the land.

Anyone who thinks this is all amiss needs to think again. Or better, simply begin to look at the prophets and Jesus. Read Amos, a good place to start (click above link). If it is not important to begin to see the vision of God and how that vision judges everything as well as points to the way of love of neighbor, as opposed to covetousness, then I guess so much of the Bible really doesn’t matter, at least not in what it’s trying to get at. Just old books for another time and place with little to no relevancy for us today, except maybe to get people to think about their own personal salvation or whatever.

when unity, including Christian unity is empty

For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine.

1 Corinthians 11:18-19; NRSVue

When the wealthy, privileged members of the Corinthian church we’re living it up even at the Lord’s table at the expense of the poor who came in late because of their work/jobs, along with a number of other issues between the rich and the poor in that setting, whatever unity would have been maintained would have been a farce, empty. On top of that was a penchant for division (1 Corinthians 1). But what if everyone in that situation would have just had to agree to live with all of that, to be united in the midst of all those differences, to get along in spite of the rich eating most of the meal and more or less drunk, all of that before the poor arrived? What if the poor just had to look past all of that?

Unity is a good ideal, but it all depends on what you mean. People might unite in spite of differences for some common cause only to disband later. The kind of unity Christ calls for is different. Yes, we sometimes have to put up with each other, true in every human relationship. But the kind of unity Christ calls for might very well mean division. Remember when Jesus taught that he had not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34-39)? He wasn’t speaking of an actual, literal sword, but of the inevitable divisions which come from following him, even in one’s family, dare I say, even church family? Jesus said that his true family were those who do God’s will (Mark 3:31-35).

Who did Jesus sit with often incurring the rebuke of the ones who had affluence and power? The disenfranchised, the despised. Those on the margins and outside of the boundaries of accepted society. Is it any different today?

The church rejects certain people. In the past those who were black who could not enter white Bible kind of church assemblies. In the present queer people who believe and want to follow Christ. The Spirit seems to be evidently working in their lives as much or more than any of the rest of us, yet they are held at arm’s length, not really fully included. Because the Bible tells them so, they say. In that case as in days of old, we would argue that Jesus draws a line. We have to agree to disagree. And most importantly, we have to quit holding on to a unity which is not real and certainly not practical. Or go ahead and keep pretending at the expense of those on the bottom who really are not full participants, not fully included no matter what.

Unity is not real or good if it’s merely unity for unity’s sake. It has to be an “in Christ” unity of the Spirit which refuses to budge from Jesus’s priorities. And yes, the other side will argue with their finger pointing at Scripture, both sides, actually (see the excellent exegetical work of Luke Timothy Johnson, etc.). There’s no use pretending and holding on to something that isn’t real. Believers can amicably part.

The basic thought here is derived from How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace, by Melissa Florer-Bixler. My understanding of what she is saying in that book, which resonates with me.

reality is reality (whether religion, science, or anything else)

Great are the works of the LORD,
studied by all who delight in them.

Psalm 111:2; NRSVue

Truth has always been contested with the echo of Pilate’s words to Jesus: “What is truth?” And today even facts such as what happened and who said what are regularly contested with “alternative facts.” There has never been a greater needed for thorough and objective journalism minus the opinion of the journalist. Of course, everyone has a bias in how news is told, but everyone should try to present a full and fair picture and ask questions on every side to hold everyone accountable, not much different from a jury of law to determine as is the case here, what’s beyond reasonable doubt.

Whether you’re talking about the faith of Christianity, “mainstream science,” history, or anything else, what is real is real completely apart from one’s opinion on it. It doesn’t really matter what you or I think about anything. What we think might become “our truth” by which we conduct our lives, not unlike Pilate of old. But that doesn’t mean it approximates truth or the truth or reality that much if at all. I may think science has it wrong on any number of things, and as I heard someone recently say, one could make a thorough argument that the moon is made of green cheese and surely convince some. But that doesn’t mean it’s made of green cheese. One can deny the existence of God, but even if you can’t prove philosophically that God does or does not exist, reality is reality. We in the faith find compelling reasons in our experience and in other ways that God does exist.

Conspiracies abound today, and while the United States has always seemed prone to have a good number of people who accept such, it seems more and more endemic, especially among some religious folks. Involved in this is a way of misunderstanding Scripture which brings with it an apocalyptic mindset, often with the refrain something like, “The signs of Jesus’s return are more present than ever.” It seems to me that for too many, conspiracies are the way of understanding most everything. And I suspect that propensity will never end. It’s not like no conspiracy ever existed, and sometimes there is some truth within a false narrative, but what happens is that the cry of “fire, fire” or “wolf, wolf” when there is no fire or wolf present can actually set us up for disaster on the occasions when there really is something unfolding before our eyes that we need to see. Such is actually happening today in a silently complicit or active Evangelically supported push against liberal democracy toward a Christian nationalism enacted by force. People need to become aware of that actual conspiracy so as to stand against it in a democratic, nonviolent way.

Reality includes not only facts but also understanding. What might be behind such thoughts or beliefs? Does that make them suspect? For example, Hitler championed the idea that the pure German “race” was Aryan and superior to all others, and that Jews should be exterminated. He alleged that such was based on facts. For any human being or group, that ought to be seen through for what it was and is, a blatant lie and not reality, but a nightmare. But even Christians in that day, including some Mennonites in Germany including German Mennonite pastors lined up with Hitler and even served as leaders in the military unit of Nazi Germany. That did come to a crashing, devastating end. But we see something of that same mindset rearing its head in many places including the United States.

Reality is reality. God is God. God is in control in the sense that God is indeed sovereign over the nations and over all things. God will judge and is judging. We often say, “Oh, how long Lord?” Too much doesn’t make sense to us. But whether we can grasp it or not, there is something for us to hold on to. Reality ultimately grounded in God through Christ. And humanity held accountable for all that is done on earth. We can bank on that.

why are the Christians* the most ardent supporters of guns and war?

The LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion.
May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices. Selah

May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans.
May we shout for joy over your victory
and in the name of our God set up our banners.
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.

Now I know that the LORD will help his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with mighty victories by his right hand.
Some take pride in chariots and some in horses,
but our pride is in the name of the LORD our God.
They will collapse and fall,
but we shall rise and stand upright.

Give victory to the king, O LORD;
answer us when we call.

Psalm 20; NRSVue

Some take pride in chariots and some in horses,
but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God.

Psalm 20:7; NRSVue

Some people trust in chariots, others in horses;
but we praise the LORD’s name.

Psalm 20:7; CEB

In surveys and what has been quite evident for decades, Christians support war and guns the most in the American populace. And evangelical Christians easily lead the way. What has converged as more or less a perfect storm is some degree of commitment to or belief in Christian nationalism, a white Christian nationalism to be precise given the story of history. Pride of place is given to that within the myth of a Christian nation with the insistence of either ignoring or explaining away history, for example kidnapping many Africans and making them slaves. All of that and much more is conveniently forgotten or minimized in the rush to see the United States as chosen by God in some unique sense. Forgetting that every nation and people (the indigenous peoples uprooted here as well) is unique and special. There is no question that the United States historically from the very start right up to the present time has its share of sins, whether dressed in Christian garb as slavery was, or not.

The church, followers of Christ are to be different than the world in Christ-like ways. Once Constantinianism swept the church, the way of Christ was essentially set aside for the way of the sword, the way of empire, hence the “Holy Roman Empire.” Church and state essentially became one. And again, the way of Christ except in cloisters and monastic life was all but set aside. The way of Jesus is always the way of the cross, the way of love for enemies in love for God and neighbor. Christians nowadays are often the loudest proponents of a view of the Second Amendment which is archaic in the present. Originalists so-called insist that this was what the founding documents insist, that each American can be loaded and ready to be a part of a militia movement in the name of freedom and what the founding fathers envisioned. “All men created equal” to the founding fathers of the United States specifically meant all males, specifically white males as far as actual function in participation in the fledgling democratic republic.

The follower of Christ, the church is meant to stand in marked contrast to this. There will be churches in traditions which will be more closely aligned with the state but are marked with the practice of love for neighbor worked out in practical love for the poor, the alien, the marginalized and so on in the way of Christ. Other churches committed to the same acts of love will readily help the state in areas where they can, but see the church as markedly distinct and separate from the state. Christ’s kingdom does not belong to this world, not coming from it (John 18:36). Hence, while Christians ought to love the nation in which they reside as earthly citizens, their true citizenship is in heaven with only one Lord, Christ, committed fully and in allegiance to the way of Christ alone. Too often quite different sadly than what has been seen historically and in the present time.

*Many Christians who more or less support some version of Christian Nationalism are not big advocates of guns and war. The title is a general statement. The more religious and church going, the more it has been found that there is some degree of tension and disapproval of war and the use of guns in support of a nationalistic vision. But I believe that the way of Christ is still in contrast to that as well.