Let's put 'Christian anarchists' aside for now since I think we more wish to argue with regular old God-hating anarchists/punks/activists/leftists. The message we need to deliver to these people is this: capitalism, democracy, or whatever is not the right enemy. Sin is.
People concerned primarily with social justice often completely lack personal justice. Activists I know are not only the most sexually immoral people I have ever met, they are also the most, disloyal, lying, stealing and cheating. They have elevated their feeling of oughtness about social justice to the point where it had drowned out their feeling of outness (otherwise known as a conscience) in their personal lives. You cannot escape Genesis Three.
I totally agree. I will add more and comment in further posts on my activist/punk rock past. I still consider myself both of these (I always will) but my life is all about Christ now. It's funny and amazing how the Lord works. I'm born again and loving every minute of it. God Bless you all and I hope that Greg and my columns can inspire or comfort folks like us in the world. I know you are out there. It can be a very lonely ride, but just look at Paul in prison and you will realize that you have brothers and sisters in Christ all around. Don't fret.
ReplyDeleteWell my advice to the activist/leftist/punk to relay the importance of dealing with sin BEFORE you can ever deal with an outward entity like Capitalism or anything is twofold, and I'll use their terms to make sure you understand my meaning ( kinda like Jesus used parables):
ReplyDelete1st, a big phrase in their world is "think Globally, ACT Locally" . This is actually how Jesus works. the "Local" being YOUR OWN BODY. Change that, change your heart, your motive, your very soul to Goodness and Love and honoring creation through honoring its Creator, and you WILL undoubtedly effect everyone globally around you to want, even thirst for that Love too. Not only that, but you'll see more clearly to take that speck of imperfection out of others eyes around the world when you've taken that plank out of your own heart.
And Secondly, like it says in "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance", when you go after Capitalism as EVIL or Corporate Greed as EVIL, you're going after the EFFECT instead of the CAUSE, in which case even if you destroyed it, another equally man made imperfect thing will rise up in its place. But if you went to the SOURCE of man made problems, Sin (Pride/Lust/Coveting,etc) if you found how to destroy THAT, the rest of the imperfections will fall as well. And the only one who can defeat that, since we humans are too weak (though if you can show me a perfect human that would be cool), only God can overcome it. Without admitting our sin and going to Him, it'll just be endless Cycle for you guys.
Now, on THIS side of Heaven, sadly, living amongst billions of imperfect being shuffling around, no system will be perfect even with this Understanding. But that being said, if Everyone did come to God and repent, wow, what an incredibly BETTER World from the Heart out to the World this would be, indeed.
(sorry about the length of the Post, will be shorter next time)
That was amazing, Sir Christian-a-lot.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me think of a John Piper video I will have to post soon where he is going on about waging war against your own sin. It's pretty hardcore and right on.
Another thing, as a recovering punk/activist I was always against everything. I couldn't tell you what I was for pretty much ever. I was angry all the time and full of sin. Now that I'm saved, I see the world in a whole different light. I see that I have to be for Christ in all things that I do and that is pretty much the word hesed (which entails everything that is God). It's a beautiful word and again I'll talk about that more when I bring up all of the covenants, what have you. I'm soo excited to start talking more about all of this Christian stuff that until now I didn't feel I had an outlet or audience.