Shouldn't all Evangelicals want Christian Nationalism?

[2PhiloVoid]

You do have an absolutist position if you believe sedition or resistance is not permitted for Christians.

Right. It is not. However, this isn't to say that if the Roman government insists that a Christian deny that Christ is Lord and that only Caesar is to be recognized as any possible Lord, and if "sedition" is gerrymandered by the Romans to in that way, then we as Christians would have to refuse to comply. Of course, the problem here is that we know what happened to Christians in the 1st and 2nd centuries who refused to comply and instead maintained that Jesus is "KURIOS."

As Christians, we're not going to simply bow to the verbal assertion of the power of 666. The fact that we're not going to do this and that we think we should not bow to it as a principle of Christian ethics, should be obvious to any non-Christians in the World who know anything about the last 2,000 years of Christian History.

If we are at the whims of others and their determinations, we cannot hope to have any sovereignty over ourselves. Interestingly enough modern day Armenian territory was recently invaded by Azerbaijan and the Armenians there were expelled from their homes. I suppose you'd prefer this outcome to actually resisting the Azerbaijanis but there's even more talk about Azerbaijan making more moves in the future. What if Azerbaijan thought all of Armenia is preferable to some of it and all the Armenian Christians there were expelled. Is the Christian solution to simply let Azerbaijan conquer?

The Christian solution, I think, would first remember and apply what Jesus and His Apostle and earliest disciples taught about the presence of perhaps any other power that acted as an "Abomination of Desolation." If Jesus said, "Flee" rather than fight, then I suppose that if I find myself in a similar position with tyrannical overlords at the door, I'd have to "flee."

..... However, if in a modern autonomous nation that is being overrun by a foreign power, I'd say we could voluntarily join the military of our nation and fight to defend our nation and our families.

Going back to WW1. You maintain that the Armenians should have simply gone along with being marched into the desert? Armenian women taken by Islamic Turkish men, their children raised as Muslims?

No, I've maintained no such thing. You, however, are placing words in my mouth that have not been said or implied.

 

[o_mlly]

Do you think getting married is allowed O Mily? Have you sold all your possessions? Have you gouged out your eyes because you've likely looked at porn?

That cuts it. If your tradition has the Sacrament of Reconciliation, then consider availing yourself of it.

 

[eclipsenow]

Dr John Dickson - Phd in history, theologian, and apologetics podcaster for Undeceptions (although he hates the word apologetics), recently said on Facebook:

My only Christian commentary on the US election …​

Confident Christians know that the election of the US President—though important—is not the most important thing going on in the world right now, nor even the most important thing going on in America right now.​

Persuading people about Christ is infinitely more important, and it is not dependent on the election.​

One of the dominant themes of the Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation is that the saving purposes of God in no way depend on political or structural power, and, indeed, can (and will) thrive even where God’s people are opposed by those powers.​

Of course, it’s wonderful to be able to vote for leadership/policies that more closely align with our values. But this new privilege mustn’t obscure the original vision of the New Testament: Persuasion, prayer, service, and suffering for the gospel are the principal means of God’s work in the world.​

Confident Christians are busy getting on with the main work, while also gratefully engaging with politics.​

Unconfident Christians, on the other hand …

John runs one of the most BRILLIANTLY produced podcasts I've ever heard - Christian or secular. He travels the world to interview the foremost thinkers on the interface between science, ethics, philosophy and faith. They somehow make even episodes about Medieval History interesting - even if it wasn't high on my 'need-to-know' radar at the time. (The one on the so-called "Dark Ages" was fascinating - all about how the very term is one of the most successful pieces of anti-church propaganda ever! There WERE no "Dark Ages"!)

But back to politics. This is a great episode where John covers more on our approach to politics. I highly encourage everyone to give it a go.

Tom Wright – known to most as N.T. Wright – is an acclaimed New Testament scholar and theologian, who served as archbishop of Durham between 2003 – 2010. He now works at Oxford as a senior research fellow with Wycliffe Hall and spends most of his spare time writing acclaimed works of theology (with currently over 80 works published).​

​

Political Jesus

Undeceptions Episode 122: How does Jesus engage with the political powers of the world? What does this mean for Christians in power?

undeceptions.com