Tuesday 29 January 2002

Pic of the day: Simple solutions to complex problems, the Christian way. Well, in the middle ages at least. (Screenshot from Dark Age of Camelot, as usual.)

Kingdom come, but not yet

It disturbs me when I see fellow Christians strive for political power. Evidently they want to promote Christian values. But I do not think this is the time to promote Christian values in the populace, certainly not to enforce them. This is the time to promote Christian values in your local church, and enforce them in your own life.

When Jesus returns from Heaven in glory, with the shout of an archangel, then is the time to promote Christian values all over the place. Not now.

(In the unlikely case that Jesus does not ever return, it goes without saying that we should not have promoted specifically Christian values in the first place, because the guy was a fraud. So I won't use any more time on that hypothesis.)

According to the Christian Bible, Jesus was tempted once by Satan to gain political power. In fact, power over all the world's kingdoms. The only problem was that he first had to bend knee to Satan. Things have changed a bit, but I think the principle still holds. If you want the political power to enforce Christian values on the populace, you will have to make some minor concessions ... that will in retrospect show up as bending knee to the Dark One.

***

I think we should concentrate on such fundamental Christian values as humility, forgiveness, charity, humility, prayer and then some more humility for good measure.

The idea of trying to make a God's Kingdom on Earth on our own, without waiting for the Lord, seems quite blasphemous to me. What we should want, and work for I think, is the freedom to worship in peace and to assemble in peace and to practice our belief without undue interference from outsiders. In return, should we not do the same unto them?

I am certainly not saying that we should promote anti-Christian values. Just by being who we are, we will influence the world around us. If that influence is not enough, perhaps it is because we are not who we should be. I hold this possibility more and more open with each passing year.