We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

Christian Utopia

HARRY CLARKE - St Thomas Aquinas

Fergal of Claddagh, OP via Compfight

A little meditation on Christian Utopia and the Body Politic as we stand poised on the eve of the election in America. We affirm that Jesus will indeed “establish His kingdom on earth” but it won’t come through the exercise of power. Rather, God’s kingdom will come as his people imitate his self-sacrificial willingness to serve.

From the blog:

This brand of Christianity comes from the idea that God will establish His kingdom on earth. It will be established through human power and might leading to a form of theocracy in which the Christian God will rule their nation through divinely elected Christian men and women. This is the very same ideology that permeated 1st century Judaism as they waited in eager anticipation for their prophesied Messiah to deliver them from the great oppressor and establish a great Jewish utopia. When Jesus the true Messiah came to Jerusalem not on a majestic steed with pomp and circumstance, but instead on an obscure colt with only a few ragtag disciples trailing behind, the Jews were most assuredly disappointed. Only later did they witness this Jewish King being flogged and ultimately executed upon a Roman instrument of death known as a cross. Little did they know that the Kingdom of God was indeed in their midst. But, the way in which Jesus became King and Lord over all was not by might, power, and politics, but through the sheer love, grace, truth, peace, sacrifice, and service toward others. Not a single sword was raised, nor a single political action signed; His kingdom was ushered in by individuals willing to love and serve others at the expense of sacrificing their own lives just like their King.

Category:
Tags: ,

Related Reading

In a democracy, don’t Christians have a responsibility to participate in politics?

Question: You’ve argued that Christians shouldn’t try to gain power in government on the grounds that Jesus didn’t try to gain power in the political system of his day. But his government didn’t allow for such power. Caesar and Pilate weren’t elected by anyone. Our government allows for this. So don’t we have a responsibility…

“…citizens of the kingdom of God need to take care to distinguish…” [Quotes]

“…citizens of the kingdom of God need to take care to distinguish between their core faith and values on the one hand and the particular way they politically express their faith and values on the other.”

What is the Kingdom of God (Part 1)

We all know what the Kingdom of God is, right? But this is precisely the problem. Since we are all to a large extent products of our culture, what seems obviously true and right to us will be at least influenced, if not determined, by what seems obviously true and right to our culture. This,…

Good Gifts

Every good thing in our lives is an unmerited gift from God. This includes your specific skills, strengths, and talents. Here Greg discusses the importance of recognizing that our gifts are on loan from God, and we are entrusted with them to be a blessing to others. Click here to view the complete sermon and other resources.

Can the Church Make Any Real Progress in the Politics of this World? (podcast)

In this episode Dan challenges Greg on whether Christians can make any progress in the world. episode 26 Links: Greg’s book: “The Myth of a Christian Nation“ http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0026.mp3

Capitalism and Greed

It’s hard to deny that capitalism is the best economic system around. It creates wealth far better than feudalism, communism, socialism or any other system one could name. But for all its advantages, capitalism has one major drawback that Kingdom people need to be concerned about: it needs people to stay perpetually hungry for more.…