Christian Nationalism and Supercessionism

As the political rhetoric in the United States continues its descent into utter, irretrievable ridiculousness, the new label of the Left to describe Republicans is "Christian Nationalists". No one seems to be able to put their finger on exactly what a Christian Nationalist is, but hey, in the modern age you have to shoot first and ask questions later. I got to thinking about this label today in light of some of the theological things I've learned over the past few years and it seems to me that the idea of Christian Nationalism, if it even exists, grows in large part out of Supersessionism, that is, the idea that God has transferred his promises from Israel to the Church. More specifically in this case, it is the idea that somehow the United States of America is at the center of God's plan for the earth.

The Aroma of Life and the Aroma of Death

 "For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God." 2 Corinthians 2:15-17

 

Sometimes I have a little extra time on my hands and I read a few articles at The Gospel Coalition website and today I saw one on obedience. I have been thinking about obedience lately and so that article was particularly timely. I typically find myself reading TGC articles with a pretty critical eye, but I found the author's thoughts to be very much in-line with my own. Somewhere along the way, obedience became a 4-letter word in the Church but obedience really lies at the heart of what it means to be a disciple. Jesus didn't say 'do whatever you want and follow me'. He said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." I've been in more than a few conversations over the years around this topic and inevitably someone will say, "well, we want to be careful to avoid legalism..." Even when I've heard preachers speak on obedience, you will often hear them qualify their remarks with something about avoiding legalism. Having said that - it seems like we are far closer to license than we are to legalism in our modern age. I know that's true for myself. We seem much more apt to excuse our own choices than we are to veer towards legalism.

Confession

I feel completely callused towards geopolitics and even to suffering in the world. I see what's happening with Russia/Ukraine, I read about what's happened in Turkey/Syria and truthfully, I just don't care. I want to care, I want to feel for the people who are suffering the effects of a devastating earthquake or who are feeling the ravages of a war that has been going on for over a year, but I don't. Then I start to wonder to myself, should I care? Should I care about things that I wouldn't otherwise know about except for the availability of information and which in no way affect my daily life? I don't know the answer to that question, it's just a question that crosses my mind.

A Vexing Question

I've heard about Andy Stanley's recent comments about homosexuality and the church and read some of the articles on The Gospel Coalition website and heard their calls for clarification from NorthPoint and from Mr. Stanley.

Here's the question I'm struggling with: we all agree that the Church is full of sinners and while we'd like to believe that all those attending Sunday services are actively resisting sin, we know that in reality that's not true. I've heard the argument that what makes homosexuality different than other sins is that most often, those living a homosexual lifestyle are claiming that it is not sinful, or are openly promoting that lifestyle or asking others to affirm their choices. Knowing that there are others in the congregation who are leading sinful lifestyles that have nothing to do with sexuality, how can the Church tell one group that they cannot be involved while allowing the other group to stick around? Does the Church have a permissibility problem or a discriminatory problem?

So I guess that's more like 2-3 questions. Right now, I'm leaning more towards 'the church has a permissibility problem' side of things. When we are inconsistent in how we respond to and address sin, no matter its flavor, then we get into situations where we appear to be condemning some sins and accepting others. Open to having my mind changed.

Let Israel Be Israel

There have been plenty of books written about this topic within the past 25 years and I think that as time moves forward, a lot of academia is coming around to a view that in order to make sense of the Biblical storyline as a whole (inclusive of both the Old and New Testaments) Israel and the Jewish people have to still matter to God. When I was first introduced to some of these ideas a few years ago, I would have considered myself indifferent to Israel. I did not harbor any particular animosity towards the Jews, nor did I think about them much at all...as it related to my own faith, Israel and the Jewish people didn't come to mind. Now my thinking is completely different. This post is a reflection of my own desire to be able to explain, in a simple way, to a fellow Christian why I think Israel remains important and why I think we as Gentile Christians need to be a little more careful when we read our Bibles. I also want to explain why I don't think it should be threatening to recognize that we (Gentiles) are not God's chosen people.

Where It Started

A few years ago I decided to go very deliberately through the covenants, specifically the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic covenant and the 'New' covenant. In fact, I created a post for this blog based on that exercise. One of the things that became glaringly obvious was that ALL of those covenants were made specifically with the nation of Israel. Even with the Abrahamic covenant, which is obviously made before Israel became a nation, the very first thing God says is "I will make you into a great nation" -- it is clear that through Abraham, God has the nation of Israel ultimately in mind. Every other covenant is made explicitly and specifically to Israel, including the 'new' covenant (Jeremiah 31) which starts, "Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of mankind and the seed of animals."

Don't Be Afraid of Your Curiosity

I was thinking about my own curiosity today - specifically I was reflecting on the fact that I'm not afraid of my curiosity, but I am sometimes afraid of what other people might think of my curiosity. Here's a very recent example:

I've been doing a lot of reading/listening about psychedelics, which all started after I read the book "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test". The curiosity is specifically around LSD, DMT, and psilocybin mushrooms - not for recreational purposes, but for the potential of a spiritually significant experience; one that gets me out of my normal modes of operation. I've read a couple of books, watched a very interesting documentary called "How to Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollan and listened to interviews** with several people including Paul Stamets who is one of the leading mycologists (mushroom scientist) in the world.

After reading and listening and watching, I was curious. I started to consider the prophets and prophetic literature in general...it is often full of bizarre imagery and sounds very similar to the 'trip reports' you hear from various people who have had psychedelic experiences. Very curious.

Food for Thought: The Trinity

I'm a regular reader of Skip Moen's daily blog and highly recommend him to everyone. He is thoughtful, well-read, and clear in his writing. He is like you and me - on a journey to deeper understanding. He doesn't pretend to be an authority, he is honest with where he is at, and he likes to wrestle. I can appreciate all of these things. Yesterday, he wrote a post entitled "Evangelizing the Jews" and at the end of the post was a provocative quote about the Trinity. I understand why modern Christians hold the doctrine of the Trinity so close, but might he have a point? The Church has made this doctrine a cornerstone of theology...but no where in Scripture, Old Testament or New, is this doctrine explicitly laid out. Anyway - here's the quote:

"Perhaps you haven't thought of the far-reaching implications of a Trinitarian view of Scripture. Perhaps all that theological discussion of the dual nature of Jesus, the virgin birth, the historical background battle between Athanasius and Arius, and the equivocation over the idea of "person" was just too much to examine. But now you see that ideas have consequences, and this idea, that Jesus is God and must be acknowledged as such, changes everything about the status of the Jew. Can I be bold enough to say that the Trinity is the fundamental antisemitic doctrine of the Church, and until we deal with its divisive intent, any substantive interaction is ultimately impossible?"

 That's certainly a lot to think about...read the full post to get the context.