Kingdom allegiance
This may be July, but it's still a good time for Christians to consider Larry Chouinard's meditations on June, the month bracketed in the United States by two holidays that celebrate victory in warfare:
What makes this time particularly difficult for me is that while I grieve the loss of lives in our nation’s wars, and feel particularly blessed to live within the national boundaries of the USA, I am also a citizen of an alternative Kingdom, not of this world, to which I owe my ultimate allegiance. Hence, rather than salute or commend those who kill or who were killed for nationalistic causes, I grieve that fallen humanity continues to resort to military force and intimidation to resolve worldly tensions. It is even more disconcerting when Christians seem to applaud such efforts as heroic, and give their unqualified support to a imperialistic agenda of empire building.Good question. I recommend reading the whole essay.
God’s Kingdom knows no boundaries, and its appeal does not come by military force or capitalistic propaganda, but by the loving message of Christ and the sacrificial power of the cross. Ours is the true mission of liberation that seeks to rescue fallen humanity from the tyranny of sin. While the nations resort to wars and the barrel of a gun, we preach a message of peace modeled after our King and calculated to create “one new humanity” (Eph.2:14-18), without national or ethnic boundaries that divide. Surely the means God used in Jesus to respond to human injustice and violence ought to be an authoritative model for those who embrace his Reign (see Rom. 5:6-8).
Why then has the church continually muted the message of the Crucified One, who calls his followers to a different course of action when confronted with evil and the brutality of unrestrained political power?
posted by Milton Stanley at 6:56 AM
2 Comments:
I wonder if the same thinking that says "peace" and "love" should be the way Christians act in the face of war should also feel equally about police. Should we not allow the world to do with us as they please? Let them steal from us, beat us and abuse our daughters. A little bit of love should fix it. Humm? We don't feel that way when imminent danger is in our face. Only when we are in a safe home already protected by the sacrifices of others do we voice our protest.
I for one am grateful to those who pick up a gun and defend my borders! Who have fought for the privilege I now enjoy. Kind David seemed to be able to "pull off" being both a citizen of this world and of the "better" world. I pray I can find that same place.
You're exactly right, Mark. Years ago I was a pacifist, but my views on police protection (glad to have it) led me to extend that view to the military. Subsequently I joined the military and became a combat engineer platoon leader.
I didn't read Mr. Chouinard's post as an argument against military action but as a warning against Christians giving as much or higher allegiance to the nation as to God.
Christians may appreciate the military, or even serve in it, but our ultimate allegiance must be to the one who provides our ultimate protection: God. At times allegiance to country does not conflict with allegiance to God's Kingdom, but at other times it does, even in the West.
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