Friday, June 20, 2008

Mind Stretching





This is a book on my current reading list. It has done many things during my time hammering through the pages. I have laughed, I have been disturbed, I have felt anger both at situations or even at the author, and have been gazing at the book with my jaw dropped wide open. This book has helped me think of America, and politics, in a whole new light. When thinking about politics Christians or followers of Christ must always seek after the Bible first and give our allegiance to Jesus and only to Jesus. While I don't always agree with what the author has stated, there have been some strong statements that have been hard to swallow while also being hard to deny. 

So in the midst of our political time and thinking about voting, if you consider yourself a Christian or a Christ follower and have been one for some time and are looking to read an interesting book the pulls politics in the mix, this might be a great read for you. It will probably make you angry from time to time but it will cause you to think, expand, and grow in your ideas of American Politics and Jesus. 

Here is a brief quote from page 167. "How do we live faithfully to God? But then the church inherited a kingdom. And it wasn't the kind of servant kingdom Jesus imagined and incarnated, not the kingdom of the slaughtered Lamb; it was the dominant and coercive force in charge of the world, even in its pursuit of establishing 'justice for all.' Instead of faithfulness, the question was, How do we run the world as Christians? This question would echo throughout the centuries in questions like, How do I run this profit-driven corporation as a Christian? How can we make culture more Christian? How would a responsible Christian run this war? But Jesus taught that his followers--or even the Son of God!---should not attempt to 'run the world.'" (Claiborne & Haw) 

Below is also a video of the main author explaining the book in more detail. 



-Cheers!

2 comments:

CitizenJMAC said...

Too many people ask the question "How should we run the world as Christians" and do not realize that they're asking the wrong question.

Thanks Kevin, good to hear from you. I haven't updated my blog in quite some time. Sorry.

Weird Fishes just barely didn't make the cut. It was an exceptional year for music.

Kevin said...

Indeed it was. I look forward to listening to a few songs on that list that I have not heard yet.

You still playing music?

Anyway, thanks for the post, good to hear from you again.