05-11-2011, 09:37 PM
Grace62 wrote:
[quote=kj]
>>Also looking at the parables, I would disagree with kj that he was mostly talking about individual relationships and not society as a whole. Very frequently he was talking about the latter.
I'd agree he was talking about society as a whole, as in every individual in existence, but I don't think he was talking about how institutions (economic/political) should "behave", as in how they should operate and be built. Individuals within the institutions for sure, but not the institutions themselves. There's a lot of guidance about how churches should be set up, but I'm not aware of any guidance related to types of governments (again, guidance for leaders as individuals, etc.). kj.
I wasn't referring to any "guidance for setting up government."
Jesus (and the Bible in general) refer to justice a lot. Think of Martin Luther King jr and the civil rights movement, his faith was his guide in calling for sweeping societal changes, and he needed gov't on board to do that. Likewise a century before the abolitionists were inspired by their Christian faith to fight for the end of slavery, an institution supported by gov't and whose end had to be mandated by gov''t. It's impossible to separate these things and say that the gospel is only about relationships between individuals, it's not.
Yeah, that's the justification that I have heard, and all I can say is that for sure I consider that a valid point (I probably 75% agree), but there's a personal responsibility for us to make sure our faith is in God, not the gov't. I'm afraid (I won't say I know) that Christians forget that. He asks us to be generous, not only for what it does for others, but what it does for us. If taxes were the majority of our generosity, I think we'd be missing out on a lot. I recognize this is complex, fuzzy stuff, but I think that's actually part of the "struggle" we're supposed to engage in. I'm glad it's not algorithmic. kj.