Declaration of Independence

I have been thinking about the declaration of independence and especially this section:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Then I thought about what scripture says in relation to these and what a Christian declaration of Independence might look like.

I find this truth to be self evident in the word of God that all men are created to be subject to Christ and each other, (Eph 5:21-24),
21(AT)and be subject to one another in the (AU)fear of Christ.
22(AV)Wives, (AW)be subject to your own husbands, (AX)as to the Lord.
23For (AY)the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the (AZ)head of the church, He Himself (BA)being the Savior of the body.
24But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
That through The Lord Jesus Christ we have been given certain rights, the right to suffer for His name's sake (Acts 5:41-42) (Rom 8:16-18)


Acts 5: 41 So they departed from the presence of the council, mrejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for 1His name. 42 And daily nin the temple, and in every house, othey did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Rom 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

The right to consider all things loss for the sake of Christ (Phillipians 3:7-8)
7But (Q)whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of (R)knowing (S)Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,

And the right to be subject to the government and King even if that government raises the taxes on the tea!

1 Samuel 8:5-22 and 1 Peter 2:17-24

Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations." 6But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7And the LORD said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you,(F) for they have not rejected you,(G) but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them(H) and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them."
10So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11He said,(I) "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you:(J) he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some(K) to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14(L) He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men[a] and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves,(M) but the LORD will not answer you in that day."
19But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, "No! But there shall be a king over us, 20(N) that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles." 21And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. 22And the LORD said to Samuel,(O) "Obey their voice and make them a king." Samuel then said to the men of Israel, "Go every man to his city."

1 Peter 2:17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear sGod. Honor the king 18 tServants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. 19 For this is ucommendable, if because conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For vwhat credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For wto this you were called, because Christ also suffered for 5us, xleaving 6us an example, that you should follow His steps:
22 “Who ycommitted no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;
23 zwho, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but acommitted Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 bwho Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, cthat we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— dby whose 7stripes you were healed.

Alexander Campbell a Pacifist?

So as I was doing some research for my upcoming Biblical Research paper I came across a book called "The Disciple of Peace: Alexander Campbell on Pacifism, Violence, and the State" by Craig M. Watts, and I thought to myself surely if Alexander Campbell, one of the founders of the Restoration Movement, had been a pacifist, and myself entering my senior year at a Restoration Movement school, then surely if he was a pacifist that would have been mentioned somewhere at somepoint...right? Well he was and it wasn't.

That being said I thought I would just give a few quotes from the book and show that maybe, just maybe those of us who have found ourselves as pacifists or to quote Mr. Axton "Aggressively non-violent" might be more inline with the Restoration Movement tradition than we thought.

"The sermon on the mount is an exponent on the Saviour's mind and will on the subject of war. If he would not have any of them to render evil for evil, and if he pronounced the highest honor and blessing on the peace-makers, who can imagine that he could be the patron of war!"

"War is not now, nor was it ever, a process of justice. It never was a test of truth- a criterion of right. It is either a mere game of chance or a violent outrage of the strong against the weak. Need we any more proof that a Christian people can in no way countenance a war as a proper means of redressing wrongs, of deciding justice, or of settling controversies among nations?"

After reading a poem on the horrors of war: " Yet even these say to the Christian, "How can you become a soldier? How countenance and aid this horrible work of death?"

"The precepts of Christianity positivley inhibit war- by showing that "wars and fightings come from men's lusts" and evil passions, and by commanding Christians to follow peace with all men."

And lastly: "The beatitudes of Christ are not pronounced on patriots, heroes, or conquerors but on peacemakers.

I have recommended this book to a few people and having now completed it I highly recommend it. It details an important part of Campbell's faith that has been swept under the rug and even though some of his policies I disagree with, he still supported the death penalty, all in all it was quite encouraging.

So I hope two posts in one day will improve my status as the "least prolific blogger on the internet" which was given to me by a good friend.

Time Warp

So it has been a while I know and I plan on writing a more intellectually stimulating post in the very near future but for the moment I just want to ask the question.... What year is it anyway?



You may be thinking what are you talking about it's 2008 of course.......or is it?



This summer we have Indiana Jones on the bigscreen along with Batman fighting the Joker. In 1989 we had Indiana Jones on the bigscreen and Batman fighting the joker. One of the top video rentals this year has been the atrociously awful (sorry had to put that in) Rambo. In 1988 one of the top video rentals was Rambo 3. 1984 Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was realeased and became the highest selling album of all time. This year Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was released and became the best selling album of the year so far. The Lakers and the Celtics are in the NBA finals now or 1987, The Giants won the Super Bowl 1986 and finally George Bush is president. So it could just be me or maybe too much LOST but I think we may be stuck in a Time Warp (1975 Rocky Horror Picture Show).



And quickly since I haven't posted since just after Eowyn was born and that post was a bit panicky (not sure that's a word and don't care) but the dad thing is amazing and some how you end up sort of figuring it out as you go. By the way Eowyn is the cutest baby in the world I can say without a doubt although I admit possibly a little bias.

Eowyn

So Eowyn is here for those of you who don't know that is the name of my daughter. By the way the name is from the Lord of the Rings and not it is not the elf it is the blond haired woman who kills the wraith in the third film and it is pronounced long A long O and then Win so like A o win but Eowyn.
We were pretty sure she wouldn't be here for oh tweny days or so but she apparently had other ideas. I have to say it's hard not to look at her and not say God is amazing. And let me briefly lay out four things I have learned so far about being a dad.

1. I have no idea what I'm doing.
2. So far I suck at being a dad.
3. Maybe the point of being a dad is to keep them alive and hopefully not screw them up too bad and I wonder if everyone is as terrified as I am.
4. She already has me in the palm of her hand.

I am fed up

Why is it that we hold on to dumb ideas for so long. You may ask what am I talking about. Why is it that as people who claim to love God and believe the bible is inspired and yet we think following the bible is about voting republican, hating homosexuals, and abortion doctors but when it comes down to loving your neighbor, loving your enemy, turning the other cheek we don’t care! I have become so frustrated with people trying to represent Jesus but that have no love for anyone. The suburban church that ignores anything that happens to people who are not white and rich has to be taken back behind the barn and shot. I know that was a rather aggressive statement for a pacifist, but these things happen. The most frustrating part of all of it is that I have been a part of and am still fighting my way out of that mindset. We only love who are comfortable for us to love but that is not what Jesus intended for his church ,which by the way , is his not ours. Jesus had a whole new way of living that he intended to introduce to the world and it was not just about his dying on the cross, it was also about his living. You know his living All that stuff in the gospels that take place before the cross, like the sermon on the mount, the woman caught in adultery those sorts of things……. trust me it’s in there. But for many Christians, Christianity is about saying the right things, being in the club and not about living the life. When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment he responded with love God with everything and love your neighbor. That is what Christianity is about, not being in the club or out of the club it is about following Jesus not about “being saved” and yes I realize that by posting this some people may vote me out of the “saved” group but I have never been more confident of being in the “following Jesus” group and I am pretty happy with that trade off and maybe if we start reading some of that other stuff in the gospels and listening to what it says and not bringing in our own interpretation maybe we can actually make a difference in the world and maybe it will be just a little bit better of a place to live. Oh and by the way Jesus would be “green” and yes I know that is hard for hardcore conservatives to take but deal with it, it’s the right thing to do. And lastly I realize this is might be a little to unloving of a post on loving, but currently I’m not sure how to work that out.

Thanks for reading, Tom.