The Kingdom of God and New Creation

Let's begin with eschatology (ha ha, begin with the end) which is the doctrine of last things. I have always avoided the subject of escatology because I hate popular escatology. For example the left behind series makes me gag. I purposely avoided the classes in Bible school, yet I couldn't quite pin down what it is that really bothered me about it. I think it was this constant focus on when Jesus will come back and this tribulation stuff. Yet there was something more that bothered me and only recently have I been able to put my finger on it. Someone once asked me if I thought we were living in the “last days.” I responded with what Peter said on the day of Pentecost. “This is that...” Yes I think we are living in the last days and we have been living in them for the past 2000 years. Our problem is that we have allowed so called prophecy experts to tell us how to read our bibles. Peter quotes Joel and says it is here, right now, but as he moves through the passage we hear that the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon will turn to blood. These images, I don't quite grasp, but they seem to be for a future time period. Which brings us to the “now and not yet”. The kingdom of God (God's sovereign rule, see Ladd "Gospel of the Kingdom pgs 13-23) has broken into the present time and will come to completion at the end of this evil age. Why else to we read such language as “firstfruits”, “foretaste”, “downpayment” , etc. 1 cor. 13:8-12 also.

What if the goal of salvation isn't simply to redeme us and get us to heaven? What if it is to redeme us and give us back the stewardship we lost in the garden, in God's new heaven and new earth?

So, the sovereign rule of God breaks into this evil age and is right now bringing about his new creation, right now, though incomplete. Jesus rising from the dead means something way greater than I ever thought before.

The Kingdom of God, the New Creation

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I propose a discussion on the Kingdom of God, what it means to pursue it and participate in it. What does the New Creation look like?

Well, it seems to me that in order to discuss what it means to participate in the Kingdom of God we must first define what the Kingdom of God is.

Since this is your proposal I assume you have given the topic some thought so I'll let you start with what you're thinking.

Do you mean that we are a new creation?

So don't post the reply in the comments but simply post your reply as a new post.

K

In Response to "The Lord's Prayer vs. God Bless America"

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This is in response to the following blog posting:

The Lord's Prayer vs. God Bless America

For this post to make sense you need to read that other post and it's associated comments.

Bear with me till the end.

The young man who died was not killed by illegal guns, he was killed by people.

People kill people, not guns. This is not just some pro gun rhetoric (at least for and from me) but a real point. The problem is people and that there are people who want to do harm to others. As long as we keep blaming external things for internal problems, these real and serious problems will never be addressed.

I don't see why the gun shop is involved at all since I've seen nothing to connect it with the death of Papito except its being three blocks away.

The organization "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" is not about stopping illegal gun violence but about banning guns.

They are not an honest organization (e.g. they have lied about how many mayors are involved and did not remove the names of mayors who chose to no longer be members). They are not a nuetral party that can be trusted.

The "Code of Conduct" looks interesting. Because it is associated with MAIG it is immediately suspect but since even a blind pig can stumble across an acorn the Code should be looked at on just its merits.

It looks like it is basically proposing two things. First, it proposes that gun shops follow existing laws. Second, it proposes that the gun shop engage in voluntary gun registration.

"Everything on that list is pretty much already what every FFL does. We never transfer a gun without that background check result. To do so is to invite the ATF up in your ass." (a quote from a gun dealer I checked with) Unless you want to go to jail you follow the law. and gun shops want to stay in business so they do even if they disagree with the laws. The laws are the requirements to do business. Guns are expensive so the idea that gun shops are lax in their security and are letting guns walk out the door is simply not a real situation.

So the first part of the Code is about doing things a gun shop already does.

With respect to the gun registration part there are three things that come to mind. First, there are some things that look like they are good that could come from gun registration. You might be able to track down the "straw purchasers" and that definitely seems good. However, I'll bet you that the gun that killed Papito was not bought through a straw purchase but was stolen. Such a vast Majority of the guns used in crimes are stolen that would go so far as to say that they are nearly ALL stolen.

Second, advocates of the second amendment are understandably distrustful of the government knowing they have a gun. Look at what happened in New Orleans with the gun confiscation? At a time when folks needed to be able to care for themselves the most, the government took away their means of self defense.

Third and finally, this ad hoc gun registration would be a significant financial burden for each gun shop.

So with respect to the gun registration aspect of the Code, it is asking guns shops to do something that has little bearing on actually reducing crime, it is an action that the gun shop will not agree with, and it will cost them money to do it.

So you have document that implies you are not doing certain things that you actually are doing (out of both common sense and to comply with existing laws), asks you to start doing something you believe is actually wrong, not useful, and expensive, and is delivered in a context that implies you are a bad guy if you don't sign it AND that you are somehow culpable for the tragic death that happened to take place close to your location.

Can we see why folks who are serious about the second amendment would take umbrage to this? The Code, in and of itself but particularly in this context, is insulting. Now we are proposing that the code is blessed by God?

The organization that is putting out the Code of Conduct is found at the following website:

www.heedinggodscall.org

Heeding God's Call.

Apparently God wants to implement this Code of Conduct.

Shane Claiborne made this a political issue and then runs behind a weak pacifist misinterpretation of Jesus. He writes in his article, Beauty and Ugliness in a Shooting’s Aftermath:

"When we look at Jesus’ cross we see what love looks like when it stares evil in the face. It is non-violent, it is forgiving, it is steady and courageous."

Jesus was NOT forgiving of evil. (". . .White washed tombstones with the stench of death inside. . .")

Jesus used violence
John 2:15
http://bible.cc/john/2-15.htm

Jesus didn't clear the temple with strong language.


Jesus' disciples carried weapons
John 18:10
http://bible.cc/john/18-10.htm

Jesus calls us to be armed and prepared
Luke 22:36
http://bible.cc/luke/22-36.htm

Jesus knew the disciples had weapons and was ok with it.
Luke 22:38
http://bible.cc/luke/22-38.htm

It seems that Mr. Claiborne's position is at best on shaky ground.

I hope you're still with me.

Regardless of where folks fall on the political spectrum, some of them can tolerate conflicting opinions and some cannot. Ideally a person encounters a conflicting view and assesses whether the author of the view is capable of having a dialogue or if he is just a goofball to be ignored.

Instead the gun shop folks got angry with Mr. Claiborne using the death of Papito to push an anti-gun political agenda and decided to express it. If I had been able to talk to them I would have said, "Let the dude in the goofy hat do his thing. He either is an unwitting pawn of MAIG or he knows what he is doing and would like the publicity."

practicingresurrection said:

'You can hear Shane say "There is no us and them on this"' (In the video)

When he made it political like that, when he introduced the Code, he created "us" and "them."

After looking into this a bit I do not agree that this is a case of one "side" with the Lord's Prayer and the other with God Bless America.

You have Mr. Claiborne agitating for pretty specific actions that are highly debatable and then masking it in Jesus' cloak.

The gun shop people weren't calloused, they were ANGRY. Why were they angry? That would be a good question to ask them but I'll bet you it wasn't because people were mourning the death of Papito.

The "God Bless America" song was rude but Mr. Claiborne created that situation.

I suspect the reason Mamasong posted this story was to illustrate the disturbing amalgamation of Christianity and Nationalism. This is an important discussion to have and there is no place in scripture where God tells us to love the USA. However, in light of what I see and have said above, I do not see this being a good example of it. Really it is all about guns and those who want American citizens to not have them.

K

Dogma

Danish police shoot intruder at cartoonist's home


Guy tries to knife danish cartoonist and gets shot.

This story brings up two things. First, foremost, and most obvious is guns are are great tools.

The second thing is that this is not a difference of religion (i.e. one scripture vs another) but a difference of dogma (i.e. one belief system vs another). One belief system holds that everyone involved in the discussion is strong enough to withstand criticism (e.g. parody) while the other holds that response to criticism of something sacred to that party (and only that party) reasonably includes attempting to kill the author and demonizing everyone from his country. A young man tries to kill on old man in the presence of his granddaughter because the old man DREW A PICTURE!!!

"Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, Over!"

Are Matt Stone and Trey Parker living in fear because on South Park they made fun of Christians or Mormons? Nope. They don't even need to fear for their lives when they made fun of Scientology. Do you realize what that means? Islamic fundamentalists are crazier than the folks running Scientology!

That's saying something.

Entitlement

Germany warned of unrest as French protesters turn violent

Tag line:

In the wake of violent worker protests in France, rhetoric over social unrest in Germany is growing as the economic crisis continues to take its toll.

This drives me nuts. "If there is no hope for things to improve?" Since when has there been no hope for improvement?

What really gets me is this idea that jobs are a right. You do not have a right to a job. A job is not owed you. You have a right to find the best job you can but the standard of living is not something your government guarantees you, it is something you strive for. Our ancestors strove for each of the following generations to have an opportunity for a better life. . . and succeeded. We have become so accustomed to a truly easy and comfortable life that we believe it is somehow a right we are entitled to.

There are actually poor people out there. I have seen homeless people in the United States living healthier, cleaner, easier, more comfortable lives than people gainfully employed in China (whom I have seen too). So you get no sympathy when you start protesting the loss of your job because the ECONOMY is bad.

Instead of getting angry that there is not enough work to go around we should go out and look for more work. I know unemployment is up and the size of the economy has been shrinking yet there are people opening new businesses. There are opportunities. I'm not saying it is easy, I'm saying it is possible.

And let's not forget what got us here. Greed and myopia got us here. If people had not engaged in activities that folks new flat out were stupid we would not be where we are now. EVERYBODY is guilty from the top banking CEOs to the dumb folks who took out a loan they could not afford to the person who gave them that loan and so on.

We are not entitled to a standard of living. We are not entitled to house and we are not entitled to a job.

Entitlement. It is killing us.

Making History

I am sick of people saying that Obama is poised to make history. Obama already HAS made history. It is not a triumph for the so-called "black community" if he wins and it is not a failure from racist bigotry if he loses.

We have a female vice presidential candidate on a competitive ticket. Hillary was in a dead heat with Obama and Obama has been taken seriously as a candidate. Obama is not some fringe racial politics wacko like Jesse Jackson. Obama may actually win the election. He has ALREADY made history. Winning the election is just icing on the cake. Now people who are not white and people who are not men can look and see that their race and gender are not what keeps them from being President of the United States.

I wonder what the results will be.

The Definition

Kümtoi is similar to a feeling. One experiences Kümtoi. Freedom is a component of Kümtoi as is exploration. It is often inspired by simplifying. Clear objectives do not inspire Kümtoi. However, one can experience it whilst accomplishing clear objectives but Kümtoi is not about accomplishing, it is about being.

This is not about achieving "pure state of being." This is something that can be achieved, that has been achieved and experienced and I have experienced many times. It is something that I believe most people experience from time to time.

I experience Kümtoi when I work on my motorcycle and when I ride it. Not always but often.

You may notice that words like "joy" are missing from the list of aspects. That is because joy and emotions and feelings like it do not initiate Kümtoi nor are they a part of it. Joy can be a byproduct or consequence.