What did Jesus Christ teach about the duty that Christians owe to the governments of the nations they live in? What did the Apostles teach about what the duty of a Christian is to the governments of the nations that Christians live in? What do Christ and His Apostles teach about the relationship between Christians and the governments of the world? What did Christ and His Apostles teach about the government of God and the Christian’s loyalty to it? IN this article I use the New testament to answer all these questions and explain exactly what the Bible teaches about the relationship of the true disciple of Jesus Christ and the governments of the world.
Tag: Jesus Christ
The Place of Politics in the Church
This Lost LDS Classic looks at the role of partisan politics (loyalty to political parties) and nationalism play in the role of Latter-day Saint culture and religious practice. The political divisions in the church are both bothersome and poisonous. The Body of Christ, the Kingdom of God, should not be divided by the political ideologies of the world. The more we allow ourselves to be defined by our politics – as “liberal” Mormons, “conservative” Mormons, etc. – the more we weaken ourselves, disrupt our Christian unity, and weaken our ability to establish Zion and do the work that God has given us. Nationalism and political partisanship have no place in the Kingdom of God and the sooner we drive them from our hearts and minds the more we become Saints of the Most High God and true Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
The Patient Faith of the Three Wise Men
There is much to learn from the Christmas story. In this article I explore the identities of the shepherds and the Wise Men – who they were, where they were form, what made them different and special, why they were chosen, what their experiences were, and what we can learn from them. These two groups are powerful examples of the different ways people gain testimonies of Christ and what it means to be a witness of Christ in the world. There stories and their examples have a great deal to teach us about what it means to be Christians in the world today.
What Mormon Teaches Us About War And Loving Our Enemies
Whenever I point out that Captain Moroni’s example doesn’t justify modern Saints going to war because he lived the Law of Moses and we live the Law of Christ and that modern revelation commands us to renounce war completely the response is inevitable. I always get some version of, “What about Mormon and his son, Moroni? They were baptized Christians who fought in wars. If they can do it, why can’t we?” By looking at what the scriptures, I answer this question and show why Mormon and Moroni do not justify us joining modern day wars.
The Important But Forgotten Part of Easter
Holy Saturday is the day which most of traditional Christianity spends in a kind of solemn mourning in commemoration of the death of the Savior and in anticipation of His glorious Resurrection. Often overlooked is that while Christ’s body may have been laid low in the Arimathean’s tomb, His spirit was active and engaged in one of the most essential but overlooked aspect of the Atonement of Jesus Christ – the initiation of the redemption of the dead. This Holy Saturday I want to remember and celebrate Chist great postmortal ministry when He began the work of saving all people who have ever or would ever live, ensuring all would have the oppurtunity to have the eternal blessings of His Gospel and to be transformed by the power of its ordinances, so that all people could stand before God and be judged fairly and redeemed completely. This article explores His work in the Spirit World, what we know about the work that happens there, and how this can empower us to live live our faith in this life and in the next.
Nonviolence in Early Christianity, Part 2
This is the second part in a series tracing the teaching of what we today call nonviolence in ancient Christianity after the end of the biblical era. I pick up where I left off in Part 1, in the mid-Second Century AD/CE and go all the way through the Third Century AD/CE. In the process I cover such topics as tribalism, nationalism, abortion, violence, the role of government, a Christian’s place in government, whether a Christian can hold political office or not, the military – both from the perspective of a soldier who converts to Christianity and a Christian who is thinking about joining the military, justice, political idolatry, the Second Amendment, gun ownership, natural rights, the universal nature of the Church and Christianity, and the hypocrisy of the world’s ideologies. The teaching of these ancient Christians carrying forth the ideals of Christ confront, counter, and dismantle the cunning craftiness of the world’s doctrines through the application of the truths of the Gospel.
The Christian Case For Nonviolence
The following address, “A Case for Christocentric Nonviolence”, is a copy of a presentation made by New Testament scholar Dr. Preston Sprinkle. It is merely the tip of the iceberg of the evidence and arguments from Christian scripture, history, and theology he uses in his book “Fight” to demonstrate that Christianity is rooted in an absolute ethic of God-like love for all and the commandment to renounce all violence for all causes as Christians are ordered by Christ’s word, deeds, and example to save our enemies, not destroy them. In it he discusses four basic theses, statements of fact that will be proven, which demonstrate the nonviolent nature of Christ and Christian teaching. Then he deals with four arguments commonly made by people trying to justify Christian violence – Romans 13, the cleansing of the temple by Jesus, Jesus telling the Apostles to go buy sword, and the Second Coming – and after demonstrating the errors in them and answering those concerns he concludes by suggesting but a few ways of how this should effect the way we think and act as Christians today in both terms of violent personal self-defense and in war.
Rejoice That God Is With Us Now And Forever
It being Christmas I wanted to share something short but beautiful. My favorite Christmas hymn is Veni, Veni Emmanuel, or in English, O’ Come, O’ Come, Emmanuel. The song is both a prayer that accurately captures the hopes, if not the actual words, of those who looked forward to the Messiah’s first coming and those of us now who anticipate His Second Coming. But it also testifies to us that we need not wait for Christ to come again to experience the power and peace He promises to bring because God is with us even now in Presence, Person, and Spirit. He is our Emmanuel, our ever present God if we but open our eyes, minds, ears, and hearts to Him.
The Eternal Victory of Christmas
I recently wrote that without a proper understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ that one cannot fully comprehend the meaning of Christmas. Christ was born to Resurrect, defeat Death and Hell, and open to path of salvation and eternal life to all. This is absolutely true, but since I wrote that article I have had my vision widened to see that the scope of the Atonement, and therefore the Nativity, is much wider, much deeper, and much greater than I had before understood.
Here I try and share that vision with you through the writings of Apostle Orson Pratt. Herein he discusses the Plan of Salvation and its unending and self-perpetuating nature. The cycle of Creation, Fall, Redemption, Exaltation, and Creation are explored here in Elder Pratt’s writings. Then I briefly connect these truths back to the Nativity and how understanding them will deepen our comprehension of the richness and eternal ramifications of that first Christmas.
The Origins of The God-State
There are many historical works on the rise of the modern State and the origins of its power. Many of them trace the development of the modern state from the end of the Medieval all the way up through the present day, drawing attention to how particular national and global crises – mostly wars and economic collapses – have resulted in the growth of the power of the centralized state as a solution to these problems.
As with all history, understanding these facts is very important to understanding how we got to where we are today. But in answering how they all too often neglect the why things are the way they are today.
Why is it that people have turned to the State for temporal and material salvation?
Why is it that men and women lavish religious levels of adoration and faith upon the State and its operatives?
Why is it that people have given it so much power?
What about humans and the way we think has convinced us, seemingly en masse, to turn to the State for salvation?
Using the writings of eminent psychologist Dr. Carl Jung, I try here to answer these questions; I answer not how the God-State came to be, but why humans have created the God-State in the first place.