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.
Tag: Kingdom of Christ
The U.S. Constitution: A Covenant With Death, An Agreement With Hell
In American Latter-day Saint circles there is much idolatry over the issue of the U.S. Constitution. Most of it has to do with a particularly willful misunderstanding of most statements on the Constitution found in the scriptures, the purpose of government, the rights of the people in the face of oppressive government laws, and the supremacy of God’s law to man’s in all cases. American Latter-day Saints also tend to idolize the American Founding Fathers. Much is made of the Lord’s statement, “by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose,” that is for writing the Constitution. (see D&C 101:80) It is without a doubt that they were intelligent men. The writings of Thomas Jefferson are still worth studying even today. But that doesn’t justify us in not creating something better now than they could envision then; that doesn’t justify us calcifying out social, spiritual, political, and economic development because they could not imagine the next step in liberty and individual freedom. It does not justify us in idolizing the Constitution (or your respective national charter), ignoring the many ways it has been wrong, corrupt, and evil form the very start, and choosing it over that which is better now.
An Apostle Explains The End of the World
This is quite possibly one of my favorite things I’ve ever read. Herein is reproduced a letter written by one of the church’s most influential thinkers and theologians, Apostle Parley P. Pratt. The letter was sent by Elder Pratt to Queen Victoria, the Queen of England, during his first mission to Great Britain. In it, Elder Pratt does something that I absolutely adore. Instead of fawning over Victoria or her court, hoping to make some favorable impression for himself or the church as you would imagine many people then and now would, Elder Pratt, while being courteous and humble, goes for the jugular of the Empire itself. Using the scriptures he lays out the coming judgments of God against the kingdoms of the world, the events of the Last Days before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the revolutionary the establishment of the Kingdom of God through the Restoration, and calls upon the leaders of the state to repent of their wickedness, denounce their greed and power, and to lead their nation in mass repentance before they are overthrown by the power of God. For this alone it is worth reading. Throw in his clear explanation of many of the signs of the Last Days and it is without a doubt that all who read it will profit from it.