It's a Man's World.

The philosophy of men:
Being strong.
Being tough.
Not crying or whingeing.
Coping.
Competing.
Not showing emotion.
Being one of the boys.
Winning.

This was the philosophy with which we were confronted as children.

Because this was the dominant philosophy in society it was assumed that this was the philosophy of God.

It is not.

This is the reactive philosophy of the world.

When we realize that the dominant philosophy of the world has nothing to do with God we begin to see.

The mistake comes from confusing worldly authority with divine authority.
A mistake which was made by the institutions of the Church.

The divine right of kings was followed by the born to rule attitude of the conservative establishment, of which the Church was part.

Once we separate the teachings of Jesus - love and compassion - from the political conservatism of the establishment we will begin to grow.

The social justice agenda of the prophets - the widow, the fatherless, the stranger - is the opposite of this tough philosophy of the men of the establishment.
It is more Marx than Moses.

So the despised touchy-feely nanny state of the socialists turns out to be the true philosophy of God.

So Jesus prays, "'Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'"  Matthew 6:10b (NRSV)

Because what we are taught to obey on earth is not God but men.


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]