The Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God on earth is the community of followers of Jesus Christ who have been baptised and accepted the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus said, "'Who is my mother and brothers?'  And looking at those who sat around him, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.'"  Mark 3:33-35 (NRSV)

I believe that Jesus regarded the Kingdom of God to be those people brought into the New Covenant with God which was born of his mission on earth.

But the statement "Whoever does the will of God" is broader than that.  It includes followers of other religions who do God's will.

And what is God's will?

That we love one another.


[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.]

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Punishment.

Most of the references to punishment in the Old Testament refer to the negative experiences of the tribes of Israel.

The prophets of ancient Israel rationalized their experiences by saying that God was punishing them for not obeying the Law.

This referred mainly to religious practices involving foreign gods and idols.

This was cited as the reason that Israel's enemies rose up against them.

This is a version of Prosperity Theology which states that our experiences on earth reflect the favor or the disapproval of God.

But the Book of Job clearly refutes Prosperity Theology.
Although it lays responsibility at the feet of a fictitious devil the Book of Job has Job justified despite his suffering and misfortune.

It is Job's opponents who claim that he must have sinned to deserve his fate.

But God says that what Job said was more true.

So where does that leave us?

It is clear that most of the statements about God in the Old Testament are followed by threats of punishment.

But is this a true picture?

They say that God is merciful and compassionate, steadfast in love, and ready to relent from punishment.

But then say that He will punish any disobedience.

What are we to believe?

The New Testament God of Jesus is a loving Father.

And, although there are still some threats of punishment, the overwhelming impression of God is of forgiveness, compassion, and love.

Perhaps the time has come to purge our image of God of all violence and punishment.

My experience of God is wholly benevolent, helpful, compassionate, forgiving, understanding, and loving.

I have never experienced any punishment from God.

Fear can make us imagine that God is punishing us.
But this is not true.

He is merely waiting for us to see.      


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Rationalizing Jesus.

What Christians have done in the past and still do today is rationalize Jesus.

Because what Jesus taught requires courage and risk people rationalize what he said to suit themselves.

For example a succession of Christian political leaders have rejected Jesus' injunction to turn the other cheek and retaliated against perceived threats with military action.

This is in direct contradiction of Matthew 5.

Jesus said to love your enemies.

But many Christians today choose hate and violence, discrimination and prejudice.

They have rationalized what Jesus said by choosing another passage from the Bible - the Psalms of David or the Book of Revelation with its violent imagery - and ignoring what Jesus actually taught while claiming that their beliefs are Biblical.

"It's too hard, it won't work in the real world."

It has been said that Christianity is in danger of passing without ever being tried.

This is because realistic people rationalize what Jesus taught and cherry-pick the Bible to suit themselves.


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Gay Rights.

When it comes to social justice Church organisations always omit gay rights.

Whether it be in church, from the pulpit, in justice ministries, orders of nuns or religious gay rights seems always to be out of bounds.

And it doesn't help to remind them when they are talking about human rights issues that gays and lesbians are persecuted in our world.

Perhaps this is because it is the Church which is doing the persecuting.

But even so called Liberal Churches omit gay rights from their agenda.

You will hear many pleas for asylum seekers, the homeless, battered wives, drug addicts, gambling addicts, even Muslims but you will seldom hear gays and lesbians mentioned.

We have been relegated to the status of religious non-persons.

We don't even rate a mention.


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Democracy and Capitalism.

Capitalism is not Democracy.

When Ronald Reagan defeated Communism the victory was not claimed by Democracy.  It was claimed by Capitalism.

But Capitalism is not Democracy.

Even Pope John Paul II said that Capitalism was no better for people than Communism.

But Soviet Communism was defeated and the Western Capitalist plutocrats assumed power.

And we are still in the grip of their brutal regime.


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The Fragrance of the Rose.

All virtue

and goodness

issue from

God's Love

like

fragrance from

a rose.


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Breaking the Cycle.

Fear and violence have been handed down from generation to generation.

We see this in the Church.
Violence and intimidation inflicted on one generation is replicated in the next.

It is a vicious cycle.

The Old Testament rule of an eye for an eye merely guaranteed that this cycle continued.

But Jesus said not to retaliate but to return good for evil.

This breaks the cycle of fear and violence.

It is a truly revolutionary philosophy.

So don't return your elders' violence and intimidation in kind but love and forgive them.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love."  1 John 4:18 (NRSV)


[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.]

Photo Credit: MoudBarthez via Compfight cc