But my post is speaking to the praxis issue for Christians.
A minister exploring the mass intersection of belief, politics, responsibility, and humanity. Gadfly. https://bonhoefferchild.substack.com/
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But my post is speaking to the praxis issue for Christians.
I don’t think Henson was an open racist and culture warrior Christian nationalist.
When you die, if people have to argue over whether you were a consistent emulator of Christ and/or a decent person … here’s a hint: You weren’t.
It’s a sure bet that during the state visit to Britain this week, there were a lot of furtive glances between Trump and Prince Andrew.
Authoritarians always sing the same song. Different languages and eras ... but same song.
PS: Another thing this does is keep the stories alive. MAGA depends on people forgetting all they’ve done and only focusing on the current misdeed. Never let them forget that everything is noted and remembered.
5/ When discussing a policy point with "Uncle Bob" you can show "MAGA did X, Y, Z and claimed it would do A, B, C ... but look this evidence shows the result was clearly M, N, O, and P!" MAGA likes vague arguments. They always fold when hard evidence is in play. Always. /ENDS
4/ After a while you'll end up with a "Burn Book" full of examples of MAGAs lies, inconsistencies, and flip-flops. Why does this matter? Because when talking to a MAGA you can whip out your book and show, with absolute evidence how hypocritical they are.
3/ Save a screencap, record the video, make a note ... whatever. I do this in Zotero, but you can do it any system you use. Once a week, take 20 minutes to categorize an tag the things you've recorded. Then, when they offer a clear contradiction to an earlier statement, record that as well.
2/ Every time MAGA makes a post, or does an interview, or releases a statement that has a clear political goal or position, or is an attempt at setting moral/ideological boundaries, or says "We will do X" ... write it down.
1/ This *is* the way to do it. MAGA is essentially the gish-gallop masquerading as a political ideology. They flood the zone with so much cruft that people become numb. Here is an EASY way to counter it, which will help keep you sane AND give you an easy way to talk to MAGA.
Have you ever tried Nero Wolfe?
Godwulf was ok, on its own ... but didn't fit the direction of the coming series. On the flipside, the one with him rescuing Silverman after they had a breakup didn't either, but Parker was going through some things and the books helped him get it all out.
OMG. 10/10
Our idols used to be made of iron, stone, clay, reed. Now our idols are ghosts that inhabit electrons and photons. No longer do we have to imagine the sound of their voices. Now, we simply program the idols with what we want to hear … and they answer our narcissism and idolatry in their own voice.
Dogwhistle theology is the younger sibling to slaveholder theology, and neither one of them have any place in the coming Kingdom of Christ nor the current community of believers. Christic witness should carry no taint or political, cultural, or ethnic supremacy/war.
But I don't blame you for considering the issue suspect. Christians tend to be very good at twisting everything to suit our views.
I don't believe so. I think Christ lays it out very succinctly and the Gospel is incredibly simple. I suspect partially so every person can grasp it and partially to avoid others refashioning it in ignorance.
Same. I used to think it was a result of the high-flow information era inaugurated in the later 80s and then crystalized by internet ... but I'm not so sure, now. I have a feeling some of it is rooted in the jingoism in the American church of the 1950s, particularly during the Anticommunism push.
Bingo.
Promoting a cultural value system, even one informed by one’s theological views is NOT the same thing as preaching the Gospel. Why? Because doctrine tends to be solipsistic and subjective. The Gospel of Christ is an absolute with a narrow, specific focus, work, and result.
Mine was rather brief. Have at it! I’m working on another longer version for my fall lectures.
bsky.app/profile/aaru...
Lolol
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Every time it obtained the pedestal it fell and broke itself.
4/ The Apologetics industry has done tremendous damage to the American Church. It means well, but in the end, is a force that lowers the voice of the gospel and cheapens lived witness. /ENDS
3/ They willingly traded their moral baseline for their policy lust and tossed out their witness. But who needs lived witness when you have the ear of power. Kirk didn’t “debate” theological issues. He debated policy that was nailed to a Cross in an attempt to sacralize it.
2/ This fact is also directly related to the massive compromise exhibited over the past decade by American believers. Apologetics and policy lust became, for many, a replacement for good witness. Their support for Trump is a perfect example.
1/ One of the things that made Kirk popular among American Evangelicals was that the apologetics industry groomed believers, for 40 years, into believing that gotcha statements, shallow logic, and a willingness to “debate” for their policy lusts somehow was virtuous and a good witness.
No empathy is the sign of a broken soul. Forced empathy is a sign of a corrupt ego. “Mourn this way or else” is what the heirs of dictators say. America, be better. www.reuters.com/world/us/cha...
3/ To mix our creed and politics is to cannibalize our faith and feed it to fallen human nature. Resist the urge. /ENDS
2/ When we mix the two, for any reason, even those reasons man considers 'good' ... we reject the Cross. Whenever we mix politics and Faith, in any form, the Gospel always ends up being butchered to feed to the political animal.
1/ Reminder: Caesar's tools cannot build the Kingdom of God. The bloody hammer of Empire cannot mimic the loving embrace of Christ. The Gospel will never build any part of Caesar's empire. The Cross is a doorway and signpost to something better that Empire can never understand or emulate.
They do. And they're unable to understand they aren't worshiping Christ, but mammon.
Grifts never die.
No. No. No. He is a martyr of his political causes and his words. He is not a martyr of the Gospel. People cheapen real persecution and martyrdom by labeling him this way. His wife should know better, but maybe she isn’t well trained or deeply rooted, theologically
Well, one thing that can be said for this week is that we've finally settled that empathy is good.
And learn what head-case stamps on brass are.
Swift Justice has to be thorough justice. Otherwise it devolves into the state executing opponents and dissidents. This statement of Trumps portends evil days ahead.
So you support rape, Racism, molestation, and pedophilia … so long as you get what you want. You’re an ideological prostitute. Might as well lay on your back and collect fees. Pathetic.
He wasn’t killed for that either because he wasn’t a member of any plot. He was executed for helping Jews. The SS docs are clear.
This.
Sigh. Kirk shouldn't have died, but he certainly wasn't killed for his Christian faith. And his faith was directly at odds with his words.
They were largely unknown and thus not important to the mediasphere. Charlie, despite his bent ideology, was as mainstream media as it gets. They see themselves in him, as an interest piece.
Pastoral musings on Charlie Kirk's murder, what brought us here, and where we may go next. bonhoefferchild.substack.com/p/what-is-th...
Look at his life and all the other incidents and you tell me if you think it was a joke. It's fascinating that to MAGA Trump is a holy saint who has done now wrong. The same man who bragged to reporters about his penis.
To “other” another person is to say, “I want to kill what you are and replace it with an image of me.”
We don't know yet because the killer hasn't been caught. Hopefully they catch them soon so we know what drove this murder. But, in the meantime, to fire someone using the same free speech Kirk promoted and because they said words matter ... is tone deaf and stupid.
I am fascinated by Dowd's firing. Kirk made free speech a major tenet of his approach. He did so because fighting for free speech is openly saying that words have weight and can cause action. Dowd is simply echoing this. Charlie's words had weight and may have driven someone to act.
Second, it can grow in the soil of narcissism. Historically, any group that is used to power, position, etc holds on to it long enough, they begin to assume power, position, wealth, etc are their inherent rights. That breeds a self-righteous narcissism which would rather kill than change.
Generally, when extremism is found in the "comfortable" it has grown in one of two types of soil: First, the soil of "othering." That means they divide the world into "Those like me" and "Everyone else, who are all worse than me."
Vance will be maga's guy in 2028. But he won't last beyond a single term. Too twerpy and eventually backlash will form against his backer Thiel. Kirk would have been the guy running in 2032.
Fantastic idea. I have no pet shot to offer, but it's worth spreading around. Erase some of the nasty taste of today away.
It's going to get worse. Kirk was the preferred candidate for 2032. Vance won't be able to keep MAGA's attention at that point. The MAGA/FOX/CN ecosystem is going to be swinging at every shadow they can in vengeance as they scramble for a new person between now and then.
Fair.
One of the reasons I vehemently oppose culture war and policy lust, of any kind, or for any side ... is that both are inherently and inevitably deadly. Today's events show us that, again, clearly. May everyone remember that the words of our mouths always have consequences.
Moral consistency is a prerequisite for decency.
I know it's not a perfect analog/comparison ... but the effect and use of the incident will be the same.
This. It's a Horst Wessel moment. And ... they WILL interpret it in the worst possible manner.
Horrible that Charlie Kirk was shot. Political violence is never the answer, not even against those who incite violence on others like Charlie does. I wonder if it was another MAGA/Far Right loon like the PA Trump shooting, the St Louis/Philly synagogue shootings, Charlottesville, J6, etc.
I get where you're coming from.
I'll add, normally dom/sub couples are fully consensual. Comp theo isn't consensual. It's one person using scripture to force the other person to join their kink. And that is the problem.
Lolol. Boredom usually.
I’m not dinging anyone’s kink. People are free to express themselves as they wish. But I am pointing out what comp Theo is at its core. I think most comps just haven’t had a good look at what they really want.
I don’t know who needs this reminder, but … complementarian theology is nothing more than the Christian version of the dom/sub kink.
“It doesn’t go to eleven but it does go to the chiropractor.”
The spinoff band of Spinal Tap.
One of the stupidest defenses that MAGA pedo-protectors use to defend Trump is “his conviction was politically motivated!” Who knew Trump was “politically motivated” to cheat on his escort/soft porn model wife with a pony star, and illegally hide the payoff money to avoid taxes?
You mean he was politically motivated to sleep with a porn star, then pay her off, and illegally hide the payoff? Oh. He’s on tape admitting yo sticking his finger into women without consent. He’s a legally adjudicated rapist.
You don’t think felonies, rape, molestation, protecting pedophiles, racism, greed, etc are all inherent empirical wrongs? Oh.
The people who claimed to care about pedophilia so much, they falsely decided an online furniture store was magically selling kids in cabinets … are the same people now defending a self admitted molester over the gross letter he wrote his pedophile best friend. Self-awareness is dead.
I don't know who needs to hear this but ... Sean Feucht is the Kid Rock of the Charismatic world. Like Kid Rock, he's rich, but dresses and acts as if he's from different strata of society. He owns more homes than I have underwear. Covid protests made Sean a millionaire poseur.
"I just move on them, I don't even ask. When you're a celebrity you can do anything."
Complicity begins when you ignore the wrong which is right in front of you.
Good data. Wasn’t sure if remembered correctly. Thanks.
Are not far behind.
Kansas and Arkansas are far behind. Didn’t a report come out saying in Iowa bankruptcy is higher than during Covid, now?
It is a doozy.
2/ Links: Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2toR... /ENDS
1/ New Episode! You don't want to miss this one. @itsmebenmarsh.bsky.social and Bon sit down with cult survivor Sarah Stiltner to talk about her time in the Local Church movement/cult and discuss what a high-control structure looks like, and what it does to those within it.
Not the study per se but the way he frames it.
Mostly.
Once you read the op-ed you quickly realize the “reason he’s not a liberal” … is because he’s a racist. It’s amazing that someone wrote all that and chose to out themselves so handily to the entire world. Wild.
Hooboy. If this isn’t the truth.
Chicago 69.
I doubt it. But it will be recorded. If I can strip out an identifying things in it I don’t mind getting it to you.
Good luck.
Re: Florida killing Vax mandates: If we wait a few years, the lines at Disney and Universal will be shorter. Coffins don’t stand in line for the next ride. “Can I have a fast pass for my son in the box? Never mind the smell. We just dug him up.”
This is what people mean when they say culture always flows downhill. This is the official WH account, representing not just the President and the current administration, but all of America. Our country is being run by 4chan refugees angry they didn't get enough dates in HS.
10/ I highly recommend Solberg, Kruse, Molette, Cleary, Ellul, Hammond, and Alexander. As a whole they provide endless examples of how we got where we are, and man's propensity to alter our faith in the name of power, and how faith can corrupt the structures of power. /ENDS
9/ Helmholz - The Profession of Ecclesiastical Lawyers Ellul - The Humiliation of the Word Tierney - The Crisis of Church and State 1050-1300 Some are short, some are long, all are terrific reading.
8/ Witte/Alexander - The Teachings of Modern Christianity on Law, Politics, and Human Nature (vol1/2) Domingo - God and the Secular Legal System Lantigua - Infidels and Empires in a New World Order
7/ Hurtado - Destroyer of the gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World Steigmann-Gall - Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity Gorski - American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present Witte/Domingo - The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Law
6/ Juranski - The Old English Penitentials and Anglo-Saxon Law Batlan - Women and Justice for the Poor: A History of Legal Aid Hammond - God's Businessmen Smith - Pagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac
5/ Woods - Quest for Identity D'Costa - Theology in the Public Square Cleary - Power, Politics, and Pentecostals in Latin America Colby - Thy Will Be Done - Rockefeller and the Amazon Dochuk - From Bible Belt to Sunbelt Allison - Intro to Historical Theology
4/ HP Owen - Morality and Christian Theism - 2008 paper Winter - Roman Wives, Roman Widows Abasciano - Paul's Use of the Old Testament in Romans-9-10-18 Horsley - Paul and Politics Horsley - Jesus and Empire Cook - Forbidding Wrong in Islam Barmash - Homicide in the Biblical World