McLaren says that "The Kingdom of God is a revolutionary, counter cultural movement proclaiming a ceaseless rebellion against the trinity of money, sex, and power. Its citizens resist the occupation of this invisible Caesar through three categories of spiritual practice. First, they practice a liberating generosity toward the poor to dethrone greed and topple the regime of money. Second, they practice a kind of prayer that is defiant act of resistance against the prideful pursuit of power, pursuing forgiveness and reconciliation, not retaliation and revenge. Finally, they practice fasting to revolt against the dominating impulses of physical gratification- so that the sex drive and other physical appetites will not become our slaves drivers. All these are practiced covertly, in secret, so they aren't corrupted into an external show "as the hypocrites do"
1. What do you think about these words ?
2. How revolutionary is the Message of Jesus?
3. Is the fact that the message is counter cultural the reason why some might reject it?
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2. The message of Jesus is very revolutionary in actions and words even with looked at from the view of society today. For a man to live the life that Jesus did then or now is very hard to do. The world will live in is filled with as you mentioned a drive for sex, money and power that the teachings and actions of Jesus tend to get lost or the people who say they are living a life in Christ clearly are not. Jesus' message changes the way one thinks and lives and has done so for many years. Any message that works in such a way as that is revolutionary
ReplyDeleteI agree with these words. Generosity towards the poor, reconciliation over retaliation and revenge, and also physical appetites not becoming our slave drivers.
ReplyDeleteJesus' message is obviously revolutionary. You can't put a scale of 1-10 how revolutionary it is, but it speaks to all religions and cultures.
The fact that the message is counter cultural could be a reason SOME might reject it. Some Christians might reject it because they feel Jesus' message only applies to Christians. Other religions might reject it because it's coming from a Jew and not somebody of their religion/culture.