Perseverance, and Jesus & Politics part 2

Submitted by yucan on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 04:12

Hello Ethnos-

Living in God's presence: it's not easy. On one hand, it would seem like it should be relatively easy- God is everywhere, we can never get away from His presence, so no problem, right? On the other hand, we find ourselves in desperate places like the songwriter in the Bible: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?" (Ps. 22:1)

There are no easy answers as to how to be in His presence continually. But one thing that seems to be true throughout the Bible is that situations like this beg for the development of perseverance. And "perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2)

God help us persevere as the Fall continues...

Yours,
Yucan

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Jesus and Politics: More Resources

Here are some more interesting tidbits about Jesus and Politics...

- A different, global application to how Jesus can help with some of the seemingly impossible global conflicts.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/september/29.54.html

- One strand of study looks at the moral, political, and social vision of Jesus and the rest of the Bible through the concept of "Shalom." I found this helpful as I read the book Transforming Power by Robert Linthicum. Here's a study of the concept from his site: http://www.piut.org/shalombiblestudy.htm.

- Past Ethnos Resources: Check out the following for some good past talks on Jesus and politics, and also check out the stuff on homosexuality, our topic for this Sunday.
http://www.ethnos.us/resources/ethnos-resources

- Some books:
A good/decent overview book I read in preparation for the series was the recently published Church, State, and Public Justice: 5 Views. It had a good summary of the Catholic position(s) from a well-written Catholic Scholar, along with a good summary of the Anabaptist tradition from Ron Sider. Other perspectives were there, but not as strong as the two.

The last book I read in preparation for the series was entitled Christ and Culture Revisited by DA Carson. I was pretty impressed by the breadth, depth, and non-partisan perspective Carson brought. I highly recommend it, especially if you are familiar with the original paradigms of Christ and Culture set by Neihbuhr.