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Incentives are powerful drivers of behavior. Always pay attention to how an idea or philosophy incentivizes.
Theological liberalism often incentivizes novelty and open-mindedness for its own sake.
Theological conservatism often incentivizes status quo and self-protection.
Theological liberalism often incentivizes novelty and open-mindedness for its own sake.
Theological conservatism often incentivizes status quo and self-protection.
I fear much of the current race ideology incentivizes victimhood and disincentivizes celebration of progress or examples of overcoming oppression.
There is no upside in the current climate to celebrating how far we've come. Likes and retweets come only for lament and offense.
There is no upside in the current climate to celebrating how far we've come. Likes and retweets come only for lament and offense.
To whatever degree cultural marxism drives this conversation, it will always incentive thinking of oneself as oppressed, since the alternative is only oppressor. It's a constant race to the bottom, and that's a losing proposition.
I wonder if it would be helpful and accurate to think about America like Christians think about end times. Theologians talk about an "inaugurated eschatology" in which we believe in "already" and "not yet" elements of God's Kingdom.
In Christ, there is much about the Kingdom that is present "already". The Spirit moves, Jesus saves and people are healed and welcomed into the Kingdom.
AND.
There is also much that is "not yet". We won't experience Fullness until Jesus returns to eradicate Satan, sin & death.
AND.
There is also much that is "not yet". We won't experience Fullness until Jesus returns to eradicate Satan, sin & death.
America is a country built on promises that have been only partially fulfilled. It would be foolish to ignore the reality of the American project. The founders did something the world had never seen and it has brought historically unprecedented levels of liberty and prosperity.
AND.
We have failed to fully and equally deliver on those promises. The founders wrote that "all men are created equal" while simultaneously owning men.
Our country has a damning history of oppression and marginalization, that continues in one form or another to this day.
We have failed to fully and equally deliver on those promises. The founders wrote that "all men are created equal" while simultaneously owning men.
Our country has a damning history of oppression and marginalization, that continues in one form or another to this day.
BUT.
It has oppressed and marginalized precisely b/c it hasn't been what it promised to be. We haven't lived what we have confessed.
Like citizens of the Kingdom of God, we profess to believe things that we don't do. We preach what we do not practice, then ignore our hypocrisy.
It has oppressed and marginalized precisely b/c it hasn't been what it promised to be. We haven't lived what we have confessed.
Like citizens of the Kingdom of God, we profess to believe things that we don't do. We preach what we do not practice, then ignore our hypocrisy.
The solution cannot be to demonize the promises themselves but to cling to them as our only hope. The promises of the Constitution are the path to national freedom the way that the promises of scripture are the path to personal spiritual freedom.
Please don't misunderstand me, I am not equating the Constitution with the Bible, nor am I trying to analogize America with the Kingdom of God.
If anything, I am simply saying that the sins of American Christians are two-fold and consistent.
If anything, I am simply saying that the sins of American Christians are two-fold and consistent.
Our failure to obey the Word we preach causes us to fail to uphold the Constitutional promises that were built upon that Word in the first place.
The failure of America is the failure of Christians. The future will depend on our willingness to "repent and believe the gospel".
The failure of America is the failure of Christians. The future will depend on our willingness to "repent and believe the gospel".
May we preach a gospel that incentivizes Spirit-led obedience, pursuit of justice, humble repentance, and sacrificial love that leverages our power for the sake of the powerless.
IOW, let us live and die like our Savior did.
IOW, let us live and die like our Savior did.
