Christian churches and leaders lose their prophetic voice when they lust after political power.

[lees1975]

Last edited Tue Feb 27, 2024, 02:16 PM - Edit history (1)

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/02/randall-balmer-and-jemar-tisby-lusting.html

Randall Balmer, an Episcopal priest and professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and Jemar Tisby, professor at Simmons College in Kentucky, recently teamed up for a webinar pointing out the corruption of Christianity which has occurred as conservative, fundamentalist and Charismatic/Pentecostal Christians, churches and denominations have merged their claimed belief in Biblical authority and inerrancy with far right wing political extremists who make up the MAGA cult. They're not the only kind of American Christian that has allowed politics to infiltrate their ranks, but because of their doctrinal flaws, it has infiltrated and corrupted their churches the most.

Tisby says that gaining control through politics is more or less an admission by conservative Christians of the failure of their faith. Unable to bring about the kind of social change and control that they think is their mission and purpose by spiritual means, they are now resorting to political power to get their way. According to Tisby, this takes away the Christian identity of the church, making it more political.

"It's not Christian in the sense that it doesn't resemble Jesus," he says, "but it is Christian in the sense that it does use Christian symbols like crosses, and the Bible, and it does use prayer," he added. "White Christian Nationalism strips away any semblance of gospel witness because its purpose is to seize absolute control of government and society by ending democracy and pluralism," said Balmer. "Once you begin to lust after political power, and political influence, you lose your prophetic voice," he said.

[Scrivener7]

1. Christian churches don't have a prophetic voice to begin with. No one does. No one has a hotline

to God. If someone, ANYONE says they do, the best course of action is to ignore EVERYTHING they say.

Yes, religious institutions and leaders should not be going after political power. But NO ONE has a prophetic voice.

There is nothing more destructive on this earth than people, mostly men, saying their will is God's will and that they have a prophetic voice. That is ALWAYS bullshit.

[lees1975]

7. There are multiple definitions of "prophetic voice" in the current context.

In this particular article, Balmer and Tisby are not speaking of prophetic in the sense that anyone actually speaks for God, but that by going after political power, to enforce a social agenda, they are giving up their Christian beliefs and the manner in which the Christian gospel is proclaimed and practiced. They're saying that the way they've believed in God up to this point it not powerful enough to achieve their agenda, so they depend on political power and in doing so, they've lost their "prophetic voice," which is essentially losing their religion.

Having been raised in an Evangelical church, my perspective of living my faith "prophetically" was to align my values with those reflected in the Christian gospel. So in the way I treat people, and the way I look at the world, my responsibility is to glorify the God I worship by reflecting those values, which is more than just preaching. For example, Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." So as a result of that, I am a pacifist, not just abhorring violence but doing what I can whenever I can to promote real peace. And I see anything that promotes peace to be prophetic.

[Scrivener7]

8. The definition of a prophet is a person who speaks for god or who transmits the will of god or who has superior moral

Last edited Tue Feb 27, 2024, 05:25 PM - Edit history (1)

insight. Show me a person who thinks any of those characteristics apply to him, and I'll show you a person to whom none of those characteristics apply.

Your definition of "anything that promotes peace" is not common usage for the definition of "prophet" or "prophetic." And aligning one's values to the Christian gospel is really just aligning one's values to reflect ones interpretation of the Christian gospel. And there are a million possible interpretations. For example, there are those who feel reflecting the Christian gospel means labeling my beloved relatives who are the product of IVF as products of sin. There are those who feel reflecting the Christian gospel means believing LGBT people are abominations. There are million other examples we could both come up with where someone has interpreted the Christian gospel to promote hateful actions. It is all a matter of interpretation.

I have no doubt that you are a good person. But that is not because you align your values to reflect the Christian gospel. Because as we see regularly, those values can be anything people want them to be. You see good values reflected in the Christian gospel because of your goodness, not the other way around. Your goodness predisposes you to see values of goodness there.

Bad people see other things reflected there, and they use it as a cudgel against the rest of us, and they feel just as justified as you do in saying they got those cudgels from the gospel.

[Karadeniz]

2. Give to caesar....

[Midnight Writer]

3. Carl Jung predicted that symbols would become more important than what they symbolize.

To too many Christians, the symbols of their faith have become more important than the practice of their faith.

Symbols like crosses, Bibles, prayers, are more important to them than loving their neighbors, doing good works, helping those in need, and striving to live in accordance to the teachings of Christ.

[Ocelot II]

4. Link, please?

[lees1975]

5. Sorry!

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/02/randall-balmer-and-jemar-tisby-lusting.html

[msongs]

6. gee people who fall for 2K year old myths lust for political power. who'da thought,.... nt

[TlalocW]

9. Prophetic voice?

I think someone believes his own BS a bit too much.

[lees1975]

11. I guess you didn't read the link or any of the articles that it linked in support.

[usonian]

10. The enchantments of mammon.

Far from displacing religions, as has been supposed, capitalism became one, with money as its deity. Eugene McCarraher reveals how mammon ensnared us.