Break the lockstep

…[W]hen we separate Jesus from his ideas for an alternative social structure, we inevitably succumb to the temptation to harness Jesus to our ideas— thus conferring upon our human political ideas an assumed divine endorsement. With little awareness of what we are doing, we find ourselves in collusion with the principalities and powers to keep the world in lockstep with the ancient choreography of violence, war, and death. We do this mostly unconsciously, but we do it. I’ve done it. And the result is that we reduce Jesus to being the Savior who guarantees our reservation in heaven while using him to endorse our own ideas about how to run the world. This feeds into a nationalized narrative of the gospel and leads to a state-owned Jesus. Thus, our understanding of Christ has mutated from Roman Jesus to Byzantine Jesus to German Jesus to American Jesus, etc. Conscripting Jesus to a nationalistic agenda creates agrotesque caricature of Christ that the church must reject—now more than ever! Understanding Jesus as the Prince of Peace who transcends idolatrous nationalism and overcomes the archaic ways of war is an imperative the church must at last begin to take seriously.— A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace

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This is the first excerpt from the book A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace. I loved this book. I can't say enough good about it, but hopefully you'll see why in the upcoming weeks as I post excerpts from it.

And hopefully you'll examine your own presuppositions and unexamined assumptions. You might even change your mind! : )
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