Overacceptance, or simply rejection.

I had an interesting conversation today with a young Christian man. The topic of Christian's and government came up (As it commonly does when I'm around.) We have had previous conversations so he has a little bit of an idea of where I'm at. By the end of the conversation he flippantly said. "I just don't think they should take "one nation, under God" out of the pledge of allegiance. Well besides the fact that I don't say the pledge myself, I pointed out that "one nation, under God" wasn't added until 1954. He found that suprising.

After that paragraph, I feel slightly pious and sticky. We'll come back to that.

To come to a belief or set of beliefs is more than just changing a mindset. It is both a mindset and a motive behind it. I can root for Green Bay in the upcoming conference championship game. But why am I rooting for Green Bay? Quite frankly this is against who I inherently am. I was a super huge fan of the 92-93 championship Cowboy teams. I thought Troy Aikman was the quarterback and Emmit Smith the running back. Incidently Green Bay was something of a rival which we (the cowboys and I) frequently smashed. To this day Farve has never beat the boys. I hated when Green Bay won their mid-nineties superbowl championships. And now I am hoping they beat New York? Circumstances can motivate us do lots of crazy things. There are two motives behind my change in loyalties. The first is obviously revenge, if you follow football at all, the Giants ended Dallas' run at the superbowl. The second is a respect for a seasoned Veteran, Bret Farve. I think it would be nice for him to end his long carreer with a ring.

What motivates us to do, think, or be the way we are. Early on in high school I was non-resistant because I was clinging to what my church taught in the midst of a patriotic (as patriotic as Oregon can be) Christian school. I also saw those around me who clung to their specific beliefs, dreading even the possibility that their parents or church could possibly ever be wrong. Oregon threw in a third dynamic of people who were non-resistant but who did so in reaction to the government (if you didn't already know Oregon is hippie central). Then there were the adamately patriotic who did so in reaction to the tree hugging baby killing liberals. If they believe it, it must be wrong. Only two different positions, but a million or so motivations.

My motivation began to shift. My church never really said a whole lot of why they believe in non-resistance. I just knew they did. About my sophomore year, before I had ever read an anabaptist book, before I really heard a lot of why, I began to see something emerge in scripture. The overwhelming love of Jesus Christ. As I followed his life in those pages I began to see his compassion and love for even his persecutors. He began no rebellion, He turned down political power, he practically ignored the world government that had its thumb on Israel. It was almost as if He was acting 'in spite of' the powers that be. I saw a Jesus who said 'love your enemies.' I saw a Jesus who was different than the rest of the world.

My response at this point was, "I'm not really sure why my church believes what it does; but I sure as heck can see why I do." I later found out my church very much felt the same way. It was not my church that formed my views on Christians and world powers, it was the words of Jesus.

Back to the part about feeling pious and sticky. It is easy for me to settle into my "oh this is obviously right, and you're obviously wrong" type of mood. The same Jesus who has called me to love my enemies also calls me to speak the truth in love (easier said than done). Of course the primary mode of preaching is living; but is there place for 'evangelizing the church'? In the end motivation is key (and a constant bane). Why am I arguing against the meshing of the body of Christ and the state? Do I do this because I want to see the kingdom spread, the one that has more power than any nation-state? Or am I simply holding a party-line of my own?

Do all in love to Jesus Christ