Was thinking again today of the tragedy of confusing the trappings of Christian nationalism & middle-class lifestyle w/ following Jesus.
It occurred to me that a lot of parents may have worked really, really hard discipling their kids in what they thought was Christianity. They sacrificed money, time, energy.
Obviously, kids make their own choices, but I know a ton of my peers who grew up in Christian subculture who no longer claim Christian faith. I can't help but wonder what they're actually rejecting.
The confusion & grief is so real. I hear it from both parents & grown children. Parents wondering what happened. Children wondering why their parents made choices they did. No one has good enough answers for either Q.
Please understand. I'm not critiquing parenting choices & heaven alone knows what challenges our family will face as we grow older. This is not about assigning guilt or blame. It's a lament.
It's a lament for generations who were told that their family would be kept whole thru positions & propaganda only to discover that they splintered because of them.
It's a lament for all who chased something other than Jesus & caught what they were chasing only to discover that it wasn't Him.
It's a lament & warning for those of us tempted to chase anything else.
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One more thought about Q of nationalism, globalism, & Christian's relationship to country:
For folks interrogating their own practices & paradigms, please entertain the possibility that you might not yet have all the necessary pieces to construct a healthy dynamic.
For example, as you become aware of threat of Xian nationalism, you might be tempted to rebound to a kind of globalism that doesn't necessarily move you forward.
What you'll need to add to your toolkit is understanding of place, Providence, & neighbor-ness. What you need is a more robustly developed ethic that teaches you how to love & serve God above all other loyalties w/in the specific boundaries he has placed on you.
In convos about Christian nationalism, it's important to define terms clearly.
"Christian nationalism" is a specific ideology that ties the future of the Church to the future of the State. It overlaps w/ secular nationalism but has incredibly toxic implications for gospel.
Some folks might say, "Well, I'm a Christian & I think we should prioritize America 1st over global concerns. Does that make me a Christian nationalist?"
The answer is a strong... maybe.
To know if you're ascribing to Christian nationalism of simple political nationalism, you'll need to interrogate your relationship btwn your nation & practice of your faith.
The idol in your backyard will destroy you sooner than the idol in your neighbor's yard.
Put more bluntly, there's no point in preaching against idols you don't worship. There's a whole lot of reason to preach against the ones you do.
This is why whataboutism is so pointless. Not only is it LAZY, it misses the reality that different groups have different idols & need to have their specific idols toppled.
I'll never understand the logic of telling a pastor or teacher that you can trust them to teach the Bible but can't trust them when they point out cultural idols.
Seriously. Why would you trust someone to teach you the BIBLE if you can't also trust that they've been informed by it? Why would you trust them to explain the WORD OF GOD but be unable to explain how that word might apply to this moment?
I'm not talking about pastors & teachers going outside their area of expertise. I'm not talking about unquestioning loyalty.
Meredith is right about the ingenious design of menstruation. Which brings up another point about how life in modern west is often detached from basic realities of embodiment.
There is inherent tie btwn fertility & surrounding ecosystem. But in modern west, we tend to frame reproduction almost entirely a matter of choice & as an individual venture. We miss the degree to which fertility is also a MEASURE of an environment's ability to sustain life.
This means many things, but at most basic level, fertility rates across a community must be examined communally. We must ask why certain ecosystems, societies, & cultures produce certain rates.
Speaking of art, I always assumed Joseph would have a kind of farmer's tan & that strange sinewy build that's the result of physical labor + basic food supply. No protein shakes in Nazareth.
It may surprise some folks, but ime, physical labor doesn't necessarily result in finely chisled bodies, sculpted like demi-gods.
It's a strange feature of modern western life that we don't understand this. Our vision of powerful, healthy bodies is result of careful attention to food & working specific muscle groups (leg day, core, arm day, etc.)