"DMLJ: The main trouble is that there are far too few Christian people, and that those of us who are Christian are not sufficiently salt. …The great hope for society today is an increasing number of individual Christians."
This is not sufficient. There is no benefit in an increasing number of individual Christians. Instead, in order to effect positive change in a society, there must be an increasing number of individual Christians who are WILLING to call out the rot in society and who WILL WORK against it. Unfortunately, the model today is shown in the desire to fit in, to comply with popularity, to get rich (Joel Osteen, for example), etc. There is very little in Christianity today which compels the average Christian to resist the Status Quo in the hope and expectation that he/she will have a positive influence.
This has to change. The place to start is in the pulpit and this means preachers who are not afraid to speak the truth that compliance with the world system is death to liberty and freedom.
Roger, I wouldn't call those who don't speak out as "Christians." DMLJ's entire thesis is grounded in the idea that those who live this Sermon are completely unlike the world and what the world values; many of those who self-identify as Christians are insufficiently salt. In other words, they don't live and act and speak out as a Christian is called to do.
On this basis, and with this qualifier, I am OK with the language that DMLJ uses.
Working through the Sermon as I have been doing has made me aware of just how far I am in living as a Christian - as DMLJ sees it and explains it.
The idea that most stood out to me is that salt preserves food. It does so by killing off microbes that would otherwise decompose or consume the food. So preservation or protection always requires some kind of force whether that be chemical, physical violence, electromagnetic, etc. Intellectually, that means that ideas must be extinguished or removed from people's minds. The best way to do that is through persuasion. No human can be persuaded to believe that Jesus is God and paid for our sins unless God converts that person, so I agree with DMLJ's solution, more Christians. The secondary question is how to protect the Christians that live today from the encroaching corruption. There is internal and external threats. Internally there are the false doctrines of materialism, feminism, egalitarianism, legalism, wokeism, antinomianism, etc. Pastors and elders must fight the good fight in the church by preaching the truth, "refuting those who contradict", and removing others who persist. Externally, that means being politically active. Voting. Running for office. Learning economics, political theory and aligning that with biblical principles. Doing everything we can to insulate ourselves from the threats of government and the corporate arms and legs of the government's Frankenstein monster. I think this is why Christian Nationalism and Monarchism have become more popular ideas over the last few years. I'm not sure that is the correct way forward but we must be wise in how we as Christians defend ourselves from the world.
"Externally, that means being politically active. Voting. Running for office."
Voting is nothing more than an active decision to determine whose hand holds the club with which you are beaten. It never, ever, attempts to remove the club.
"DMLJ: The main trouble is that there are far too few Christian people, and that those of us who are Christian are not sufficiently salt. …The great hope for society today is an increasing number of individual Christians."
This is not sufficient. There is no benefit in an increasing number of individual Christians. Instead, in order to effect positive change in a society, there must be an increasing number of individual Christians who are WILLING to call out the rot in society and who WILL WORK against it. Unfortunately, the model today is shown in the desire to fit in, to comply with popularity, to get rich (Joel Osteen, for example), etc. There is very little in Christianity today which compels the average Christian to resist the Status Quo in the hope and expectation that he/she will have a positive influence.
This has to change. The place to start is in the pulpit and this means preachers who are not afraid to speak the truth that compliance with the world system is death to liberty and freedom.
Roger, I wouldn't call those who don't speak out as "Christians." DMLJ's entire thesis is grounded in the idea that those who live this Sermon are completely unlike the world and what the world values; many of those who self-identify as Christians are insufficiently salt. In other words, they don't live and act and speak out as a Christian is called to do.
On this basis, and with this qualifier, I am OK with the language that DMLJ uses.
Working through the Sermon as I have been doing has made me aware of just how far I am in living as a Christian - as DMLJ sees it and explains it.
The idea that most stood out to me is that salt preserves food. It does so by killing off microbes that would otherwise decompose or consume the food. So preservation or protection always requires some kind of force whether that be chemical, physical violence, electromagnetic, etc. Intellectually, that means that ideas must be extinguished or removed from people's minds. The best way to do that is through persuasion. No human can be persuaded to believe that Jesus is God and paid for our sins unless God converts that person, so I agree with DMLJ's solution, more Christians. The secondary question is how to protect the Christians that live today from the encroaching corruption. There is internal and external threats. Internally there are the false doctrines of materialism, feminism, egalitarianism, legalism, wokeism, antinomianism, etc. Pastors and elders must fight the good fight in the church by preaching the truth, "refuting those who contradict", and removing others who persist. Externally, that means being politically active. Voting. Running for office. Learning economics, political theory and aligning that with biblical principles. Doing everything we can to insulate ourselves from the threats of government and the corporate arms and legs of the government's Frankenstein monster. I think this is why Christian Nationalism and Monarchism have become more popular ideas over the last few years. I'm not sure that is the correct way forward but we must be wise in how we as Christians defend ourselves from the world.
thecrosssectionrmb.blogspot.com
"Externally, that means being politically active. Voting. Running for office."
Voting is nothing more than an active decision to determine whose hand holds the club with which you are beaten. It never, ever, attempts to remove the club.
Some hands beat you with a club less than others.