Extemporaneous musings, occasionally poetic, about life in its richly varied dimensions, especially as relates to history, theology, law, literature, science, by one who is an attorney, ordained minister, historian, writer, and African American.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
DON'T ABUSE JESUS CHRIST
DON'T USE JESUS CHRIST TO RATIONALIZE ANY IMPERIALISM
Jesus said go not into the city of the Samaritans, but preach the gospel to those of house of Israel.
He also said if a house that you hail doesn't receive you with gladness, "does not welcome you," then "shake the dust of the house off your feet" and move on. https://biblehub.com/matthew/10-14.htm
These two Bible references show that Jesus was not an imperialist!
Some "missionaries," historically, ("Dr. Livingston, I presume"), who have operated in foreign lands, seem to have been clandestine imperialists, spies, or information gatherers, primarily. They opened the floodgates and doors for their sponsors' imperial aims of quietly exploring, mapping, trading, violating, destroying, invading, conquering, oh, and "converting" these infidels to the way, to the true, only Holy, religion, of Jesus.
Both Christians and Muslims have adopted a similar covert missionary strategy toward indigenous people, as history has also shown clearly!
Jesus told his disciples not to go among the Gentiles nor into the city of the Samaritans in Matt.10:5-6. https://www.google.com/…/%3fsearch=Matthew%2b10:5-6&version…
So clearly there were significant limits on where his own disciples were not authorized to preach the gospel of Jesus nor to prophesy.
Yet, here we are over two thousand years later seeing those very limits on geography and on theology not being respected by today's version of "Gentiles and Samaritans," who are now the "Christians" so-called.
Meanwhile the disciples, Hebrews in Jesus times, are far less likely to be now Christian, but remain Jews!
My point is that Jesus should not be used as a rationale for invasion.
Even if the invader is a missionary who at midnight enters Sentinelese land on the island, North Sentinel, Jesus should not be used to justify this intrusion upon the seclusion of these remote Paleolithic peoples.
Lastly, even if the intruder is but one man named John Allen Chau from Oral Roberts University, by way of Vancouver , Washington, who was killed there for intruding, Jesus Christ should not be used as pretext for memorializing Chau there. He premeditated on this act; fully embracing his possible death.
Amen.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sentinel_Island