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I saw a poster about an event coming up in our area called, The Silencing of God. It seems to be an event that is suggesting that old argument that the liberals are taking God out of the schools, out of politics, out of whatever. Often it is argued that the United States was founded on Christian ideals and I always wonder if that's pre or post Columbus' discovery. Is invading a land and destroying it's indigenous people a valid way to follow Jesus? I mean, were not the indigenous population of what we now call the United States a spiritual people, with spiritual values? Maybe they were not the European spiritual ideals and values, but spiritual all the same.
I thought about what is presumed by the title, The Silencing of God. There is an assumption here, I think, that human efforts can silence God. The assumption is that by our will we can hold the mouth of God shut. Huh? Does disallowing public school officials or teachers to lead prayers in public schools really have the power to silence God? Do we really take seriously the passage from Luke 19 where the Pharisees say to Jesus at his entry into Jerusalem, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples," (because everyone was shouting, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!") and Jesus responds to them, "If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." To believe that political powers, public schools, or any other institutions or their leaders can "silence God," is to really not understand God's authority and power at all, I think.
Notes to self..."God is God. I'm not God. Whether I can talk about God in this or that place does not mean God is silenced. To whom and when God speaks is not under my control, nor is it under the control of anyone else. To suggest that it is, is to give more power to "principalities and powers," as Paul describes them, than these things or people really have. Maybe God wants me to be more silent so that people can hear God's voice without being distracted by my own. This certainly does not mean God is not speaking nor that God is silenced, but maybe it does mean I might be drowning God out. And, is that really possible anyway? Certainly God will be heard if God wants to be heard. Of course I might not hear God even though God is speaking, but that's because of my own heart, not the power of others to quiet God."
I think sometimes we confuse God's voice for our own. We often feel that God wants what we want, thinks as we think, and that God would accept or reject according to our personal preferences and prejudices. So, when someone brings up the topic of The Silencing of God, maybe it says more about whether people want to listen to them or not than whether people want to listen to God. I have found it to be true that people often have great affection for Jesus, but not so much for Christians. We Christians certainly aren't perfect. But I do think our goal is to strive to be more "like Jesus," not more like our country's founders. Jesus was not a white American and I think it is very clear that many of these so called values of the United States, is not necessarily the values of Jesus. You might check out the book God's Politics by Jim Wallis, or the Sojourners or Call to Renewal Websites to discover more discussion and ideas related to some of the differences between what our Country wants and what Jesus might actually desire from us.
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I'm reminded of China, where the government tried to "silence God". Now there are millions of Christians in a country that once was very resistant to the gospel.
This "seminar" is coming to my town as well. I'm totally bothered by the whole concept as well.In checking out some of the publicity, there's a lot of talk about returning to our nations Christian heritage...becoming the "Christian nation" our foun.ding fathers created.
So, does this mean the organizers and presenters of this event want to also bring back slavery, take away the right to vote for women and minorities, and so on???
Sure, our world has seen a lot of strange morality over the years. But, some of the changes that modernity and liberals have brought about are important
There's also the idea that a great many public school teachers are not Christians. Do you want your child taught to pray to Allah, the Buddha, Gaea, Odin, Vishnu, etc? We can not deny a non-Christian teacher the right to work at a public school, and neither could we restrict what what they teach. Heck, many Protestants would get even more bent out of shape if the teacher taught the kids to pray the Rosary.
God calls parents to raise their children to know Him. He does not call us to farm the job out to someone else. Teaching my children to pray and know God is my job, thank you very much.
Whats wrong with our Christian heritage ? Its that heritage that put an end to slavery and gave women the right to vote. Its not perfect, but as the saying goes "only one person was ever perfect, and He was nailed to a cross" Our founding fathers established this nation with a set of Christian principles. It's almost impossible to find anything our founders have said about their faith,because it isn't allowed to be taught in PUBLIC Schools today.
We need to move ahead towards those Christian principles once again. Hers an old Quote [I'm not sure of its origin] "Methods are many, principles are few, methods change often, principles never do" [found this quote in the Book by Rick Warren " Purpose driven Church
Whats wrong with our Christian heritage ? Its that heritage that put an end to slavery and gave women the right to vote. Its not perfect, but as the saying goes "only one person was ever perfect, and He was nailed to a cross" Our founding fathers established this nation with a set of Christian principles. It's almost impossible to find anything our founders have said about their faith,because it isn't allowed to be taught in PUBLIC Schools today.
We need to move ahead towards those Christian principles once again. Hers an old Quote [I'm not sure of its origin] "Methods are many, principles are few, methods change often, principles never do" [found this quote in the Book by Rick Warren " Purpose driven Church
The problem Andy, is that the Kingdom of God never was or will be a democracy (or republic). There is a difference between our national heritage and our Christian heritage, and to confuse them dilutes where our allegiance should be placed. The USA never was a "Christian nation"; deistic perhaps, but not what many of us understand as the call of Christ upon us. Jesus gave many admonitions about world systems and we must never forget that we are pilgrims and sojourners here.
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I'm reminded of China, where the government tried to "silence God". Now there are millions of Christians in a country that once was very resistant to the gospel. Posted by Fred (co-heir) Shope | Posted at 09/14/2007 7:41 AM
This "seminar" is coming to my town as well. I'm totally bothered by the whole concept as well.In checking out some of the publicity, there's a lot of talk about returning to our nations Christian heritage...becoming the "Christian nation" our foun.ding fathers created.
So, does this mean the organizers and presenters of this event want to also bring back slavery, take away the right to vote for women and minorities, and so on???
Sure, our world has seen a lot of strange morality over the years. But, some of the changes that modernity and liberals have brought about are important
Posted by Jason Morris | Posted at 09/20/2007 12:41 PMThere's also the idea that a great many public school teachers are not Christians. Do you want your child taught to pray to Allah, the Buddha, Gaea, Odin, Vishnu, etc? We can not deny a non-Christian teacher the right to work at a public school, and neither could we restrict what what they teach. Heck, many Protestants would get even more bent out of shape if the teacher taught the kids to pray the Rosary.
God calls parents to raise their children to know Him. He does not call us to farm the job out to someone else. Teaching my children to pray and know God is my job, thank you very much.
Posted by Phil_in_CS | Posted at 09/21/2007 8:14 AMWhats wrong with our Christian heritage ? Its that heritage that put an end to slavery and gave women the right to vote. Its not perfect, but as the saying goes "only one person was ever perfect, and He was nailed to a cross" Our founding fathers established this nation with a set of Christian principles. It's almost impossible to find anything our founders have said about their faith,because it isn't allowed to be taught in PUBLIC Schools today.
We need to move ahead towards those Christian principles once again. Hers an old Quote [I'm not sure of its origin] "Methods are many, principles are few, methods change often, principles never do" [found this quote in the Book by Rick Warren " Purpose driven Church
Posted by Andy Wilson | Posted at 09/23/2007 9:58 PMWhats wrong with our Christian heritage ? Its that heritage that put an end to slavery and gave women the right to vote. Its not perfect, but as the saying goes "only one person was ever perfect, and He was nailed to a cross" Our founding fathers established this nation with a set of Christian principles. It's almost impossible to find anything our founders have said about their faith,because it isn't allowed to be taught in PUBLIC Schools today.
We need to move ahead towards those Christian principles once again. Hers an old Quote [I'm not sure of its origin] "Methods are many, principles are few, methods change often, principles never do" [found this quote in the Book by Rick Warren " Purpose driven Church
Posted by Andy Wilson | Posted at 09/23/2007 9:58 PMThe problem Andy, is that the Kingdom of God never was or will be a democracy (or republic). There is a difference between our national heritage and our Christian heritage, and to confuse them dilutes where our allegiance should be placed. The USA never was a "Christian nation"; deistic perhaps, but not what many of us understand as the call of Christ upon us. Jesus gave many admonitions about world systems and we must never forget that we are pilgrims and sojourners here. Posted by RMacD | Posted at 09/24/2007 4:48 PM