Mark Van Steenwyk at Jesus Manifesto had this brilliant little aside in his post on Angst-giving that I thought worth tossing to the wolves here.
Why is it that we say that African Americans and Native Americans should simply “let it go” when God encouraged the Israelites to remember the injustices done to them? Why, when talking about Scripture do we assume that the various empires “have it coming” when judgment falls for how they treated the Jews, but when it comes to the USA…
Thoughts? I’ll save mine for the comments.
Good questions,
I think that African Americans and Native Americans have a valid reason to hold onto their history. First, African Americans still often live as second class citizens in a world of de-facto segregation. I also think that leaders in these communities need to have a forward looking vision, like King and others, to see the infinite possibilities of how all races can work together within the kingdom of God.
Second, I think that America really needs to look at itself in the mirror and think about some of things it is doing. We should be fighting less wars, giving more humanitarian aid in India, Congo, Sudan, etc., and we should be finding ways to bring peace to the world.
hi coldfire,
welcome to my four walls. i appreciate the tension between remembering and memory impelling us forward toward a vision of the coming kingdom. that tension is there in the biblical narrative as well. The point of remembering the exodus was to form the people into God’s people. good stuff.
Let it go Lucas….!
uhmm…my point exactly.
While I’m sympathetic to Mark’s perspective, I’ll play the devil’s advocate. The religious right often errs on the side of proof texting that somehow we are God’s nation akin to Israel. Thus we are very militaristic, nationalistic and we drape the American flag over the cross baptizing the state with the blessings of God.
Now, no one can argue the particularity and protection of the “theocracy” of Israel created in the OT…even modern Israel IMO.
So if no one can be the blessed nation of God, the theocracy created in the OT (since God’s kingdom is now present in Christ in the world), then no one can be the reverse. Jesus Christ took upon all the judgments of every nation. This does not do away with responsibility or accountability, but the nuances change.
All nations will be judged, but we must be careful in equating OT blessedness or judgment upon a nation, people, or person.
thanks for the perspective. i hadn’t really thought about the aspect you raised.
should we completely abandon the language of blessing/judgment in reference to nations? if so how do we update the way the OT in particular talks about God’s attitudes towards nations?
i understand the danger and hesitation with applying israel’s identity to ours on a one-to-one basis, but there is still room in the ongoing jesus movement to talk about both blessing and judgment of the nations. in fact we NEED to talk about this because it sheds light on both our own assumptions and the actions of nations in the world.