My Burden
As a student and ardent worshipper of Christ, I’m persuaded that he alone is the great liberator of humankind held captive under the universal tyranny of death. Many Christians, however, seem to have forgotten that our freedom is not bought with the worthless blood of our enemies, but that of the sinless Master himself, who loved his enemies (all of us) until it killed him. He has released us from bondage at the auction block of human capital, delivering us from the rule of fear – fear of death, loss, punishment, suffering and oppression in all its endless forms. This rule is most perfectly realized in the state, which derives its power from the legitimized use of deadly force to apply human solutions to human problems. In this we see that the state is fundamentally opposed to the way of Christ as the ultimate hope for true freedom and peace on earth. His is the way of absolute dependence upon God, apart from any rule of law enforced by human strength exerted in violence.
Because its existence depends upon (and receives) the affirmation of popular consent, the state is the principal agent of human rebellion against the Creator. People have a congenital inclination to contrive and manufacture something they can set in motion to look after their every need and desire. The problem with these lifeless artifacts is they must be maintained. They are completely incapable of sustaining their own existence and can’t function without the constant care and feeding of their creators. The state is the epitome of such idolatry. Those who depend on it are in truth depending upon their own feeble strength, offered up and wasted in sacrificial toil and futility. When Christians engage under the auspices of the state to resist evil by force, they deny the higher power of God’s love by which our Lord endured all hostility to establish an eternal kingdom that is not of this world.
Did the pilots in Memphis throw the clerics off their plane in Jesus’s name? I don’t know. But droves of self-identified Christians have come out in support of the decision on the basis of the same limited information that has provoked so much outrage on the other side. The not-so-subtle implication is that Muslims are the embodiment of evil on earth and must therefore be suppressed by all means without regard for their civil rights, let alone the teaching and example of Christ himself.
To everyone outside the faith, let me say plainly that Jesus commands us only to love and pursue peace with you. He gives us no license and certainly no mandate to deny your innate dignity, to harass, or deprive you of the basic rights and freedom conferred personally by God to all mankind. It’s not for us to inhibit the freedom of movement or other means by which others engage in their daily business. Nor is it our place to control access to the marketplace and starve dissenters into submission. Rather, if our enemy is hungry we’re told to feed him and, if he’s thirsty, give him something to drink. If we are robbed, it’s our privilege to freely give even more – just as the Creator gives good things to ungrateful and evil people like us. The yoke he places on us is easy, and the load we bear is light. Our God has not saddled us with the hopeless mission of driving evil off the face of the earth by violence and cruelty against unbelievers.
But, someone will say, Islam is different and not properly understood. Muslim fundamentalists want to convert, enslave, or destroy us all! If this is true, and if we choose none of the above, the question is not whether we ought to resist, but what sort of resistance will truly deliver us and not simply feed our addiction to terror and strife. Christ teaches us to overcome evil with good, to love our enemies. This is not to say that we kowtow in passive obedience in the face of tyranny and injustice. Rather, we resist in the same love with which we have been irresistibly loved; we drive out fear and are not ruled by it. If our enemy slaps us with his left hand, we stand fast and offer him the opportunity to wield the right one also against our peaceable friendship and so bear witness to his own guilt and shame before God and everyone. By this he is ultimately and utterly defeated, condemned by any reasonable standard of justice and altogether disqualified to bear the crown of victory and authority.
That we do these things imperfectly – or not at all – and so often engage in the same kinds of coercive devices described above in bending the will of others to suit our world view reveals a couple of important points. First, if our escape from the untamed barrens of hatred, fear, destruction, and the judgment of God himself depends on our ability or even our willingness to behave well, then Christians are as basically screwed as everyone else. Second, a lot of people calling themselves Christian simply don’t get that and are still trying to be good which, they believe, entails forcing everyone else to be good too. Jesus didn’t truck much with people like that in his day, to say the least.
The love of Christ isn’t a soft, squishy, amorphous ointment of politically correct weakness that makes us grovel in the face of intimidation. Neither is it a heartless crusade against the heathen doers of iniquity, idol worshippers, homosexuals, Democrats, or swarthy airline passengers wearing funny man-dresses. And please understand that I’m not trying here to proselytize or even persuade anyone of the truth of Scripture or the supremacy of Christ (but feel free to contact me if you want to have that discussion). My goal has been to correct the distortion of the biblical Jesus in the words and actions of many who claim to follow him and bring to light what is true about the content of the Bible and Christ’s teaching so everyone will be better able to judge whether any of it is true at all.
Finally, to those who genuinely love and follow Christ, if the words of our Teacher aren’t clear enough, let’s abide by his example in rejecting all aspiration and allegiance to the violent powers of the earth. We must refuse to prop up the lifeless idols that bind the soul in darkness, and affirm that he alone is worthy to rule over us as we gladly submit to his perfect law of fearless love.
A final note: Now that I’ve broken the seal, it seems like as good a time as any to move forward with something I’ve been mulling over for a while (years, in fact). If you’ve read all the way through to this point, you may be also interested in checking it out at ChristianAnarchist.org.
Sir, I really, really like and enjoy your post. I did not care for the religious Christ, God part but for the most I thought you right on and my thinking very much like yours. The only respect we differ is that I don’t think a God can be known. Whatever God is is beyond human understanding is my thought and I doubt God can be Christ except in the thoughts that we may ALL be a part of GOD. So many, Allah, Buddah, Christ, etc unknowns.
I thank you for your writings.
Thanks, BJ. I did give you fair warning about the Jesus stuff, you know (-; But I understand what you’re saying and sort of agree with you – I think Plato or Aristotle (can’t remember which) said it best when he said that God is “beyond finding out.” But it seems perfectly reasonable to me that, while we may not be able to ‘understand’ God, he could make himself known to us if it was his will to do so, and that he could make known the way by which he can be known, which is what Jesus claimed to be. Now maybe Jesus and his followers are all nuts, but would you still say it’s religious if it actually turned out to be true?
Anyway, that’s all beside the point. I’m not trying to sell anyone anything here – I’m just disgusted by the mass of people who claim to believe as I do but utterly butcher and/or ignore Christ’s teaching. Lot’s of people don’t believe. But to call oneself Christian and then do exactly the opposite of what the Lord commanded, and stand by it as a Christian, is appalling. I just felt the need to make it clear that what Christ said and did is often, as it is here, very different from the things people say and do in his name. I guess it’s because, as a Christian, I want to be identified with him – not them.
Michael has insights well beyond the ordinary. There is so much at stake in our nation. We are on the verge of losing all our rights by knuckling under to tyranny. There is a natural, inherent dignity to man that is buried under our sad hypnotism by ignorance. We can again stand upright (in integrity, in the values of Christianity, in the inalienable rights that are God-given and pointed to in our Constitution!) Now is the time to realign ourselves with truth. I’m grateful that this article by Michael is bold and articulate. This is an expression of the new energy that will change our nation!
Thanks, Trudy. You’re absolutely correct about the Constitution – it points to our natural rights, it is not the source of them. So, whether the Constitution is butchered or upheld, and whether we knuckle under to tyranny or not, we remain as free as we choose to be.
Sun Tzu’s Art of War teaches the goals and methods of the state. Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount teaches the goals and methods of peace. The two doctrines are as opposite as war and peace, or slavery and freedom.
Without Christ I have trouble even believing freedom exists. If I depend on the permission of my neighbor for my freedom then what I have is not freedom. Rights are bullshit. Only abilities matter. I have the ability to enslave my neighbor and he has the same of me. Following this line leads me essentially to the idea that right and wrong are only the result of victory and defeat. A.H. shared this view and I strongly agree with him in many ways when I think in the paradigm of war. But that isn’t freedom, nor is it good, nor does peace come about but through slavery in it.
I have also come to the conclusion that a free man follows the teachings of Christ whether he knows him or not. Any wise doctrine of war is inconsistent with true freedom.
The Sun Tzu comparison is spot on, Sam. I hadn’t thought about it before, but you’re absolutely right. And how many people – not just warriors, but people in business and everywhere else – are out there applying his methods in their work? Very interesting. But, the wisdom of this age is foolishness…
Dear Sir,
Have just finished reading your WTF(wjd)?. As one who believes the Truth of Christianity has most clearly been preserved for us in Holy Orthodoxy, I too am trying to follow (faltingly) in the footsteps of Our Lord Jesus. Your observations I believe are correct, and give one much to ponder. Nonetheless, to begin with the premise, “. . . evil people like us,” seems to deny baptism and absolution. Isn’t the problem with the human condition not that after accepting Christ that we are “evil,” but that as members of the Body of Christ wherein we have the “… power to become the sons of God,” we can still do evil? This your article so well illustrates.
Just found you over at LRC. Keep up the good work. As an agnostic, I have never been sure whether God exists or not, but people like you make me think that the answer is yes. Even thought I am not a true believer, I go to Church almost every Sunday because I love to sing God’s praises, and because I love the teaching of Scripture. Like you, I despise false Christians who think that killing others (or removing them from airplanes) is the answer, and is somehow considered Godly action. One of my favorite lessons is the temptation of Christ, when Satan takes Him to the high mountain where they can see all the nations of the earth and promises Him dominon over them if He (Christ) will only bow down and worship Satan. Translation: Earthly power comes from Satan. It is power over others. In other words, state power.
I thank you for being a true Christian and trying to get the message out that the state is our enemy and should be resisted by all, especially true Christians.
Thanks, Davidus. As a matter of fact, the Greek word frequently used in the New Testament for the nations/kingdoms of the earth is arche, meaning dominion. The Bible also refers to Satan as the Archon, or ruler of this world, which explains how he would be in a position to endow Christ or anyone else with political dominion, as he offered to do if Jesus would bow down and worship him! This is why I believe mainstream Christianity’s infatuation with the political system is utterly irreconcilable.
After reading your article WTF(wjd)?, weeks of gloom were cleared from my spirit and when my feet finally touched the ground again, I shouted your praises until my wife made me stop! You were spot on in your discourse and I can’t wait to read the sequel.
I’m so thankful for the way God has led me to my salvation. I view my life so differently now and I’m clearly a stranger to the man I used to be. I’m proud to call myself a Christian because of the incredible goodness of Christ. I’m saddened to see how unworthy I am to identify with His name.
We have so many different idols in our lives that we turn to for gratification. You listed many of them in your treatise and I believe your primary theme was the extraordinary lack of love that we seem determined to promote in our encounters with other people, whether they are our next door neighbors or “foreigners” in distant lands. Your comments are so true.
Every day I’m drawn closer to the realization that if I can’t have my first choice which would be to have Jesus with us here today to head the perfect government that only He can provide, then any government that competes to take His place is worse than none at all.
As you stated in your article, government by man gets sidetracked by our fallen nature and falls way short of reinforcing the love that God intended us to practice. Our civil rulers only deserve obedience when they are fulfilling their duty as servants of God, not when they oppose His will.
Thank you for your keen insights and I pray you will continue with your efforts. They are so necessary in a world where men wear blinders and walk in darkness with no light to see where they’re headed and no wisdom to evaluate their course.
Travis Ogle
Pace, FL
A very good article, very good.
It appears that in America only individuals who are overweight, as deemed so by the government and media, or those who are visibly Muslim, may be tossed off of public transportation, and ridiculed and humiliated to the general approbation of the masses.
How very sad it is, in what was once known as Christian land, to see such lack of any sense of respect for one’s fellow human being.
However I do not place the blame with the Christians, they are victims also, victims of the same, shall we say, mind molders that most of humanity fall victim to in the guise of entertainment, education, etc.
The masses, it is sad to say, are easily led, oft times to their own destruction. Yet they follow their various Pied Pipers.
They respond to what their masters tell them.
I am a conservative, libertarian, Republican, and it is very hard to read hatred and vile calls for the destruction of those who are of one of the 3 Abrahamic faiths.
In Ridley Scott’s The Kingdom of Heaven there is a scene, towards the end, that when the film was shown in Damascus, the audience, which was almost all Muslim, rose and cheered.
The scene was immediately after Jerusalem capitulated on October 2, 1187.
It is as Saladin is walking through and finds a golden cross lying upon the floor amid the ruined building, he bends down and picks it up and replaces it on the altar from which it had fallen. It is at that precise point that the audience in the theater stood and cheered. This is the more common feeling amongst the Muslims, to be honorable and to be respectful of their Christian brothers and sisters.
Do you recall, per chance, the play in London, England of several years ago now, wherein Jesus was portrayed as a homosexual? While the Christian community, in Christian land, was silent at this abomination, the Muslims took to the streets to protest this defamation of Jesus.
It is regrettable that people, of all faiths, do not live up to their religion. There are consequences to that of course, you see it all around you.
I have thought that if Muslims and Christians in Palestine could live together for thousand years in peace so can they in all lands. Today also they live in peace and brotherhood, as the Bishop of Jerusalem, Riah Abu El-Assal, and George Abdo, a social worker with the Shepherd Society, have stated.
I think it is not necessary that people who share a similar sense of morality, of right and wrong, should be estranged.
By their fruits you shall know them. A great truth Jesus did utter. This is universal truth.
Compassion for one’s fellow man is a good thing.
Treating people with respect, is a good thing.
The depiction of good men in The Kingdom of Heaven that is what we should all aspire to, I think. I would not feel uncomfortable if the boys of today could view a film such as that and maybe seek to emulate the brave and honorable Christians and Muslims so depicted.
It is written in the Qur’an in Surah 5 Ayah 85 that the closest and nearest in love to the Muslims are the Christians, “and thou wilt find the nearest in love to those who believe to be those who say, ‘We are Christians;’ that is because there are amongst them priests and monks, and because they are not proud.”
There is a saying amongst the Muslims, I pray that we might all make it our hope as well:
God help the right and God help the wrong.
“And Jesus shall be a sign for the coming of the hour of Judgment. Therefore have no doubt about the hour. When Jesus came with clear signs, he said ‘Now I have come to you with wisdom, therefore fear God and obey me, for God, he is my Lord and your Lord so worship him, for this is the straight way.’”
— The Qur’an, Surah 43
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Praise be to God in recognition of His benefits.
Thanks for a great article Michael. I am currently sharing in the teaching of an adult Sunday School class at my Methodist Church here on the Beatitudes. Some of your insights will most definitely make it into one or more of my lessons.
But I want to talk about rights. I agree with you. The founders knew they had unalienable rights derived from the creator and/or nature. The rights were just there. The point of the Constitution was not to create or grant rights, the point of the Constitution was to define a system of government and define the limits of that government to interfer with our unalienable rights.
I even hear legal scholars refer to “finding a right to privacy in the Constitution.” That is just (as my grandfather would say) ass-backwards. It’s the wrong question to ask if a right exists in the Constitution. The right question is, does the Constitution give the government the ability to interfer with or regulate that right for the common good. It seems a subtle differencem, but I think it would make a huge difference in how courts should rule on many cases.