Showing posts with label revolution. Show all posts
The Velvet Revolution of Christianity
9:23 PM
Building from last week’s titillating discussion of Religion and Politics, I would like to continue with some thoughts from the former president of the Czech Republic, Valclav Havel. He became a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the bloodless end to communism in Czechoslovakia. Many similarities can be found from Havel’s circumstances in Czechoslovakia in the 1980’s to our present political situation in America. Here is an excerpt from his essay, “Power of the Powerless”:
“The original and most important sphere of activity, one that predetermines all the others, is simply an attempt to create and support the independent life of society as an articulated expression of living within the truth. In other words, serving truth consistently, purposefully, and articulately, and organizing this service. This is only natural, after all: if living within the truth is an elementary starting point for every attempt made by people to oppose the alienating pressure of the system, if it is the only meaningful basis of any independent act of political import, and if, ultimately, it is also the most intrinsic existential source of the "dissident" attitude, then it is difficult to imagine that even manifest "dissent" could have any other basis than the service of truth, the truthful life, and the attempt to make room for the genuine aims of life.”
Havel and his colleagues were not dissidents just because they thought it was a novel idea at the time. In the pursuit of truth, they were thrown into dissent by a personal sense of responsibility. “You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society.”
What similarities do you notice with Havel’s circumstances in totalitarian Czechoslovakia and our current political scene in America? I think Havel’s tale of the green grocer and my neighbors that proudly display their Obama or McCain posters have a lot in common.
Do you notice any similarities with the Velvet Revolution and the rise of Emergent Christianity?
I think this discussion comes full circle back to another discussion we had here at this blog over a month ago with our friend Nick. Nick, I hope you’re still following our developments because we love your feedback. I think for the benefit of people like Nick that would rather not be associated with the term “dissident,” we need to be a little more apparent on what we are doing here and why a “Velvet Revolution” is necessary to return popular American Christianity back to the genuine pursuit of truth. If it were true that “the failure of the revolutionary philosophy is ultimate and fatal,” as Nick puts it, then we might as well give up and go back to our obedient conformist ways.
“All revolutions begin with a few people recognizing the lie and beginning in small ways to live the truth in the face of the system.” (Fr. Emmett Jarrett, TSSF)
“The original and most important sphere of activity, one that predetermines all the others, is simply an attempt to create and support the independent life of society as an articulated expression of living within the truth. In other words, serving truth consistently, purposefully, and articulately, and organizing this service. This is only natural, after all: if living within the truth is an elementary starting point for every attempt made by people to oppose the alienating pressure of the system, if it is the only meaningful basis of any independent act of political import, and if, ultimately, it is also the most intrinsic existential source of the "dissident" attitude, then it is difficult to imagine that even manifest "dissent" could have any other basis than the service of truth, the truthful life, and the attempt to make room for the genuine aims of life.”
Havel and his colleagues were not dissidents just because they thought it was a novel idea at the time. In the pursuit of truth, they were thrown into dissent by a personal sense of responsibility. “You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society.”
What similarities do you notice with Havel’s circumstances in totalitarian Czechoslovakia and our current political scene in America? I think Havel’s tale of the green grocer and my neighbors that proudly display their Obama or McCain posters have a lot in common.
Do you notice any similarities with the Velvet Revolution and the rise of Emergent Christianity?
I think this discussion comes full circle back to another discussion we had here at this blog over a month ago with our friend Nick. Nick, I hope you’re still following our developments because we love your feedback. I think for the benefit of people like Nick that would rather not be associated with the term “dissident,” we need to be a little more apparent on what we are doing here and why a “Velvet Revolution” is necessary to return popular American Christianity back to the genuine pursuit of truth. If it were true that “the failure of the revolutionary philosophy is ultimate and fatal,” as Nick puts it, then we might as well give up and go back to our obedient conformist ways.
“All revolutions begin with a few people recognizing the lie and beginning in small ways to live the truth in the face of the system.” (Fr. Emmett Jarrett, TSSF)
The Power of the Gospel
8:34 AM
I want to start off by thanking Jesse Ahmann and Pastor Michael Wainwright for inviting me as a contributor on this blog. It is an honor and a privilege. I was truly blessed when I came to Bozeman and visited their group. I expect great things coming out of Bozeman. I also hope to visit again soon.
The Power of The Gospel
There are many who preach about the Power of the Gospel yet often the gospel they preach about is not The Gospel. It seems to me often the gospel that is preached is that of a superficiality that promotes a certain powerlessness instead of offering people the Power of salvation.
Most often when I hear this other "gospel" I hear it taught as "getting saved from hell." This is not the same gospel that Jesus taught. In fact it demeans the True Gospel.
Jesus spoke of a Gospel... and taught a Gospel that seems almost lost in many churches today. This Gospel is "the gospel of the Kingdom." (Matt 4:23, 9: 35, Mat 24:14; Luke 4:24, 8:1,) This Gospel of the Kingdom is so much more than about my own personal salvation. It is bigger than my little kingdom.
If we do not look at the Gospel as more than about me, then we miss the overall glory. This Gospel is not "just" about "me". It is the gospel of the glory of Christ. It encompasses all that God is doing... meaning the regeneration or "renewal" of all things. (Matt 19:28)
Often I have heard some teach that the gospel is all about "getting saved from hell and then you get to go to heaven"... if that is all there is, then it does not seem to have that much power.
The Power is in the understanding of the magnitude that Salvation is in Christ Jesus. God has come in the Person of Jesus to set all things right... for God alone is Righteous.
The Power to save is the Power that God has to redeem and set all things right. To take back this lost world and reform it into His Son's image.
We need to turn from our little kingdoms and come the The Kingdom of God. It is that we live "in Christ" the King that we come to live in the Kingdom. We exchange out life for His and become dependant on Jesus for all things.
We have been given the keys to this Kingdom... We have been given all we need for Godliness in the Person of Jesus Christ. It is in the coming to understand how huge the Kingdom is and that all God has accomplished through Jesus that the Power of the Gospel can truly be seen. Once we see the bigger picture, we are free from the bondage of our own little kingdoms. The Power is in the surrender of our kingdom for His in all its glory.
Be blessed,
iggy
The Power of The Gospel
There are many who preach about the Power of the Gospel yet often the gospel they preach about is not The Gospel. It seems to me often the gospel that is preached is that of a superficiality that promotes a certain powerlessness instead of offering people the Power of salvation.
Most often when I hear this other "gospel" I hear it taught as "getting saved from hell." This is not the same gospel that Jesus taught. In fact it demeans the True Gospel.
Jesus spoke of a Gospel... and taught a Gospel that seems almost lost in many churches today. This Gospel is "the gospel of the Kingdom." (Matt 4:23, 9: 35, Mat 24:14; Luke 4:24, 8:1,) This Gospel of the Kingdom is so much more than about my own personal salvation. It is bigger than my little kingdom.
If we do not look at the Gospel as more than about me, then we miss the overall glory. This Gospel is not "just" about "me". It is the gospel of the glory of Christ. It encompasses all that God is doing... meaning the regeneration or "renewal" of all things. (Matt 19:28)
Often I have heard some teach that the gospel is all about "getting saved from hell and then you get to go to heaven"... if that is all there is, then it does not seem to have that much power.
The Power is in the understanding of the magnitude that Salvation is in Christ Jesus. God has come in the Person of Jesus to set all things right... for God alone is Righteous.
The Power to save is the Power that God has to redeem and set all things right. To take back this lost world and reform it into His Son's image.
We need to turn from our little kingdoms and come the The Kingdom of God. It is that we live "in Christ" the King that we come to live in the Kingdom. We exchange out life for His and become dependant on Jesus for all things.
We have been given the keys to this Kingdom... We have been given all we need for Godliness in the Person of Jesus Christ. It is in the coming to understand how huge the Kingdom is and that all God has accomplished through Jesus that the Power of the Gospel can truly be seen. Once we see the bigger picture, we are free from the bondage of our own little kingdoms. The Power is in the surrender of our kingdom for His in all its glory.
Be blessed,
iggy