Tuesday, December 16, 2008

ideas

Quote of the Day:
Ideas shape the course of history.
John Maynard Keynes
One of the ideas that has become synonymous with the evangelical Christianity in the US is a high regard for the nuclear family and so-called family values.

I don't think God cares half as much as we do about the nuclear family.

Look at what Jesus says when his mothers and brothers come to pick him up:

Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you." "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." (Mark 3:31-35, NIV)

Then there's always the controversial, often downplayed or hushed-up verse where Jesus tells the crowd following him that they have to hate their parents and siblings and spouses and children and their own lives or they can't be his disciples.

Maybe we should start taking the Bible seriously. I'm not trying to say I don't love my family. I absolutely love them. I am saying that when "family values" become the rally cry of the church, we cease to be the Church. The body comes first.

1 comment:

Macro Guy said...

Keynes also said, "In the long run, we're all dead".