#162 Respect and Authority

As a classical liberal, who takes his respect for the rule of law from the conservative tradition, I struggle with the concept of respect for authority. This thought came to me as my wife was discussing with me her reading of one of the New Testament texts regarding respecting elders and authority. Texts with this sort of admonition are ubiquitous in the NT and yet my understanding of the history of liberty, the founding philosophical principles of America, and the situation we find ourselves in today give me some pause when examining the statements.

Two thoughts in particular came to mind. First, the word respect comes with a lot of baggage. In our day and age, when patriotism, for example, means to a lot of people silencing dissent and wearing an American flag lapel pin, many people think that respect for authority similarly means keeping your mouth shut. So for now, I think it would behoove me to put a moratorium on my use of the word respect when discussing the biblical basis for a Christian's responsibility vis a vis our government. The operative question here is, what did the word respect mean to Paul and the other authors of the New Testament?

The other side of that coin is that the word authority also comes with a lot of baggage. To us it means a democratically elected representative government. Clearly for Paul, a Roman citizen as far as government is concerned, this meant an authoritarian empire without many of the basic freedoms we enjoy today. In other words, I've got to consider the difference between authority in our day and age and that of the NT writers.

So my question for Paul, Peter, and anyone who reads this is, what should respect for authority look like in the 21st century? I think we have to say, at least preliminarily, that it will look very different from anything ever envisioned by the early church, the church of the middle ages, or the Reformation era church. We need to understand the Christian's responsibility of respect for authority in this age of liberty. As Karl Barth once stated regarding the "theology of freedom" he recommended on his visit to America, "Will such a specific American theology one day arise? I hope so."

#161 Charities I Like

I think this might be helpful for anyone who is looking for quality charities to give to that you can trust. Here is a little description of what each of my nine favorite charities do.

• Millennium Promise - This organization performance intensive economic development work on targeted areas seeking to build self-sufficient communities that can then develop on their own. Their goal is to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015.

• Christian Peacemaker Teams - Dedicated to mourning with those that mourn, suffering with those that suffer, and standing between victim and oppressor. They ask the question: What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?

• CARE - Economic development similar to World Vision but will not accept government assistance for Food Aid because of the damage this does to local markets. They focus particularly on the status of poor women.

• Wycliffe Bible Translators - The leading Bible translation organization. Their goal is to see a Bible translation program in progress in every language still needing one by 2025.

• Five Talents - They provide access to basic savings and microcredit services and provide biblically based business training to help the poor start small businesses and begin to build their future.

• The Chalmers Center for Economic Development - This organization, founded by one of my professors in college, trains the church to provide services such as those provided by Five Talents and microfinance institutions. It's one thing to have a few large organizations providing capital, but decentralization through the church is a brilliant approach and increases the flexibility of capital flows and speeds economic development.

• The Green Belt Movement - On my two trips to Kenya, I got a sense of just how much deforestation, due to lack of a better fuel source, is effecting the local landscape and thus the economic prospects and health of the people of the region. The place appears to be becoming a wasteland. This is where The Green Belt Movement comes in. They purchase seedlings from local growers, thus keeping the capital in the country, and hire locals to plant them, also keeping capital in the country and providing employment.

• The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts - Founded by Daniel Wallace, CSNTM uses high tech photographic equipment to preserve NT manuscripts for future generations of scholars to study. As a side benefit, they often discover new uncatalogued, manuscripts. Material goods don't last forever, but if there's anything worth preserving, it is the earliest surviving witnesses to the gospel.

• CURE - The Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy was founded by Susan Axelrod, who is the wife of Obama advisor David Axelrod. I have a brother and a friend who suffer from the terrible private hell of seizures. It's a suffering that is so internal, so personal, that there is nothing I can do to help alleviate their pain other than pray and give what I can to find a cure.
  

As you can see from the links above, I believe that a) the end of poverty is possibility within our lifetime, b) peacemaking and the work of reconciliation is the call of the Christian and can be effective with broad support from the church, and c) language should not be a barrier to hearing the good news of Jesus Christ.

#160 Like a Girl

I'm currently reading the most bad-ass manly book of all time, The Iliad. And I've learned that just as in the ancient world, they were not immune from dirty jokes about the Song of Solomon, they also perfected the most damaging insult of all time. If you've seen and love The Sandlot as I do, then you'll know what I'm talking about. Here is a passage:

"The Karians... were led by Nastes... [who] came like a girl to the fighting in golden raiment, poor fool, nor did this avail to keep dismal death back; but he went down under the hands of swift-running Aiakides in the river, and fiery Achilles stripped the gold from him."

You play ball like a girl! [Long Pause] What did you just say? You heard me. Tomorrow at our field.