tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9072931.post7032945132854136377..comments2023-03-13T10:13:20.378-04:00Comments on Pursuing the Revolutionary Tradition: Why Nonviolence? Part IVrheimbrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15141146680438965835noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9072931.post-28192001598981522802009-06-05T13:38:08.663-04:002009-06-05T13:38:08.663-04:00I would agree with that, and like I said I still h...I would agree with that, and like I said I still have a lot to work through on OT Violence in my own understanding.<br /><br />I also am not totally sure that slavery was the right corollary, but decided to go ahead with it. I don't like to think of it as a purely pragmatic tactic by Paul and/or God, but I do think there is a patience God has with humanity that can allow things which are contrary to the Kingdom to linger until the time is ripe to remove it. <br /><br />I mean, slavery is still something that continues today despite the church's best efforts. I don't expect violence to ever disappear. It is embedded in human relations. But I don't think God is content to leave it at that either. <br /><br />The bigger point for me is that for both slavery and violence I think neither represent all that God has for humanity. He is not content to leave us in a place where those are part of how we interact with others.rheimbrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15141146680438965835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9072931.post-66243561799331176402009-06-05T13:27:04.876-04:002009-06-05T13:27:04.876-04:00The slavery issue is an interesting one that I'...The slavery issue is an interesting one that I've looked at alot. Paul is sometimes less progressive in some of the things that he says than modern people would like. Why doesn't he come out and say that all slavery is bad, and hereby abolished, period. I think the main reason for this is propriety. Paul is responsible for maintaining Christianity's good reputation in a culture that embraced slavery. I think Paul emancipated slaves where he could get away with it. I think he had slaves stay under slavery when he couldn't get away with it. In fact he even says that he could have ordered Philemon to release his slave Onesimus. (Philemon 1:8). Regarding Old Testament violence, and this is just a guess. Maybe the norm for all society at the time was so violent that even a peace-loving God's solution temporarily included violence. The expression of worship that came most naturally to them was killing livestock after all. Maybe God's solution for the violent culture was more violence temporarily so that He could pave the way for a peaceful future. Like picking the lesser of two evils. Just a thought.Brad Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10717802046810380625noreply@blogger.com