The intellectual nature of these arguments suggests a kind of detachment from, even dispassion toward,the issues at hand. By the nature of their work, intellectuals must be bloodless but innocent suffering cannot be answered with chill sternness, not finally, not immediately. Too many mitigating factors stir the mix. When innocents suffer, action is demanded.
Free Church tradition is the stuff of Eden. In Edenic society, God so outduels adversaries that human life is reversed as to expectation. That is, in the Society of Eden, death is temporary while life is durable. If life is the expectation, warmth and nourishment must bless the world. This is whole hearted wholesomeness. Bloodlessness is reptilian. Christ follower are warm blooded.
Lincoln could meticulously research a moral topic for presentation. His complete attachment at the moment of decision became the guide for his pen and the North Star for all his later decisions making.
How else does one explain this fact; the man who wrote the greatest of inaugural addresses (for himself), thought to spell the word inageral? Lincoln is well read but poorly educated. A great soul overcame his poor learning.
Active opposition to evil is the cult of the Edenic Society. The Serpent-Kind shall bruise the Kingdom-Heel but the Kingdom Cult will give the Serpent-Kind a mortal wound.
If we are of the Cult of Christ (cult, not occult), we must, full-throated, shout down the Serpent-Kind. God's Christ actively opposes evil.
In the (possibly extra-biblical) story of the woman taken in prostitution (not adultery; that misunderstands the story) Jesus uses a moment of silence and an instant of reflection to oppose evil. He pauses when the woman is thrown into the dirt before Him, wearing all the seeds of her promiscuity. He then asks her accusers and the woman herself to oppose evil with Him. That is, Our Lord insists they and she regard the heart, repent the sin and reform the life.
In the (possibly extra-biblical) encounter with the stubborn demon, Jesus suggests the father of the boy, the boy and the apostles address spiritual muscle building for hard times. God's Christ banishes the demon for He is able, liberates the boy for He is willing and points to the disciplines for the sake of all innocent sufferers.
We do not suggest too much when we offer this thought: the innocent world would benefit from stronger Christians. Evil is active and demonic. This is the stuff of angels, not of armies bent on national interests. Christian opposition to active evil is persuasion, mixed with personal purity and fermented with the yeast of self-sacrifice.
Opinions expressed here are mine alone, not those of the church I serve, or of any other person or organization.
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