While thinking about Christians who merrily spend their days making the religion over in mankind's image in order to justify their secular ways, I got to thinking about those dedicated to the examples set by the earliest followers, the Way.
Regardless of how self sufficient or charitable, it seems to me that for them the lovers of neighbour/enemy as self, it is a no win situation here in earth. Consider homesteaders or as a better example, the Amish who live off the land and could handily survive a pulse that shuts down anything electronic which will be not for a short period. It was recently estimated that 80% of the population would be dead within a month (including of boredom for some smart phone addicts), the dependency for electricity so high these days. Yet the Amish with their own food and no need for electricity would be as oblivious to the outage as birds foraging in a war zone. Even if charity kicked in and they shared bread with the starving, it wouldn't be long before the violent and greedy would overrun them and wipe them and their supplies out with no consideration for replenishing, but only looting.
Hence the ways of the Kingdom can be applied here but were never meant to survive the self serving ways of man, that is until the King arrives to set things straight. Those who practice the ways of the Kingdom can neither expect favour nor neutrality in earth. There is no self justification for those of the Kingdom in the world of man in the same way that worldly Christians wish to make it apply to themselves. But then again, unlike the worldly, their reward is not here nor meant to be.
...© timothyu
Regardless of how self sufficient or charitable, it seems to me that for them the lovers of neighbour/enemy as self, it is a no win situation here in earth. Consider homesteaders or as a better example, the Amish who live off the land and could handily survive a pulse that shuts down anything electronic which will be not for a short period. It was recently estimated that 80% of the population would be dead within a month (including of boredom for some smart phone addicts), the dependency for electricity so high these days. Yet the Amish with their own food and no need for electricity would be as oblivious to the outage as birds foraging in a war zone. Even if charity kicked in and they shared bread with the starving, it wouldn't be long before the violent and greedy would overrun them and wipe them and their supplies out with no consideration for replenishing, but only looting.
Hence the ways of the Kingdom can be applied here but were never meant to survive the self serving ways of man, that is until the King arrives to set things straight. Those who practice the ways of the Kingdom can neither expect favour nor neutrality in earth. There is no self justification for those of the Kingdom in the world of man in the same way that worldly Christians wish to make it apply to themselves. But then again, unlike the worldly, their reward is not here nor meant to be.
...© timothyu
