Critical Theory and the Politics of Divine Love, Part 1

I'll throw a spanner into the works here.

I've often quoted my Presbyterian pastor who died in 1992.

He was conservative to his boot laces. I doubt if he voted for the (Australian) Labor Party in his life. One of his sons said he thought he used to go to National Party meetings - he would just say he was going out for a while and disappear.

The National Party in Australia was once called The Country Party, and represented the man on the land - farmers and pastoralists.

But with the drift from the country to the cities, they changed their name to the National Party to appeal to city voters. They're still going but have a greatly reduced role. They're the junior partner in the (conservative) Coalition of Liberals and Nationals (The Liberal Party in Australia, despite it's name, is a conservative party).

The pastor told me that he and another pastor once wrote the Social Service policy statement for the National Party. In his exact words he said "It was a document that stood for years!"

So he was conservative. It surprised me then when he said in one of our discussions "I think Communism was God's idea, given through a Jew."

Then he quoted "From every man according to ability; to every man according to need." He continued "Its got an almost biblical ring about it."

He finished with "But the devil got hold of it first. You'd never get the churches to accept it now."

Now I don't what creed or denomination a Christian might belong to, an egalitarian sharing of resources is an absolute necessity for any society that is going to claim the title of a "just" society.

A man that believes in God is like someone asleep in the back seat of a speeding car. If he awakes he sees someone he trusts driving and can go back to sleep. The atheist is like a man in the back seat of a speeding car that awakes to see no one driving and scrambles to take the wheel himself.

Most "critical" theories are those of atheists who are trying to take control of the world. They try to use political and even military power to "fix" the problems of the world. They fail to understand that it is not a problem of poorly established systems. The problem with the world is us. Human nature is only changed by the Holy Spirit working in us.

In my post above #2, you might wonder why the pastor made the statement "... given through a Jew" in his comment about Communism being God's idea viz. "It surprised me then when he said in one of our discussions "I think Communism was God's idea, given through a Jew."

From an AI extract - Richard Wurmbrand was "... born into a Jewish family in Romania but converted to Christianity (Lutheran) in 1936, becoming a Christian minister, known as a "Jewish Christian" by many due to his heritage and faith, later founding The Voice of the Martyrs to help persecuted Christians globally after enduring severe Communist imprisonment"

He wrote "Tortured for Christ" and another book "The Answer to Moscow's Bible", late renamed as "The Answer to the Atheist's Handbook" after the fall of the Soviet Union.

It includes a chapter about "Prophecies About the Jewish People", from which I've derived this extract. Bear in mind it was written at the height of the Cold War, so it may seem to have an overemphasis on some Soviet Jewish characters.

"The prophecies about the Jews begin with a promise made to Abraham, the first Jew, some 4,500 years ago. Listen to it: "I will make you a great nation."


The Christian world bears the name of a Jew, Jesus Christ. The Communist camp was founded upon the name of another Jew, Marx. The universe as a whole bears the stamp of another Jew, Einstein (Personal Note - Before Albert Einstein, it was another Jew, Isaac Newton). Over sixty percent of the Nobel Prize winners are Jewish, among them the lamented Soviet writer, Boris Pasternak. Jews played a tremendous role in the Communist revolution - men like Trotsky, Inzoviev, Kamenev. Lenin was half Jewish. Jews played a big role in the anti-government fight in the Soviet Union. Livinov, the writer Daniel, Krasnov-Levitin, and other freedom writers who suffered improsonment, are Jewish. Jews are active in the economic and political life of the United States and many other countries. They hold government positions in many Western nations. The Jew Teller is called "the father of the nuclear bomb".

Dr. Sale Harrison in his book "The Remarkable Jew" writes : "No one will doubt that the Jews of today hold the money chests of the world. Wherever they have gone, they have become the wizards of finance."

Basil Mowle says in his book "Bible Light in Present Events": "A careful computation of the unversity professors of Western Europe, apart from Great Britain before the First World War, showed that about seventy percent were of Jewish birth and persusasion"

For the first time in history, a woman has been employed by the Roman Curia. She is a Christian of Jewish origin.

Simone Weil, a Jewess, was one of the most profound theologians of Catholicism."


When the pastor made the comment, he made reference to Communism being "given through a Jew" for a reason.

But the devil got hold of it first. Instead of what was meant to be a system for the egalitarian sharing of resources in an industrial society Communism became a byword for brutality - the Gulags, NKVD and later KGB, purges, the Holodomor, a military race leading to nuclear MAD, and violent revolutions all over the place, all as much signs of the devil's influence as the Holocaust and Hitler's Nazis.

Michie said:

the Politics of Divine Love

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"nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)

In the United States, it seems that in order to get into the presidency, ones might try to lord themselves over others. And so, right from the start, they are not operating in divine love in their politics.

And "without Me you can do nothing", Jesus says in John 15:5.

However . . . no matter how this world might make things look, in government and the media . . . what God says to do will work. Because God Himself is committed to making His way work. He includes our >

prayer

example

ministering of His word

obedience, doing whatever He has us doing with Him, in the ruling of His peace in us >

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (Colossians 3:15)

Bob Crowley said:

So he was conservative. It surprised me then when he said in one of our discussions "I think Communism was God's idea, given through a Jew."

Then he quoted "From every man according to ability; to every man according to need." He continued "Its got an almost biblical ring about it."

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"Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common," (Acts 2:44)
"Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common." (Acts 4:32)

So, yes there is a ring, but in the wrong hands . . . of ding-a-lings . . . it won't work. I see that the Biblical way of sharing was a fact . . . not a philosophy or policy. It came naturally with becoming of one accord after prayer and ministry of God's word >

First the disciples were in prayer and they became of one accord, and then the Holy Spirit filled them and used them to bring people to Jesus >

"These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers." (Acts 1:14)

"When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." (Acts 2:1)

So, first came the "chicken", ***then*** the golden eggs shared in common. But there had to be the mother hen, of prayer

But now there are many who try to push for the end-resulting social reform, but not with first "all" "in prayer and supplication" and "all" of one accord because of being in prayer with one another . . . the way the Holy Spirit has us praying.

However . . . I offer > anyone now who is obeying Jesus, in prayer, how the Holy Spirit has us submissive to God in prayer > any such person is in sharing with all the others who are praying obediently, how the Holy Spirit has us praying in . . . God's own love >

"praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God" (in Jude 20-21)

And in God's love we are with all of one another who also are living in God's love > all-loving love, tender and sensitive, humble and kind, generously forgiving; plus, this love has God's own almighty power to get rid of fear and lusts and depression and unforgiveness and other cruel and stupid nonsense of Satan; and instead we have our Father sharing His own creativity with us in this love so we can know how to love any person and do good to anyone > with God's all-loving results, not limited to what you can expect and measure.

Bob Crowley said:

He finished with "But the devil got hold of it first. You'd never get the churches to accept it now."

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Well, the early church had it. But it was a practice and a product, not only a philosophy or politically required arrangement used to control people << that controlling would be lording over.

Jesus has said >

"It is more blessed to give than to receive." (in Acts 20:35)

And, "God loves a cheerful giver." (in 2 Corinthians 9:7)

And we have 2 Corinthians 8:5, about how things worked when the Macedonians gave so generously >

"And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the lord, and then to us by the will of God." (2 Corinthians 8:5)

So, more than the giving and sharing is how ones "first" would give themselves to Jesus, and then to the leaders whom God approves. However, now ones are pushing for the practice of social justice *material*, but they are not the humble and approved leaders whom Jesus has feeding His sheep. They are bypassing prayer and submission to God, and pushing philosophy and political control which can be a way of lording over.

We're talking about two different things here. The topic I'm talking about is a system for the fair distribution of goods and services in overall society, whether they are Christian or not.

At the time of the Russian Revolution, there were socialist parties all over the place. But what happened was the extreme Bolsheviks and Mensheviks got into power. The devil got hold of it. Stalin followed as sure as night followed day.


If you go to the Wikipedia link, and do a search on the words "social" you'll see just how many parties there were with a socialist policy at the time of the Rusian Revolution.

There were even a couple of Moslem Socialist parties -

• Muslim Social Democratic Party
• Muslim Socialist Bloc

The fact the early church almost had a form of "communism" is a different topic. They were noted for sharing their resources to a sacrificial level.

That's for the church to decide on.

Thanks for the article. Its an interesting take on relating sin to CT. Or rather the justification for sin not being sin but a cultural Marxist struggle.

Its interesting that as God has been removed from the public square this left a void. At the same time we see the 'No Gods' rise we also see these ideologies rise and fill the void where God once existed. Which shows that no human society can exist without some sort of higher power that they use to determine how society should be ordered.

In the case of ideologies like Critical theories its ideas like Critical Race theory and Identity theory and valuing people based on power relations. Like humans are the gods who make and take power and control society.

I especially like the idea mentioned about Christs sacrificial love and servitude towards others and lifting them up. This seems a beautiful way to bring about helping others to have full life in Christ. There is no better remedy.

I agree that the very opposite is happening with these secular ideologies. They damage society and the fact that this can be shown and yet people still want to promote such shows it is not about what is best but a belief and battle for who is God over this world and ourselves. People would rather destroy their own than submit to God.

Egalitarianism is the most powerful idea in modern times. Even fooling the church. I have had many discussions that decend into everything being about power and control. About someone somewhere always being labelled abusive or coercive in wanting to control others. Especially males.

It is a strange phenomena that a church can be so contrasted and divided where both believe they hold the truth. I know the early fathers said that any church divided does not have Christ in its midst.