"Shalom"

The Prince of Peace

What is Shalom?

Author Cornelius Plantinga describes it this way:

“The prophets dreamed of a new age in which human crookedness would be straightened out, rough places made plain. The foolish would be made wise, and the wise, humble.

They dreamed of a time when the deserts would flower, the mountains would run with wine, weeping would cease, and people could go to sleep without weapons on their laps.

People would work in peace and work to fruitful effect. Lambs could lie down with lions. All nature would be fruitful, benign, and filled with wonder upon wonder.

All humans would be knit together in brotherhood and sisterhood; and all nature and all humans would look to God, walk with God, lean toward God, and delight in God.

Shouts of joy and recognition would well up from valleys and seas, from women in streets and from men on ships. The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom.”

–Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995), 9-10.

The reality of life in our fallen sinful world keeps at bay, at least for most people this vision of a world we all desire. In our current time and cultural moment we return to the old pursuit of a new order! The "Satan" has been working on this for thousands of years and often we join in the attempt. This includes removing the opposition. This is not about who is right or wrong or represents truth, this is about the elimination or suppression of those with a different point of view.

Although life is best lived in the NOW or Present, Biblical wisdom does not in any way discount or play down the wisdom of the past.

Currently many who operate in a self-righteous mode of thinking have decided that the morality and values that exist NOW and only NOW are the measure of everything. If we read a book and we find it has racism etc. we they must toss it aside or eliminate it completely! This we think will eliminate the taint of that sin.

If you are a Christian you can see that this is not Christ-like or biblical. It will fail.

To shut down a threatening idea or ignore it will eventually be counterproductive to education and will also contribute to our growing cultural divisions.

To make peace and understand each other we must listen to those who oppose us. The removal of “those who oppose us” in order to achieve our preferred “new order” is evil and destructive to all. History says as much.

So you want a new order?

The rant we so often hear is we want our America back!

America has always been a pagan sinning nation and people; we have had slavery, the genocide of the Native American Culture, pornography and the list goes on and on. What part do people want back? No I think it is clear this is a narrow desire to have what a specific group wants at the exclusion of all the rest of America.

Am I wrong?

A recent quote to paraphrase was that Qanon followers want to save America for themselves and not the rest of us.

As a Christian do you pray for those with different points of view?

The church, the Body of Christ must always take up the weapons of God, not the weapons of the world, as we pursue "Shalom" together. Our future hope is NOT in a politician or a policy but our Lord who will bring a never-ending shalom. Anxiety and division will be gone.