Babylon (or the empire that just won't die)

I've been reading again. Go figure. I'm not sure I'm gonna get all my thoughts out on this subject but I'm gonna try. I've been reading "Jesus for President", by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. I've had a lot of these thoughts for a while now but never got the chance to write them down. They started talking about Revelation and the thoughts reared their ugly head again.

The United States is Babylon. There I said it, but Rome was Babylon, too. The writers made some good points about how Babylon is described in Revelation, and they related them to Rome. Most of these points ring true for the US also. I don't want to get into great detail about how the US is Rome is Babylon, maybe in a future post. I just want the thought to be out there. Let you chew on it for a bit. Look it up and ponder the possibility of it.

What I want to talk about is the Church. I want to talk about the Body of Christ. I want to talk about the people in the US that think the US is: heaven, paradise, the kingdom of God. They may not voice this opinion for fear of being labeled a blasphemer, but they live as if they believed this way. I read a post on Internetmonk about "Are American Christians "Persecuted?"." I think the answer lies in the fact that we've been sleeping with the enemy. In better terms we have been intoxicated by Babylon's wine and are sleeping with the whore. So are we persecuted? I think you're only persecuted by your enemies and we've willingly drank her wine and hopped in bed.

I believe we would do well to follow John's advice. He tells us to come out of Babylon. From what I just read, the language implies pulling out before climax during sex. He has us pegged as having an adulterous affair and is calling out for us to abandon this love affair. We participate in the economies that create sweatshops, oppression, and war. If we stood up and refused turn a blind eye on the injustices our country creates; If we started living Jesus' politics the government would be fearful that it had lost its power and would turn on us in persecution.

I think the apostles in Acts were responding to the empire they lived in. They lived together, ate together, worshiped together. I think it was a statement that we're in this world but not of it. I think they were refusing to be ruled by anyone but God. I think they were living God's kingdom in the midst of Babylon, and I believe we can and are called to do the same. The early Christians stopped being persecuted when the Roman empire made it the religion of the empire, but the Roman empire stopped being persecuted by the church, also. Babylon will always feel threatened when confronted with the kingdom of God. It will fight it unless it can get it to conform, because in conforming it has become subdued. This is the fight we are all called to and this is the battle of Armageddon.

To Believe or not to Believe, that is the question

I got to thinking and had to write this down.

I believe, Lord, help my unbelief. A man who came to Jesus for healing coins this phrase. I believe I just made it my own. I once believed, and this included many things not necessary. Things which at most were petty and distracted from the reason for and the truth of belief. I went to college and studied religion because of this belief. Then things fell apart.

How much I believed is a good question to ponder. I pose this thought because I ran away quite easily, because of many things I brought about myself. I flunked out of college because I failed to go to class and then I came home. I lived with my dad and started working at a restaurant at which I had worked during high school. I worked on Sundays and therefore didn't go to church. I could have asked for Sundays off, but I didn't. Soon, I stopped thinking of God or anything to do with him. This progressed through getting drunk at times, seeking out my lustful urges, and immersing myself in this materialistic, consumerist society. Basically, I had come close to God, got scared about how much I had to give up, and ran the other way.

And yet, he had come close enough to me that I couldn't shake him no matter where I tried to hide. Though I got drunk it was rare, I couldn't push myself past my conscience very far. I never could bring my lustful urges to fruition, and though I bought plenty, I hated the very things I bought. This running and hiding lasted for five years. Near the end of it I had stopped shaking it off and was slowly turning around and searching for what I had ran away from.

The thing is, I wonder, quite often, if I'm still trying to hide. I came back but I still don't feel like I'm giving up myself. I want to, and yet there are things to which I still cling that hold me back. It is a constant battle and that doesn't surprise me. I'd like to get to the other side and fight from there, though. So I have come to own the phrase, "I believe, Lord, help my unbelief."