Trump turns Apolitical Mennonites into Protesters

Events occurring and how they relate/affect Anabaptist faith and culture.
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Wayne in Maine
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Re: Trump turns Apolitical Mennonites into Protesters

Post by Wayne in Maine »

Bootstrap wrote:
Josh wrote:The "good news" has nothing to do with finding a way to gain a visa to a wealthy Western country.
How would you say that in biblical language?

I think the good news has a great deal to do with how we treat the poor, those who are in prison, and refugees from wars.

If we lose our Christian compassion, the salt has lost its savor. We cannot look like Jesus Christ if we do not look like his compassion.
It does indeed. Nobody is stopping Christians from doing that in the United States. It is good news that followers of Jesus will minister to those whom Jesus identifies as His brothers.

But Josh does have a point. Good news to a lot of people would be open borders, free food, free shelter, free clothing, free healthcare, free transportation. The Kingdom of God is not "The Big Rock Candy Mountains", and the Good News of the kingdom is not the proclamation of an idealistic anti-American neo-Marxist anarchy.
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Bootstrap
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Re: Trump turns Apolitical Mennonites into Protesters

Post by Bootstrap »

Wayne in Maine wrote:
Bootstrap wrote:
Josh wrote:The "good news" has nothing to do with finding a way to gain a visa to a wealthy Western country.
How would you say that in biblical language?

I think the good news has a great deal to do with how we treat the poor, those who are in prison, and refugees from wars.

If we lose our Christian compassion, the salt has lost its savor. We cannot look like Jesus Christ if we do not look like his compassion.
It does indeed. Nobody is stopping Christians from doing that in the United States. It is good news that followers of Jesus will minister to those whom Jesus identifies as His brothers.
To me, some of the things people say about refugees, the poor, and prisoners lack compassion, they don't sound like we are talking about our brothers. And some of them really aren't true of the refugees I work with, at least.

Here's an interesting exercise. Take your own posts and make a list of people and what you have said about them. If a stranger were to look at this list, who would they say you think of as your brothers? Maybe we each think we are more Christian and less political than we are, or maybe we are each more critical of people we disagree with on a given issue, but I suspect that every one of us is influenced by political propaganda. I remember when I lived in Berlin and my children started playing Power Rangers. We did not have a television. We were far from America. But this was a game that children played in their German school. We thought we were further removed from that than we actually were.
Wayne in Maine wrote:But Josh does have a point. Good news to a lot of people would be open borders, free food, free shelter, free clothing, free healthcare, free transportation. The Kingdom of God is not "The Big Rock Candy Mountains", and the Good News of the kingdom is not the proclamation of an idealistic anti-American neo-Marxist anarchy.
I don't think that's what we had before Donald Trump's executive orders. And it's striking how many Republicans have weighed in against them. I don't think of people like Condaleeza Rice and John McCain as anti-American neo-Marxist anarchists. And those labels distract from discussing the actual issue, it's not much different from calling somebody Hitler if you disagree with them. It's a way of shutting down conversation by appealing to partisanship.
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Is it biblical? Is it Christlike? Is it loving? Is it true? How can I find out?
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Wayne in Maine
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Re: Trump turns Apolitical Mennonites into Protesters

Post by Wayne in Maine »

Boot, Do you sincerely believe it is a Christian's duty to advocate for open borders and to demand that the government provide unrestricted services to whomever enters this country? Do you believe that anything short of that is failing to minister to Jesus' brothers and failing to preach good news?
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Bootstrap
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Re: Trump turns Apolitical Mennonites into Protesters

Post by Bootstrap »

Wayne in Maine wrote:Boot, Do you sincerely believe it is a Christian's duty to advocate for open borders and to demand that the government provide unrestricted services to whomever enters this country?
No, and that's a gross misrepresentation of the refugee issue and my position. Do you think that's what John McCain or Condaleeza Rice are advocating?

Try quoting something I actually said, and respond to that?
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Is it biblical? Is it Christlike? Is it loving? Is it true? How can I find out?
temporal1
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Re: Trump turns Apolitical Mennonites into Protesters

Post by temporal1 »

From Page 1:
mike wrote:
Dan Z wrote:What do you think?
Is there an actual shift afoot in Mennodom, or is this jus a reporter cherry-picking the activism of some liberal Mennonites and making a story out of a non-story?

:arrow: I don't think there has been a strong shift in the last several months or even the past year.
Some liberal Mennonites have been politically active before, usually for leftist causes, and some conservative Mennonites have been politically active before, usually for right-wing causes.

On the whole, the reaction of Mennonites to Donald Trump and the refugee issue have been pretty much what one would expect.

There has been a shift afoot in Mennodom, but it's one that has been happening for decades.

:arrow: Liberal Mennonites have increasingly been embracing political activism just as Ervin Stutzman is quoted as saying in the article:
Mennonites have also slowly become more politically engaged over the years as many of them have more closely integrated with society, said Stutzman, who has written a book on the subject titled “From Non-Resistance to Justice.”
:arrow: So no, a conversation with a couple of progressive Mennonites in Lancaster, PA does not indicate that "Trump turns apolitical Mennonites into protesters." More accurate headlines might be:

"Trump turns some apolitical Mennonites into protesters"
"Trump turns some already left-leaning Mennonites into protesters"
Trump does not have the power to turn apolitical believers into political activists. :-|
He's being given credit (blame) for things not within his power.
It's marvelous to be able to blame others for our words, thoughts, actions, but, not accurate.

In recent years, it's become SOP to blur lines, to be duplicitous; now so common, it's hardly noticed.
These women are stating they vote, but, "are not political." :-|
.. Martin said she always voted in presidential elections, though she noted that her mom voted for the first time in 2008, when she was 83. Corbo said she had voted in presidential elections before, though she also confessed she hadn’t even been aware of the existence of midterm elections until this year ..
Another possible headline for this OP piece might be:
"Over Time, Some Mennonites have gone-Quaker in Politics."
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Most or all of this drama, humiliation, wasted taxpayer money could be spared -
with even modest attempt at presenting balanced facts from the start.


”We’re all just walking each other home.”
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Josh
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Re: Trump turns Apolitical Mennonites into Protesters

Post by Josh »

I don't think McCain or Rice are good ambassadors for Jesus' kingdom, although it's nice they aren't saying mean spirited anti-refugee things. Unfortunately, neither of them saw fit to restrain themselves from waging war which is what creates refugees in the first place.

I am wary of an economic gospel. The good news isn't that there is a rich country to migrate to. The good news is something much better than that.
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