hillperson wrote:What are lessons we can learn from the riots in DC on January 6. So far our discussions are about what happened, who was right, who was wrong. Historically we as Anabaptists know politics is no place for the church. With the current president many Anabaptists have been getting more and more involved.
Where should the church find themselves while the heathen rage? You know as the night grows darker true Christianity will shine brighter.
When I look at the root cause of the riot it was this: these people fundamentally believed the election was stolen, and in all honesty, from a non-anabaptist perspective, if what they think would actually be true then a revolution would be in order. But it isn’t true, and many people have been lying to them for their own gain. Their right wing media lies to them, their politicians lie to them and they bought it all. And then suddenly the monster the media and politicians created could no longer be contained.
So when I look for lessons it is this: we must beware the monsters we create. We must beware the stories we tell, the arguments we use, the lessons we teach.
As examples:
1: do we teach total obedience to authority, leaving those abused by authority with nowhere to go?
2: do we preach a doctrine of separation from the world that leaves us unable to connect with the world around us and fulfill the commands of Matthew 25:35-36.
I’m not saying we do those things, but that’s the type of danger I mean when I talk about creating monsters.
