Jesus: Apocalyptic Messiah or Counter Apocalyptic Social Prophet? An Alternate View of Jesus and Why the Church is Called to Serve the Oppressed Nick Kiger
Introduction Christians around the world do not seem to agree on much these days, but presumably all Christians define themselves as followers of Jesus. What I mean by this is the Christian Church (which I use all-inclusively to describe the Christian movement) sees Jesus as its authority and inspiration. It is unfortunately apparent that the Church is having difficulty defining the purpose for its presence, and at many times is getting its priorities tangled in politics and a narrow interpretation of scripture. The Church is ultimately having trouble defining who it should serve, and how it should do so. An example of this confusion can be seen in two different decisions made by the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles decided they would not uphold a law prohibiting them from offering assistance to illegal immigrants. The law, if passed, would require churches and other charities to require documentation in return for services (Wantanabe 2006, 1). Cardinal Roger M. Mahoney stated he would instruct priests to defy the law (1). On the other side of the country, the Archdiocese of Boston has decided to discontinue adoption services because a Massachusetts state law prohibits agencies from discriminating against gay and lesbian couples in adoption cases. The Archdiocese refuses to offer adoption services until the law is changed to allow the Roman Catholic Church to make exceptions due to religious beliefs (Johnson 2006). It seems that in these two decisions, the Roman Catholic Church has decided to break one law to help a group of oppressed people, and has refused service to another group that would have been within the law. These recent decisions made by the Church are laden with confusion about who the Church should serve. This apparent confusion causes me to raise a few questions. First, does the Church have the responsibility to assist the oppressed? Second, is it acceptable to ignore a certain group of the oppressed? And last, if my earlier assumption was right about Jesus being the Church’s authority and inspiration, I am led to ask, what instructions does Jesus’ message give to the Church. The first and second questions rely on the answer to the third. We must determine what Jesus’ message was in order to determine the approach the Church
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Luke 6:20-21 Congratulations, you poor! God’s domain belongs to you. Congratulations, you hungry! You will have a feast. Congratulations, you who weep now! You will laugh.1
aegis 2007
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