Wednesday, October 19, 2016

how comprehensive do we need to be











....once we render unto God what is God's
there's never much left for Ceasar






                             Hilary of Poitiers
















......

2 comments:

sally said...

interesting point

although jesus did render taxes to ceasar

i use jesus's words to help me (try to) keep my work in a proper perspective

i do owe something to my employer based on what they pay me to do

but there are (or should be) limits to that

my employer does not own me

and i do also try to offer my best to my employer, as if i were working for God (to do everything as unto the Lord).

&

jh said...








thoughts about this have woven themselves through my mind in the past week or so

who is ceasar to me?

I am acutely aware of the fact that I have taken a stand against taxation
...a decision made in my young adulthood I stationed myself in defiance of the political
temperament even the ideologies of the country I live in

today this has borne itself out in the drastic nature of some of my thinking

what is it that I completely refuse to buy into?

it's not so much workplace and allegiances and necessary payment
I think it's more about daring to be counter-cultural

soloviev states that if a ruler is a Christian then the issue
becomes moot

for my part I've been busy defining the line in the sand
recognizing political positions stated as imperatives I just will not pay into
the American social themes of race gender and class
are pools of mass distortion to which I will not acknowledge
anything important by way of justice concerns

I will buy into everything the roman catholic church teaches
even if it means I will have to struggle with it
I will not buy into the prevalent social issues
which are the dilutions of social research and management agendas
deriving from marx and freud
nor will I honor the political issues as they come to represent these
demented adjustments

I suppose my position of renouncing my citizenship
is a way of saying I reject all of that which
stands decidedly opposed to a more profound insight
into human nature

for instance I would never pay taxes to a government which supports
and pays for free abortions or birth control for that matter
nor would I acknowledge the legitimacy of any social policy which
protects that "right"

I suppose it helps me to recognize that I live in a milieu where
what I give is determined by what I have said I will do with my life
and I haven't anything left over to give to the inimical breezes
of public sentiment

in my ministry I have the luxury of not being paid
and I have no need for payment
for me this is a perfect working arrangement

and I am grateful





jh










....