Hebrews 11:32-40 - Resident Aliens

This is the conclusion to the passage on the saints of old. They looked forward to what would come after them, without even knowing what it was. What they looked forward to, and what saved them, was Jesus. Even without knowing him they had faith in him. They knew there was "something better" (40).

I am reminded from this passage and mainly from the commentary I am using of the book by Hauerwas and Willimon called Resident Aliens. I have mentioned it. I am about 25% done.

If I can conclude the point of this book it is that the church must be in the world but different. It will not work to try to change society politically or be the helpful little church by doing social work, feeding the poor etc.

They keeps repeating the point, "How can we be a part of a nation that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima." A major side point is that we worship the nation state now. We have replaced religious wars with wars to defend nationalism. They are very much opposed to nationalism and feel it is a strong idolatry.

When the church allows itself to be co-opted by the nation it looses its identity. It looses its focus. It takes on it's values. They strongly disagree with Neibuhr who feels the church should be part of the culture and try to change it. They feel trying to be part of the culture is a loosing proposition.

I am struggling with this. I find it too pacifist. Can we really allow an aggressor nation to simply take over and not fight back. I know and find tragic that we sacrifice our sons to the nation state to keep us "free".

He is certainly right that we do not take seriously heresy anymore but treat very seriously the charge of treason. It is a great way to make his point. This is a symptom of nationalism taking the place of religion as the most important ideal in the modern west.

Other people of different faiths see their faith as worth living and dying for. Sometimes in ways we do not approve of. This is foreign to us. That is good in that Christians do not become suicide bombers but it is bad in that most of us worry more about our rights than we do giving our lives to Jesus, heading out to dangerous places to share the gospel.