A debate worth having

Render unto Caesar... 'Denarius of the Emperor Tiberius, commonly referred to as "the Tribute Penny".' Source.

---

St Peter (7th century icon). Source.

A recent exchange on Facebook began with a quotation from U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico:

We as Christians are called to do more than charity. We are called to challenge the system that made the charity necessary.

The response:

Christians are never called to change systems. We are called to change ourselves.

The next two participants in the exchange explained why they felt that Christians should challenge systems. I have my own reasons for agreeing with them, but before I go into those reasons, I want to say why that "never called to change systems" commenter should also be heard.

We are called to change ourselves, and to be changed by our relationship with God. In his preface to George Fox's Journal, William Penn put it this way, describing the marks of authenticity among early Quakers:

I. They were changed men [sic] themselves before they went about to change others. Their hearts were rent as well as their garments; and they knew the power and work of God upon them. And this was seen by the great alteration it made, and their stricter course of life, and more godly conversation, that immediately followed upon it.

II. They went not forth, or preached in their own time or will, but in the will of God, and spoke not their own studied matter, but as they were opened and moved of his Spirit, with which they were well acquainted in their own conversion.

It was in this spirit that George Fox testified that "Christ has come to teach his people himself." In this same spirit, he resisted persuasive invitations to join the Commonwealth forces in the civil war against the forces of Charles I. If he had agreed, he would have been freed from prison. While he was still in that prison, he also felt led to protest against capital punishment for minor crimes, and (not surprisingly) against cruel prison conditions.

These are the points that perhaps the "never called to change systems" commenter and I might agree on:

• Being Christian is not a solo act. In changing ourselves and our world, we are part of a community that prays and studies and offers discernment to each of us, activists as well as those of other temperaments. "... And the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets," 1 Corinthians 14:32, context.
• Most people struggling for revolutionary change sooner or later resort to coercion. For those called by Jesus to love their enemies, and by Paul never to return evil for evil, the illusion that we can make others' lives better through force, whatever the driving ideology, is not an option.
• It is also not an option to label something "Christian" with manipulative intent, trading on the emotional strength of religious language, references, behaviors, or symbols when the Holy Spirit is not part of the performance. (See this post for my cautions about using public meetings for worship in a protest context.)

On the other hand, here are some of the reasons Christians (when mutually accountable to each other) should work on the level of systems as well as selves.

• Paul's letter to the Ephesians, in chapter six, has a famous passage about spiritual warfare and "the whole armor of God." "...Our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). We are called to identify and oppose bondages of all kinds, on a systemic level, but only after having the "whole armor" for what we Quakers have sometimes called "the Lamb's War."
• Within the mutually respectful and mutually accountable division of labor that is the Church, some of us are prophets. The biblical model of prophecy includes announcing God's judgment and God's promises to all who will listen—sometimes a whole city, sometimes a whole country, sometimes a whole generation. The rest of us may have gifts that overlap into prophecy (such as the gift of evangelism), but all of us are part of the prophets' discerning community.
• Jesus told us to "Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s." As citizens we participate in our country's support and governance, in part by obeying laws and paying taxes, and in many countries, doing our part to choose our leaders. Although we are working as citizens to preserve some systems and perhaps to change others, our values and ethics, and consequently our vision of good governance, reflect our faith as disciples. (NOTE: I'm not saying that Christians are the only ones who have such values and ethics!!) 
• On a related point: when Caesar trespasses on God's territory—for example, when the authorities told Peter and John that they had to stop speaking or preaching in the name of Jesus—obedience to God takes precedence: Faced with the authority's demands, "... Peter and John replied, 'Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to [God]? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.'" (Acts 3:1-4:31.)
• Finally, on a mundane level, as soon as a congregation (even a house church) actually gathers for worship and education at set times and places, they are interacting with the systems. Do they need permission to meet? Do they own property? Do they require security? Are they allowed to feed people and provide shelter? What happens when they decide to shelter immigrants? Do they stand up for people of other faiths who desire the same freedoms?

This post was prompted by an exchange I saw on Facebook. Now it's your turn; is there anything you'd like to add or correct?

---

Related: 

• Iran, biblical realism, and perpetual war
• The tax covenant
• The whole Jericho Road
• A special brand of patriot
• Exceptional pride (see Anthony Bloom on political conformism in the church, about halfway down the post)

---

Randy Boyagoda on Leo XIV's new encyclical: "The Pope's admirers are missing something."

Today's Daily Quaker Message: How to be a Peace Troll.

The Wittenburg Door, reprinted from 1999: Reconstructionist crusaders don't fool God.

William Yoder on Franklin Graham's "Festival of Hope" in Minsk, Belarus.

New from the World Inequality Lab: their Global Justice Project.

The Global Justice Project attempts to set out a new vision for global progress in the 21st century: grounding human development and equality in planetary habitability. It explores the conditions under which the world could move toward this horizon and traces an economically and ecologically consistent transition path from 2026 to 2100.

Its authors tell The Guardian: A good life for the 99% isn’t a pipe dream: it can be done. Here's how.

---

"Highway 51 Blues" with Charlie Musselwhite and Kid Ramos.