The point of Psalm 139 is not theological speculation, and certainly not prooftexting for contemporary partisan politics, but to move me to desire to seek God’s leading.
Category Archives: Faith and politics
Nation-state myth and the Kingdom of God; or patriotism and salvation history
If we are Christian, the story that we tell about our nation will be compatible with and subordinate to the story that God is writing in the history of salvation.
What I have seen and where I stand: my Democratic manifesto
Why and how I have come to believe that as a Christian citizen of the United States of American in 2021 I must support the Democratic Party.
How to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122)
Zion, Zionism, and Christian interpretation of the Psalms of Ascents.
How to pray for government leaders: a biblical model (Psalm 72)
Talk to God. Praise God ALONE. Prayer for the leader is focused on the leader’s serving the good of the poor of your people.
Who is the “you” in “fret not yourself” (Psalm 37) ?
To cover complacency, inaction, and complicity in injustice by appropriating to oneself the “Fret not” that was spoken to someone else is bad faith.
You, me, them: the moral mindset of Psalm 26
Worship and prayer depend on a certain self-location vis-à-vis the divine “You” and the profane “they/them.” In the attached display of the ESV text of Psalm 26 I have used blue highlighting for the divine “You,” green for the worshipful and morally resolute “I,” and yellow for the profane “they/them.” It would be a mistakeContinue reading “You, me, them: the moral mindset of Psalm 26”
Where we are politically in the USA, and where I am
Trump lost the election, which has bought us some time. But Trump has not stopped claiming that he won, GOP senators and reps and apparatchiks have not repudiated him, and neither have the millions who voted for him. The lower-IQ Trumpists still speak of him as the best thing ever. The higher-IQ Trumpists still pretendContinue reading “Where we are politically in the USA, and where I am”
How to know if you are a demon (Luke 8:26–39)
It can be hard to know if you are a demon but you can watch for telltale signs. If the person you inhabit wears no clothes but goes about fully exposed—each body part or even more embarrassingly every soul and spirit part plainly visible to all around, unseen only by himself—then you might be aContinue reading “How to know if you are a demon (Luke 8:26–39)”
For better or for worse, faith comes by hearing (thoughts on the silencing of a malignant voice)
The silencing of a voice that poisoned our nation and our churches reminds us that “faith comes by hearing” not only when we are listening to the word of Christ but also when we are listening to a different voice.
Verba Sparsa 