Hans Deventer
January 18th, 2012, 02:21 PM
I read this article in a Dutch newspaper and thought it was interesting enough to share it here, so I've tried to translate it. Apologies to Prof. Van de Beek for any mistakes I made.
Publication Date: December 10, 2011. Source: http://bit.ly/wwjjjD (in Dutch)
Ideology of government clashes with Christianity
A Christian in the public service will sooner or later run into problems with the ideology of the government, says Prof. A. van de Beek. That so far this has not happened all that often, tells us more about our Christianity than about the government.
Prof. A. van de Beek
The Christian apologist Tertullian wrote around 200 AD about a soldier who refused to receive the wreath of group's victory. "I am a Christian", the boy gave as the reason. That costed him dearly. In prison he awaited his execution - to be crowned with a wreath of higher glory.
Christians in public service can get into a situation where they have to behave contrary to the rules of the powers that be. The boy about whom Tertullian wrote, paid with his life. Today, people pay for it with resignation, like civil servants that refuse to perform gay marriages. That is the fate of Christians in the world. It has long been obscured in a seemingly Christian Netherlands. Nowadays it aggressively emerges. Even church magazines are scrutinized for subjects to be turned into big political issues. It's no longer about protecting poor victims, it is about fighting the danger called religion.
The persecution of Christians in the world was merely obscured. This was not because the Netherlands were such a Christian nation, but because Christians were so worldly. They quietly joined the army to serve the country, and allowed themselves to be honoured by medals. That was different in the Early Church: there were many activities that a Christian could not do and that you had to let go of before you could come to the catechism. Service in the army was one of them, like all other professions in which people could decide between the life and death of another.
Violence Monopoly
It was and is however about more than just certain activities. It's about participating in the system. The government simply requires the ultimate authority. They may say they do not bind the consciences, but it does determine what the correct conscience is like. The soldier of Tertullian and the current day officials can testify to that. The government has traits of absolutism and reserves the right to decide about life and death of people, beyond the last frontier of human existence which they can get a hold of. She has the monopoly on violence - as those mandated through her ideology, like the doctors that perform abortions.
The fact that the Netherlands have no death penalty makes no difference. The Netherlands does have an army and young men get killed - if that were not faster to kill the enemy. Or because they were Christians and refused to shoot. On the side of the enemy there are boys like me, mere pawns in the game of power. On the other side there are wives and mothers too. Medals are always wet with tears, Tertullian writes.
Bad omen
The government has traits of absolutism and these features have always been the features of a particular ideology. That ideology never aligns with faith in Christ, for every state ideology carries the component of force. Whether the government itself has a monopoly of violence or wants to share it with others, such as abortion doctors or militias, does not matter. Whoever does not participate in the ideology, inevitably runs into problems. And sooner or later the citizens in its service will have to deal with this: the military, the civil registry officials, doctors, teachers. Sooner or later, believers must to say: "I am a Christian." That we in the Netherlands have been free of these problems for so long, is a bad sign about the quality of our Christianity.
Because civil service means participation in the system and the ideology, Christians in antiquity were not inclined to enter into it. Origen (about AD 250) says so explicitly: we will not be employed by the government, because we belong to another nation: that of the Word of God, ie of Him who is the Incarnate Word of God: Christ.
This has become the question facing Christians today: do you want to be part of the ideology of the neutral state and conform? This question will not wait till you are singled out as a civil servent who refuses to marry gays. This question is there from the outset: for it is this government that you have to conform to. Her dealing with refusing servants only an expression of this. Do you belong and do you take responsibility for this?
Prayer
This is especially true for those who are a minister rather than an official of the government. Would you want to be responsible for this system? Origen said that Christians who have leadership gifts would better use them in church - and especially not people who like to boss around. And in the church, their primary job is not to put the church firmly on its feet as a good organizer. Their primary task is prayer. A prayer life is the highest service and to lead the prayer of the church is the highest duty.
That is also the highest service to the government: that a people of a different order to pray for her. They do not pray for the Kingdom of God on earth in the shape of the state. The Kingdom of God upon earth is the Crucified. They pray for a quiet and peaceable life: for a government that knows its limits and acts reluctantly. Do not think that would the government would be safe in the hands of Christians, for Christians tend to give themselves totally and translated into politics, that's as bad as it can get. A pragmatic or stoic government, as Gallio in Corinth, is perhaps the best. But if not - Christians know that they have another King to Whom all power in heaven and on earth has been given.
The author is professor at the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and emeritus professor at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.
Publication Date: December 10, 2011. Source: http://bit.ly/wwjjjD (in Dutch)
Ideology of government clashes with Christianity
A Christian in the public service will sooner or later run into problems with the ideology of the government, says Prof. A. van de Beek. That so far this has not happened all that often, tells us more about our Christianity than about the government.
Prof. A. van de Beek
The Christian apologist Tertullian wrote around 200 AD about a soldier who refused to receive the wreath of group's victory. "I am a Christian", the boy gave as the reason. That costed him dearly. In prison he awaited his execution - to be crowned with a wreath of higher glory.
Christians in public service can get into a situation where they have to behave contrary to the rules of the powers that be. The boy about whom Tertullian wrote, paid with his life. Today, people pay for it with resignation, like civil servants that refuse to perform gay marriages. That is the fate of Christians in the world. It has long been obscured in a seemingly Christian Netherlands. Nowadays it aggressively emerges. Even church magazines are scrutinized for subjects to be turned into big political issues. It's no longer about protecting poor victims, it is about fighting the danger called religion.
The persecution of Christians in the world was merely obscured. This was not because the Netherlands were such a Christian nation, but because Christians were so worldly. They quietly joined the army to serve the country, and allowed themselves to be honoured by medals. That was different in the Early Church: there were many activities that a Christian could not do and that you had to let go of before you could come to the catechism. Service in the army was one of them, like all other professions in which people could decide between the life and death of another.
Violence Monopoly
It was and is however about more than just certain activities. It's about participating in the system. The government simply requires the ultimate authority. They may say they do not bind the consciences, but it does determine what the correct conscience is like. The soldier of Tertullian and the current day officials can testify to that. The government has traits of absolutism and reserves the right to decide about life and death of people, beyond the last frontier of human existence which they can get a hold of. She has the monopoly on violence - as those mandated through her ideology, like the doctors that perform abortions.
The fact that the Netherlands have no death penalty makes no difference. The Netherlands does have an army and young men get killed - if that were not faster to kill the enemy. Or because they were Christians and refused to shoot. On the side of the enemy there are boys like me, mere pawns in the game of power. On the other side there are wives and mothers too. Medals are always wet with tears, Tertullian writes.
Bad omen
The government has traits of absolutism and these features have always been the features of a particular ideology. That ideology never aligns with faith in Christ, for every state ideology carries the component of force. Whether the government itself has a monopoly of violence or wants to share it with others, such as abortion doctors or militias, does not matter. Whoever does not participate in the ideology, inevitably runs into problems. And sooner or later the citizens in its service will have to deal with this: the military, the civil registry officials, doctors, teachers. Sooner or later, believers must to say: "I am a Christian." That we in the Netherlands have been free of these problems for so long, is a bad sign about the quality of our Christianity.
Because civil service means participation in the system and the ideology, Christians in antiquity were not inclined to enter into it. Origen (about AD 250) says so explicitly: we will not be employed by the government, because we belong to another nation: that of the Word of God, ie of Him who is the Incarnate Word of God: Christ.
This has become the question facing Christians today: do you want to be part of the ideology of the neutral state and conform? This question will not wait till you are singled out as a civil servent who refuses to marry gays. This question is there from the outset: for it is this government that you have to conform to. Her dealing with refusing servants only an expression of this. Do you belong and do you take responsibility for this?
Prayer
This is especially true for those who are a minister rather than an official of the government. Would you want to be responsible for this system? Origen said that Christians who have leadership gifts would better use them in church - and especially not people who like to boss around. And in the church, their primary job is not to put the church firmly on its feet as a good organizer. Their primary task is prayer. A prayer life is the highest service and to lead the prayer of the church is the highest duty.
That is also the highest service to the government: that a people of a different order to pray for her. They do not pray for the Kingdom of God on earth in the shape of the state. The Kingdom of God upon earth is the Crucified. They pray for a quiet and peaceable life: for a government that knows its limits and acts reluctantly. Do not think that would the government would be safe in the hands of Christians, for Christians tend to give themselves totally and translated into politics, that's as bad as it can get. A pragmatic or stoic government, as Gallio in Corinth, is perhaps the best. But if not - Christians know that they have another King to Whom all power in heaven and on earth has been given.
The author is professor at the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and emeritus professor at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.