1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,120 Greetings and welcome to the God's Word is Life podcast for the week of November 5th. 2 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:08,080 This is Pastor Mark Anderson. 3 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:12,320 Thank you very much for joining me here today. 4 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:17,360 The violent anti-Jewish rhetoric and behavior that has poured into the streets of America, 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:24,400 Western Europe, and other places in the last month are focused on concern for the Palestinian 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,560 cause. 7 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:35,200 There's actually a lot more going on here, which has widespread implications for life 8 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:39,320 in the Western world, certainly, and also in other places. 9 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:44,960 Before I comment on that, I'd like to make an observation about what Martin Luther called 10 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:53,760 the doctrine of the two kingdoms because it's pertinent to my comments later. 11 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:59,040 Luther talked about the kingdom on the right and the kingdom on the left. 12 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:01,920 And it works like this in simple terms. 13 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:07,600 On the one hand, on the kingdom on the right, God uses all forms of law in all societies 14 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,960 to make society as civil as possible and to restrain evil. 15 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:18,480 If you think about it, every society, whether it's a simple society to a very sophisticated 16 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:28,640 civilization, they all have legal systems to provide civil order and to restrain evil. 17 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,560 It's common throughout the world. 18 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,040 On the other hand, Luther wanted to say there's a kingdom on the left, and that is that unique 19 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:41,000 kingdom that God uses to implement the gospel of Jesus Christ, the proclamation of the forgiveness 20 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:47,360 of sins in which, to use Luther's words, God calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies 21 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:52,000 a people in faith through Christ. 22 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:57,400 Both kingdoms have their place, but they're not the same. 23 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,460 We believe that there will be no kingdom of God established in this world through the 24 00:02:01,460 --> 00:02:04,200 implementation of the law. 25 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,720 There will be no fully realized heaven on earth here when everybody finally falls in 26 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:11,200 line. 27 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:16,360 The kingdom of God will be realized in a new creation that God alone will bring. 28 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:22,680 In the meantime, societies are free to establish flexible laws that bring about as just and 29 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:32,440 peaceful a world as possible, and that requires a lot of flexibility and patience in working 30 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:37,560 through this legal problem that always exists. 31 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:41,320 The Islamic religions see things differently. 32 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:47,080 Their ideal world is one where every person submits to the absolutes of the revealed word 33 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:50,320 of God in Sharia law. 34 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:55,320 Through all the word, Islam actually means submission. 35 00:02:55,320 --> 00:03:00,160 And while Islam is not monolithic and they have their groups just like Christianity does 36 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:06,440 and other religions do, a vast majority of Muslims certainly are not gun-wielding terrorists. 37 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:11,880 Both of them are to cause concern across the world. 38 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:17,880 Those who claim that a law is a God of peace need to have a conversation, it seems to me, 39 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:22,080 with those hundreds of thousands of other Muslims across the world who are quite willing 40 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:33,560 to take up arms and commit violent acts and provocations in the name of the God of peace. 41 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:40,800 Modern societies today are losing confidence in themselves and the Greco-Roman Judeo-Christian 42 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:46,000 moral order that is stood beneath our civilization. 43 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:53,400 The erosion of this confidence, to some extent, has been the deliberate effort and work of 44 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:57,160 some of the institutions of the Western world. 45 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:04,240 So it's no accident that it's taken root and it's starting to bear its evil fruit. 46 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:09,760 But the new religion of the West, which we can characterize broadly as equity, pluralism, 47 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:18,360 toleration, and inclusion, are weak when they, when stood up against the religious confidence 48 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,160 of Islam. 49 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:27,120 Europe is discovering this and other parts of the world are discovering this as well. 50 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:30,840 Muslims are convinced of their superiority. 51 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:37,080 With a legalistic certainty, they claim to have received the final and ultimate word 52 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:42,000 from God about, well, everything. 53 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:47,800 And it's simply a fact that many Muslims live very uneasily in cultures where Islam is not 54 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:52,640 religiously, politically, and culturally dominant. 55 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,240 For they make no distinction between sacred and sectarian law. 56 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:00,560 There is no kingdom on the left and kingdom on the right. 57 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,480 Secular law is flexible and adapts. 58 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:10,120 Sharia law is inflexible, enduring, permitting no irony, no criticism. 59 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,840 It is immovable and untouchable. 60 00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:20,640 And so Islam presses on, barely tolerating, in many cases, what to them is ultimately 61 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:30,120 intolerable, the non-Islamic world in all its forms and expressions. 62 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:38,760 If Islam is defined a place in the West, difficult questions really ought to be asked. 63 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:42,720 And those questions ought to be asked at the ground level where you and I live among our 64 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:47,560 neighbors, Muslim and non-Muslim neighbors. 65 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,440 These are important questions to discuss, it seems to me. 66 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:56,840 For example, can Islam affirm the political and cultural inheritance of the West? 67 00:05:56,840 --> 00:06:02,240 Freedom of speech, freedom of association and religion. 68 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:07,560 Can Islam learn to put religious law in a category apart from secular law? 69 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:13,440 Can Islam absorb criticism, even what it sees as blasphemy, for the sake of a diverse and 70 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,560 pluralistic society? 71 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:25,040 Can Islam turn from its rigid legalisms toward a more tolerant, flexible posture? 72 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:31,920 In the current atmosphere of Western self-loathing and appeasement, whether these questions will 73 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:36,560 be asked with any real seriousness, well, it's an open question. 74 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:41,840 Nevertheless, as citizens of the West, Christian or otherwise, it seems to me that it is an 75 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:45,800 obligation upon us to do so. 76 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:51,760 Now as Christian people, we have the joy and obligation of reaching out to our neighbors, 77 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:58,440 Islamic and otherwise, with the gospel of an authentic peace, the peace that comes through 78 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:04,240 that forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ, that proclamation of that good word of the 79 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,480 Kingdom on the left. 80 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:13,480 Forgiveness, after all, is a far more potent force than the resentments and harsh, inflexible 81 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:23,760 bigotries that drive much of the Islamic cause and all forms of legalisms. 82 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:29,320 This hard task of living and proclaiming the more excellent way of love and forgiveness 83 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:34,760 in Christ is the genius and power of the Christian faith. 84 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:44,520 For that faith is not fueled by the demand to conform to brittle legalisms or resentful, 85 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:51,640 envious political ideologies, but the resilient, gracious and merciful love of the living God 86 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,840 we know in Jesus Christ. 87 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:58,800 Thank you for joining me today for this podcast. 88 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:05,240 If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reply on the contact section 89 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:06,240 of the website. 90 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:08,680 I really enjoy hearing from you. 91 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:15,600 There will be another podcast up next week and in the meantime, you are welcome to browse 92 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:20,880 the content here on the site and as I say, we really appreciate hearing from you. 93 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:23,800 If you want to reach out, that would be great. 94 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:29,960 So until next time, God bless you and grace to you.