I just began reading The Myth of a Christian Nation : How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church by Gregory Boyd, and am enjoying it so far. I wanted to share one quote that I read tonight. In the book, Boyd begins by contrasting what he calls “the kingdom of the world” (i.e. earthly governments) with the kingdom of God. The kingdom of the world exercises “power over” those living under it, while the kingdom of God - a kingdom “not of this world” (John 18:36) - instead seeks to exercise “power under” others, serving instead of ruling. As he descibes each of these kingdoms in the first two chapters, he says the following at the end of chapter two:    

Conservative religious people involved in kingdom-of-the-world thinking often believe that their enemies are the liberals, the gay activists, the ACLU, the pro-choice advocates, the evolutionists, and so on. On the opposite side, liberal religious people often think that their enemies are the fundamentalists, the gay bashers, the Christian Coalition, the antiabortionists, and so on. Demonizing one’s enemies is part of the tit-for-tat game of Babylon, for only by doing so can we justify our animosity, if not violence, toward them. What we have here are two different religious versions of the kingdom of the world going at each other. If we were thinking along the lines of the kingdom of God, however, we would realize that none of the people mentioned in the above lists are people whom kingdom-of-God citizens are called to fight against. They are, rather, people whom kingdom-of-God citizens are called to fight for.

Our battle is “not against flesh and blood,” whether they are right wing or left wing, gay or straight, pro-choice or pro-life, liberal or conservative, democratic or communist, American or Iraqi. Our battle is against the “cosmic powers” that hold these people, and all people, in bondage. Whatever our own opinions about how the kingdom of the world should run, whatever political or ethical views we may happen to embrace, our one task as kingdom-of-God disciples is to fight for people, and the way we do it is by doing exactly what Jesus did. He defeated the cosmic powers of darkness by living a countercultural life characterized by outrageous love and by laying down his life for his enemies. So too, we contribute to the demise of the “power over” principalities that hold people in bondage when we refrain from judgment of others and rather extend grace to them, when we let go of anger toward others and instead “come under” them in loving service.

A person may win by kingdom-of-the-world standards but lose by the standards that eternally count-the standards of the kingdom of God. We can possess all the right kingdom-of-the-world opinions on the planet and stand for all the right kingdom-of-the-world causes, but if we don’t look like Jesus Christ carrying his cross to Golgotha - sacrificing our time, energy, and resources for others - our rightness is merely religious noise. Jesus taught that there will be many who seem to believe right things and do religious deeds in his name whom he will renounce, for they didn’t love him by loving the homeless, the hungry, the poor, and the prisoner (Matt. 7:21-23; 25:41-46; cf. Luke 6:46-49). However right we may be, without love we are simply displaying a religious version of the world, not the kingdom of God.

I can’t help but wonder if far too often we are fighting for the wrong kingdom, and not against the true enemy, and therefore fighting against those we should be fighting for. I’m going to try to comment on this further as I read more of this book.