by Allen Ray Johnson | Sep 8, 2023 | Atrocities, Responsibility, Uncategorized, War
What huge imago madeA psychopathic god:I and the public knowWhat all schoolchildren learn,Those to whom evil is doneDo evil in return. (W. H. Auden’s poem, September 1, 1939) Almost immediately after the horrific terrorist attack September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center and Pentagon killed 3000 Americans, the drumbeat for retribution and revenge pounded loudly. Drowned out were voices calling for restraint. While peoples from nations around the world offered sympathy, so-called Christian America cast aside Jesus’s clear teachings against returning evil for evil to instead foment violent war on Afghanistan, to be followed 18 months later upon Iraq.… Read More
by Allen Ray Johnson | Apr 14, 2023 | Church, Economics, Following Jesus, Responsibility, Uncategorized
By St. Augustine, John Chrysostom, and Basil the Great The Plough is a publication of the Bruderhof, a Christian community of sharing goods. The introduction to some teachings of these three early Christian fathers begins, “In an age when Christianity is comfortably entwined with consumer capitalism, the early Christians’ passion for social and economic justice can come as a shock. From the first days of Christianity, the duty to care for the poor and marginalized was at the center of the gospel. Jesus preached a way of life free of possessions, the first church in Jerusalem abolished private property, and… Read More
by Allen Ray Johnson | Jan 30, 2023 | Economics, Family, Responsibility, Uncategorized
Bret Stephens, a columnist at the New York Times, recently wrote that “a couple with a combined income of $400,000 a year doesn’t necessarily have a lifestyle we’d describe as “rich”: “They’re scrimping to send their kids to college, driving a Camry, if they have a car at all, and wondering why eggs have gotten so expensive.” Ross Douthat, offers one answer: “These people are rich by any measure, and they are spending their money on things only rich people can afford, such as living in the best school districts and in or near amenity-rich megacities….many worry that their offspring… Read More
by Allen Ray Johnson | Jan 11, 2023 | Climate, Following Jesus, Responsibility, Uncategorized
by Allen Johnson (written February 2012) The relationship and responsibility of humanity to the environment is a theme that marches throughout much of The Bible. The very first words testify to God as Creator. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The text continues on to describe various stages of creation as “good.” Humanity is also created, and given the responsibility of overseeing creation as God’s image-bearer (Genesis 1:26-27).… Read More
