by JasonI once read an interesting analogy...imagine we could each choose to adopt one mascot to describe our self - personality, desires, looks, preferences, everything. However, we only have 2 choices: A purple hat-wearing, black and white striped camel that wears leather boots and only eats straw, OR a toupee-wearing orange kangaroo wearing a black tuxedo shirt and a blue tie. So, go ahead - choose! Well, it doesn't really matter if you like purple hats or not, as long as you love striped camels of any color - you're going to choose the camel, right? And lets say you really don't like wearing shoes of any kind - then I guess you'll just have to pick the orange kangaroo. But, if you don't like wearing anything on your head, well, then, I guess you'd better pick the better of two evils - toupees or purple hats! Eventually, you'll learn to like kangaroos, or purple hats, or toupees, as well as anything orange or striped or leather, and before you know it, you'll downright despise anything...or anyone...associated with *that other* mascot. This, my friends, is the behavior of tribalism. When you become associated with something on one side or another, you begin to only listen to your side, which constantly tries to make itself bigger and better in the eyes of itself and in doing so, continues to find ways to differentiate and demonize the other. The psychological brainwashing continues until you really don't care whether you like hats at all, as long as everyone else knows that you are a purple hat-wearing, black and white striped camel that wears leather boots, and if anyone even suggests that wearing hats is out of style, well, then, they are obviously part of that toupee-wearing orange kangaroo tribe wearing black tuxedo shirts with blue ties! And THEY are the REAL kind of evil, amiright? So many of the actions which could resolve suffering and wrongs in this country could easily be agreed upon if we just didn't possess an insane desire to be a part of an axis of power. But this is a part of our human nature, and so we must turn it for the greater good. The danger is that in gravitating to that bigger tribe, we stop thinking as individuals, but instead will defer to the decisions of the greater tribe. We succumb to tribalism. It is not long before "the faith claims and institutions of one's political party generally trump those of one's religion" (Camosy). But, if we give up our own individual needs for attention, power, or money, and if we instead desire to gravitate towards the community of Jesus Christ first and foremost, then we can see how our participation is never for our own glory or even for our own community's glory, but for the building up of the Kingdom which even includes God's children who may not be a part of our community in some way or another. I was once a die-hard political fan boy, so entrenched that I thought there was nothing my side said that I wouldn't agree with. But then I read a very well written argument that helped me to see that Jesus didn't fit into any side. Not only did He not fit, but He didn't even care to enter into the political power debate between Romans and Jewish leaders. Our Church is the same - if we ascribe to the belief that any worldly power completely represents the comprehensive teachings and tradition of the Body of Christ, without question, then we are probably falling into a trap of idolatry. In fact, it is even dangerous to say that one political side or the other is 'closer' to Church teachings without allowing discrimination of each issue independently. Once I freed myself from bondage to this kind of tribalism and political fighting, the world looked completely different. I began to see the good and wrongs that cut through every human heart, not between groups of people. But, more importantly, I began to think unencumbered by worldly powers which allowed my heart to be led by the Holy Spirit. And this, my friends, is true freedom!
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On a MissionTwo passionate parents and their four children are excited to bring His Word to everyone in need while living a life of Gospel poverty as missionaries. They invite you to join them on a journey to encounter our global neighbors that Jesus commands us to love through works of charity and service. Archives
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