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The Worship of Power

// October 14th, 2006 // General

From Adventist Peace Messenger:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on 2 Corinthians 12:9:

Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christians should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong.

Brian McLaren comments on his recent travels:

In each country, I heard Christian leaders – Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Traditional Protestants, and Roman Catholics – express amazement and dismay at the relative silence of the church in the USA. They see us, by and large, as a prime example of Bonhoeffer’s lament about Christendom “adjusting itself far too easily to the worship of power.” We are giving offense, but sadly, the wrong kind. For example, they hear frequent defenses by Christians in the USA – not of the weak and poor, but of the strong and powerful. About torture and violence, about “pride of power,” they hear too little protest from too few of us. They know we are against terrorism, but they don’t know if we are against American empire and domination.