{{2010_08_16_t1.jpg}} {{2010_08_16_t2.jpg}} {{2010_08_16_t3.jpg}} [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2010_08_16|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]] [[topics_collection_ii|| Topics Collection ii ]] ======Our Social System 1 - Diverse Views ...====== Monday, August 16, 2010. When we think or talk about our society, there are many different opinions. Some of us belong to one political party, others to another one. Depending on the particular country, we live in, these will have different and sometimes strong views on particular topics. Individuals share the view of left or right-wing, liberal or social or communist parties, and often have their particular versions of these views. {{2010_08_16.jpg }} **Your personal view and the biblical account** There are Christians in nearly every political party. Christians with nearly every possible political view. When you look around a little bit, as a Christian, you will find brothers in the Lord in all parts of the political spectrum. That is very interesting. It shows that our view on the social system can be extremely diverse even though we live with the same God and read the same biblical texts. Why can Christians have so different views on our society? The bible is full of statements about community and about how to treat your neighbor and other people around you. Why can Christians be among both the conservative parties and the liberal parties, the communist people and the socialist people? Why can they even be in the right-wing area? {{ 2010_08_16_2.jpg}} **Many impulses in the New Testament** There are several reasons why Christians can develop different ideas about how the society should work and should be treated. Let us quickly go through some of them. First, depending on your personal situation you will judge the social mechanisms in a different way. In fact, our society is not working well with some of its parts, but you might not be affected by this. There is significant corruption deep within our social mechanisms, but often we do not realize as good citizens. When we realize, we can be shocked and then lend to much more extreme views than before. If you are not affected, you will probably continue to support these mechanisms and consider them to be just fine. So different experiences with the same system can lead to different views. Second, the New Testament itself contains many statements which can be interpreted into different directions. It has a strong impulse to live in a community of love. That would definitely change our society significantly. If we take the idea of love, truth and justice just a little bit serious, it will guide us to a lot of personal and social change. But also, the New Testament supports a conservative attitude. We are not here to build God's kingdom on earth, but God himself will build it in and with us. We are not called to act by force, but by God's spirit. The perspective of the New Testament is eternal, reaching far beyond our current life and our current limitations. [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/doku.php/topics_collection_ii|... more texts]]