Who Owns You?
I caught a lecture by a Harvard professor on one of those obscure suburban PBS stations last night in a series called Justice. The TV listings blurb said it was about Robert Nozick, so I was a bit interested. The professor was extraordinarily boring, but to his credit most college profs are. The gargantuan lecture hall, however, was packed with bright-eyed youngsters, all of them certainly the brilliant quite-recently-departed-from high school students from around the nation who squeezed their way into this fine institution of higher learning with A+'s in everything except Calculus G/H. The sad part is that everything the prof said was the most rudimentary political science stuff and everything the students shared in response was nothing beyond the typically elementary philosophical brain farts. But hey, everyone needs to take Poli Sci 101.
I wanted to bring up the core question addressed, and that was "Who owns you?" The prof set this up by speaking about the utilitarian perspective, which at the risk of oversimplification is the idea that we should be doing the things we do with chiefly everyone else around us in mind. The libertarian perspective is the one that states whatever it is each of us as individuals want should be the real determing factor.
After all the quasi-erudite bantering about these two positions, the question came up. Obviously the two answers are as follows.
Libertarian: "Who owns me? I own me, because I have the right of self-possession."
Utilitarian: "Who owns me? Others have a claim to me because I live in a society, therefore a good portion of me is under the obligation of others-possession."
Most of the discourse revolved around the role of government in this, and for good reason. How much should government regulate the behavior of someone who claims virtually complete autonomy, when that may mean he or she will commit rights violations against others? How much, precisely, do others in a society have a right to claim against an individual and how much power should government have in managing that?
These two questions were only superficially addressed, but not for any deficiency on the part of the participants. There is only so much time in one class period.
But there is another reason these questions will never see the light of day and perpetually be caked against the walls of a dark benighted lecture tomb.
It is because the World has no answers for them.
That is except for the standard blap Caesar and his minions are assigned to dish out in the service of the legacy of Cain.
These people will never come close to approaching the third option for understanding.
The Kingdom option.
I'd love to share it with you now. And don't worry. I'm nobody. This isn't my idea by any means. Anybody can see the idea anywhere they look in God's word, the Bible. They just need to open it, read it, and tune out the ways World operatives jumble those words for people not really interested in being authentically His. Hey, it's okay. If you are genuinely seeking Him, you'll see it. It's right there.
Again, remember the question?
Who owns me?
For review: The Libertarian -- "I own me." The Utilitarian -- "Others own a good portion of me."
The Follower of Christ -- "He owns me."
It is that simple. Here's a part of Scripture, even, that makes this crystal clear: "You are not your own. You were bought with a price." That's from the sixth chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians. Please, read the entire passage, the entire letter for context.
The fact is churches that are incorporated with Caesar's government and the people who listen to their "shepherds" can never truly understand the meaning of that perspective, simply because their are selling themselves to someone else. It is certainly not Christ who, if they've allowed themselves to be His, already bought them with His blood.
What are the ramifications of this? In terms of what people truly want from the core of what it all means to begin with? It is this...
That the World has its way of trying to get people gratified, and as was demonstrated in this lecture, it is woefully deficient. It is perfectly fine for people living by Caesar, but Christ wants people to have overflowing life. The Kingdom way, on the other hand, brings perfect fulfillment because those who live knowing they are owned by God also know that He provides with the greatest abundance for all, sacrificially, selflessly, with the deepest, widest, most compassionate love there is -- it is all His anyway, so how could you lose?
Being owned by God means He allows us to be wise stewards of His things and everyone is cared for. It is all about sowing into community as an act of worship to Him. Think you'll forget how to do that? If you are rejoicing always in the wonders of His creation even that of your fellow human, praying without ceasing to receive His guidance, and giving thanks in all things simply to bless God in what He does to bless you, then
It's all good.
As for the World, it is really the same for both the libertarian and utilitarian. It is all about fear, and either "Get me mine" (the libertarian) or "Get us ours" (the utilitarian). Doesn't matter.
It's exactly the same.
Every decision every person has made in all of human history has always been about whether you are doing a thing for Caesar or doing it for Christ. Every one. Just because very fancy educational people are elaborating on all the fancy ways Caesar does things with lots of fancy blithering about it doesn't change the fact that it is still an expression of devotion to Caesar.
And with it comes all the abject bewilderment about what to actually do with the virulent agony all around.
There is indeed another Option.
The One that truly frees and gives and never stops giving.
I wanted to bring up the core question addressed, and that was "Who owns you?" The prof set this up by speaking about the utilitarian perspective, which at the risk of oversimplification is the idea that we should be doing the things we do with chiefly everyone else around us in mind. The libertarian perspective is the one that states whatever it is each of us as individuals want should be the real determing factor.
After all the quasi-erudite bantering about these two positions, the question came up. Obviously the two answers are as follows.
Libertarian: "Who owns me? I own me, because I have the right of self-possession."
Utilitarian: "Who owns me? Others have a claim to me because I live in a society, therefore a good portion of me is under the obligation of others-possession."
Most of the discourse revolved around the role of government in this, and for good reason. How much should government regulate the behavior of someone who claims virtually complete autonomy, when that may mean he or she will commit rights violations against others? How much, precisely, do others in a society have a right to claim against an individual and how much power should government have in managing that?
These two questions were only superficially addressed, but not for any deficiency on the part of the participants. There is only so much time in one class period.
But there is another reason these questions will never see the light of day and perpetually be caked against the walls of a dark benighted lecture tomb.
It is because the World has no answers for them.
That is except for the standard blap Caesar and his minions are assigned to dish out in the service of the legacy of Cain.
These people will never come close to approaching the third option for understanding.
The Kingdom option.
I'd love to share it with you now. And don't worry. I'm nobody. This isn't my idea by any means. Anybody can see the idea anywhere they look in God's word, the Bible. They just need to open it, read it, and tune out the ways World operatives jumble those words for people not really interested in being authentically His. Hey, it's okay. If you are genuinely seeking Him, you'll see it. It's right there.
Again, remember the question?
Who owns me?
For review: The Libertarian -- "I own me." The Utilitarian -- "Others own a good portion of me."
The Follower of Christ -- "He owns me."
It is that simple. Here's a part of Scripture, even, that makes this crystal clear: "You are not your own. You were bought with a price." That's from the sixth chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians. Please, read the entire passage, the entire letter for context.
The fact is churches that are incorporated with Caesar's government and the people who listen to their "shepherds" can never truly understand the meaning of that perspective, simply because their are selling themselves to someone else. It is certainly not Christ who, if they've allowed themselves to be His, already bought them with His blood.
What are the ramifications of this? In terms of what people truly want from the core of what it all means to begin with? It is this...
That the World has its way of trying to get people gratified, and as was demonstrated in this lecture, it is woefully deficient. It is perfectly fine for people living by Caesar, but Christ wants people to have overflowing life. The Kingdom way, on the other hand, brings perfect fulfillment because those who live knowing they are owned by God also know that He provides with the greatest abundance for all, sacrificially, selflessly, with the deepest, widest, most compassionate love there is -- it is all His anyway, so how could you lose?
Being owned by God means He allows us to be wise stewards of His things and everyone is cared for. It is all about sowing into community as an act of worship to Him. Think you'll forget how to do that? If you are rejoicing always in the wonders of His creation even that of your fellow human, praying without ceasing to receive His guidance, and giving thanks in all things simply to bless God in what He does to bless you, then
It's all good.
As for the World, it is really the same for both the libertarian and utilitarian. It is all about fear, and either "Get me mine" (the libertarian) or "Get us ours" (the utilitarian). Doesn't matter.
It's exactly the same.
Every decision every person has made in all of human history has always been about whether you are doing a thing for Caesar or doing it for Christ. Every one. Just because very fancy educational people are elaborating on all the fancy ways Caesar does things with lots of fancy blithering about it doesn't change the fact that it is still an expression of devotion to Caesar.
And with it comes all the abject bewilderment about what to actually do with the virulent agony all around.
There is indeed another Option.
The One that truly frees and gives and never stops giving.
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