Irresistible Revolution .9

Chapter 9 of Irresistible Revolution is essentially a look at modern versus post modern.

Shane says that modernity is a joining of people who have it all together, while post modern is a joining of people who know they don't. This divide is played out in all areas of faith. Iraq to some is what America deserved (he quoted Jerry Falwell for this), but Shane quotes Mark 10:18 to respond to Falwell's opinion. During the great persecutions it was written that for every one Christian that was killed there were at least 10 converts. Shane believes that Christianity spreads rapidly when it is killed by evildoers without retaliation.

I know a lot of you who have followed this are thinking Shane is really liberal. I'd like to share this quote from chapter 8. "Conservatives stand up and thank God that they are not like the homosexuals, the Muslims, the liberals. Liberals stand up and thank God that they are not like the war makers, the yuppies, the conservatives. It is a similar self righteousness..."

A powerful story he alludes to is his relationship with the father of a girl who was killed in the Oklahoma City bombings. At the first the father was bitter and angry, very angry. However, the father always remembered his daughter saying "execution teaches hatred." This father traveled the country, after McVeigh had been sentenced to death, speaking about the message of his daughter. He believed that the death penalty was teaching people that we believe some people are beyond redemption, a message unsupported by Scripture in his mind.

• Claiborne is not shy about tackling just about every sensitive subject in politics and society in this book. I commend him for that. Whether you disagree or not, it is much better to discuss than to suppress your thoughts.
• I have spent a lot of time thinking about the validity of the death penalty. It is something I have supported my whole life. I always felt that some people had simply done something too wrong. It is at this point in my life that I am saddened by that mindset that I have been a part of. From a national standpoint I see some sensibility to it, but in a human and Christian standpoint I see no sensibility at all. The wages of sin is death, one sin or many sins, but it is never too late for grace to reach someone. Do you think Jesus would support the death penalty?