Greetings again Josheb and Greetings Arial,
I did not know this came from a Christadelphian pov. Christadelphianism arose during the 19th century, along with a host of sects, during what was called the "restoration movement." These sects did not restore anything. They further fragmented the Church and created a host of new theologies, few of which stayed within the pale of orthodoxy. The CoC, SDA, Brethren, Dispensationalists, JWs, LDSes, and Christadelphians did not return to an NT-era expression of Christian faith. John Thomas was a cult leader.
I appreciate the motivation behind "the restoration movement". John Thomas became the Editor of a Campbellite Magazine in 1834-1838 and later another magazine series Herald of the Kingdom. He gradually formed different ideas to the Campbellites, and by 1843 he more or less had distinct beliefs. In 1850 he published the book Elpis Israel - An Exposition of the Kingdom of God, then he was the editor for about 10 years of a new magazine series Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come. He then published a three volume book, now published as five volumes Eureka - An Exposition of the Apocalypse. I very much appreciate his writings and the other major pioneer Robert Roberts who started The Christadelphian magazine some time after the conclusion of the second Herald series. We do not accept every detail that these pioneers wrote, but they established very solidly our understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom and Name.
As far as the label "cult", I was a bit reticent to respond to this thread because of your earlier response in this thread and especially because of our interaction on Psalm 1. I would define a "cult" as a group of people with strange ideas and strange practices. My estimate of your comments in the Psalm 1 thread as being very strange. Part of this was your denigration of David and the Monarchy. Relevant to the subject of this thread, Politics, this morning I listened to the first of four talks on Ruth. The Book of Ruth is added between Judges and 1 Samuel as a part indication of the transition from the Judges to the Monarchy, and the very last word in the Book of Ruth is "David".
And yet you are affected by politics, as is everyone else, and do nothing to contribute to any effort on the part of other believers to vote for candidates with integrity and the interests of the people in mind rather than the interests only of government.
Yes we do not vote. In Australia voting is compulsory and this is at the three levels Federal Government, State Government and Local Council elections, averaging say one election per year. I have received a notification of failure to vote for each of these for the last 60 years, and in the most recent I think I could pay $100 fine, or give a reason why I was unable to vote, or an explanation of my conscience. I often use or allude to Daniel 4:17 and have never had any of my replies rejected in that 60 years.
Yes, I am interested in observing the political scene, and I am very disturbed by the breaking down of Bible standards by various people in power. The present situation helps me to appreciate the need for Jesus to return and replace the kingdoms of men with the Kingdom of God Daniel 2:35,44-45, 4:17.
In my younger days I worked in a Government Department and we had quite a few people who had been affected by different politics. We had some good engineers whose skills were readily accepted. We had some Hungarians who may have escaped Hungary in 1956, an older Jewish Hungarian who may have escaped Hitler's persecution and a Russian from China who was one of my supervisors. When China and Russia fell out, China used to send their Russian residents back to Russia. When they fell out more, they allowed the Russians to migrate to the West. Before the demise of the USSR he used to send colour photos of his nice brick home and new car in the driveway to his relatives in Russia, who most probably lived in high rise apartments. As far as politics was concerned he used to compare the US elections to those in the USSR. In the USSR they would only have one candidate and he would get 98% of the vote and when parliament was convened they would all stand and applaud, similar to China or North Korea today. But he did not see much selection in the US in those days as he considered that there was not much difference between the two parties. Sadly this may be different today, and the US may face a crisis soon, an indication of end times. Towards the end of my stay in that department we had a young Yugoslav engineer who stated that his aim was to make plenty of money in Australia, and then return to Yugoslavia and live like a king. He was still in Australia when the breakup of Yugoslavia occurred and the various civil wars.
My Russian engineer used to also tell the tale that there was some appeasing of the enmity between the US and the USSR. The Russians were having some trouble with their truck factory and they invited some experts from the US Ford factory. The US visitors came to the factory and there were a few very large black limousines out the front. One of the US delegates asked as to who owns the factory, and the Russians replied, the people. Then they asked who owned the limousines, and they got the answer, the party members. The Russians then were invited to the Ford factory and there was a very large factory with many cars in the car park for the workers. The Russians asked, who owns all those cars, and they received the answer, the people. They then asked, who owns the factory, and the answer was, Mr Ford.
And yet you gladly accept the protection of the police force and are no doubt grateful they exist.
Yes, we thank God for the peace and quiet. The Garden of Gethsemane was a bit different.
And yet you gladly accept the loss of life to others who defend the nation you live in, and are no doubt glad there are "those" people, and even more proud of not being like those people.
War and warfare distress me and we can only feel terribly sad for all of the wars that have occurred and are occurring. The Christadelphian position was formed during the American Civil War when it was considered atrocious for a Christadelphian from the North shooting a Christadelphian from the South and vice versa, or in actual fact, shooting any one for that matter. If you check my age, I was born in 1944. I could elaborate. But on the other hand my father was a foster child as a result of WW1, but at the age of 14 he was fostered to an older couple to work on a farm, and his foster father was an ex-Christadelphian who returned to his faith, and helped my father to join the faith, and sever his political ties as he had been associating with a fascist type group here in Australia.
Kind regards
Trevor
