I think an important question here is: Does Jesus expect us to administer justice? Does Jesus want us to be a part of making a better empire, or making America better, or does he want us to live our lives around the existence of another kingdom-the kingdom of God?

Does Jesus expect us to administer justice to the world. Perhaps a parable of Jesus that applies to this question is the parable of the weeds where Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

27″The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

28″ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

29″ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”

Here Jesus seems to be telling us to wait for him to administer justice. Although I am right with you Joe, I sometimes struggle with waiting for God to uphold justice. But as I quoted in my last post, grace is not just. It is not just that Jesus died for someone else’s sins, it is not just that we receive grace.

Another question that is difficult but I think is very important is-how much can we be aligned with a kingdom of the world-such as America, or any country that any Christian happens to live in-and still be loyal to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God and the worldly kingdoms are vastly different, so how far should we be invested in America (or any country) and still be loyal to the kingdom of God.

Of course the best example of this tension, as you brought up, is WWII. What would have happened if good American Christians had not stood up to Hitler and conquered his regime? Well we could also ask another question-What if German Christians have refused to go along with Hitler’s ungodly ambitions, what if German Christians had refused to give their allegiance to Hitler rather than God?

German Christians sinned by going along with Hitler and supporting his oppressive regime, but did God expect us to administer justice in that situation, or did he want us to wait for his justice? By taking out Germany and Japan the way we did, we did eliminate the weeds, but we also eliminated some wheat in the process too. And is eliminating the enemy even the goal in the kingdom of God.

Lastly, Joe I just want to say that I think it’s cool that someone like you and someone like me can talk about this together-seeing that we are from vastly different perspectives and experiences.