Kingdom Culture – Gregory Scott Blog

On Protest and Rebellion

I live downtown in one of the largest cities in America.

My wife and I have watched from our home some of the protests and arrests that have occurred following the killing of George Floyd.

I’ve also observed the initial sympathy expressed by my caucasian friends be replaced by anger when the looting and violence began. I’ve heard some pundits try to explain the looting and violence, and I’ve heard others even try to justify it.

For White People Only: A Hypothetical on Race and the Church

What if:

America had been founded by black people from Africa;
Those black people captured white people from Europe and brought them to America to serve as slaves to black masters;
Black people continued to enslave white people for two hundred years;

Jesus on Racism

The Jews in the first century were prejudiced against Samaritans.

The Samaritans were remnants of the Northern kingdom of Israel, which had established its capital in Samaria.

Judah, the Southern kingdom, had established its capital in Jerusalem

When the Assyrians invaded and carried away the Jews into captivity, those living in Samaria who remained intermarried with other non-Jewish people groups.

As a result, Samarians were not seen as pure Jews. Jewish prejudice was religious as well, rooted in a dispute over the proper place to worship God. See John 4: 20 (“Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”)

Consequently, Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans, as John noted. See John 4:9 (“For Jews do not associate with Samaritans”). It is also believed by many historians, that Jews would even walk around Samaria rather than through it when traveling north from Jerusalem.

Christian Conduct in a Pandemic

I’ve already written here on a what I believe to be the big-picture Kingdom perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic.

But I’ve been distressed by the laissez faire attitude many Christians have displayed toward the pandemic and the possibility of contracting the virus.

I chalk much of this up to ignorance and the rest to selfishness.

The question is this: What does King Jesus require of Christians in the midst of the current pandemic?

Of course, there is not a one-size-fits all answer. Some of my Christian friends are doctors and nurses working in the healthcare industry. They will likely be asked by Jesus to make take a much bigger risk and make a bigger sacrifice than others.

For the rest of us, though, I think there are at least three principles that should guide our conduct during the pandemic: Continue reading “Christian Conduct in a Pandemic”

On Media Hypocrisy

It has been interesting to watch the media complain about being attacked by President Trump.

Apparently it is the exercise of the right of free speech for the media to criticize President Trump but not vice versa.

The media can say President Trump is engaging in mere accusation and name-calling, but is this really any different than someone burning the American flag to protest an administration’s policies, or perhaps closer to the media’s home, using dishonest and salacious headlines about the content of an anti-Trump article just to attract hits.

It sounds to me like the media has a double standard. They like casting the stones but not dodging them. Continue reading “On Media Hypocrisy”