Politics and the Kingdom of God Part I

<p>In this episode, Jonah and Patrick take up the divisive yet important topic: <em>politics</em>. To do this right will take a patient, deeper approach, so let's "sit down" and get into it.</p><p>With an election in the U.S. coming, social tensions running extremely high and deep running conspiracies perceived in every direction, we felt it essential to risk taking up the question of a Christ-permeated perspective on the world of politics, of a Christ-centered approach to social and political participation.  Most important, we try and deeply enter the question: <em>How does Christ rule in his kingdom?</em></p><p>This episode lays some of the groundwork for approaching this theme.  We hope - and expect - that your own questions are stirred up by the conversation.  We hope you will share them with us, either in the comments or in a message directly sent to us.</p><p>Next week we will get into more of the specifics of the challenges of this moment in time. </p><p>This was a longer conversation than fit into an hour-long episode, so we have edited it down a little. This took us an extra day to get ready so thank you for your patience!</p><p><b>Our</b> <b>thanks</b> to Elliott Chamberlin who composed the opening music, "On the Road", the musical interlude "Water of Life" and the closing music, "Seeking Together".  You can find more of his music <a href="https://www.elliottchamberlinmusic.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">here</a>. </p><p><b>Episode Notes</b></p><p>This episode required a deeper dive into the spiritual history of humanity and the evolution of consciousness and often refers to images and texts from the Bible to reveal these signature moments.  We hope the episode notes will be of some help for you in following up on these elements.</p><p>- We reference the conversations between <b>Pilate</b> and Jesus during his trial before the crucifixion as depicted in the Gospel of John.  You can read this whole, powerful story in <a href="https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JHN.18.NIV" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">John 18:28 - 19:22</a>.</p><p>- Patrick references <a href="https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/virginia-statute-religious-freedom" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the law that separated church and state,</a> first passed in the colony of Virginia and drafted in large part by <b>Thomas Jefferson</b>.</p><p>- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_cult_of_ancient_Rome" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Cae