This ties in directly with the IJM article posted earlier today... great thoughts Rudy!
(from Rudy Carrasco)
THE STEWARDSHIP OF POWER: I heard an interesting one this week - substitute "talents" (i.e. money) in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25) with "power." Imagine the U.S. is given 5 talents of power, Britain is given 2 talents of power, and - uh - the U.N. Security Council is given 1 talent of power. Play out the parable.
The question posed to me: Don't people and institutions and countries with power have a responsibility to be good stewards of that power? Does good stewardship mean that we never exercise power?
It's an important question for my generation, the issue of the use of power. I told the Dallas Morning News columnist that many "moderate" evangelicals have serious reservations about how Bush and Co. used power in the run-up and implementation of the Iraq war. Now Andy Crouch has written about the use of power in the latest Christianity Today (I got my print copy over the weekend; I don't think it's up online yet).
I think good stewardship means we exercise our power with great caution, yes. But caution of itself is no virtue and not an end in itself - but I believe many in my generation of Americans treat it as if it were.
(from Rudy Carrasco)
THE STEWARDSHIP OF POWER: I heard an interesting one this week - substitute "talents" (i.e. money) in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25) with "power." Imagine the U.S. is given 5 talents of power, Britain is given 2 talents of power, and - uh - the U.N. Security Council is given 1 talent of power. Play out the parable.
The question posed to me: Don't people and institutions and countries with power have a responsibility to be good stewards of that power? Does good stewardship mean that we never exercise power?
It's an important question for my generation, the issue of the use of power. I told the Dallas Morning News columnist that many "moderate" evangelicals have serious reservations about how Bush and Co. used power in the run-up and implementation of the Iraq war. Now Andy Crouch has written about the use of power in the latest Christianity Today (I got my print copy over the weekend; I don't think it's up online yet).
I think good stewardship means we exercise our power with great caution, yes. But caution of itself is no virtue and not an end in itself - but I believe many in my generation of Americans treat it as if it were.
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