http:\/\/annualletter.gatesfoundation.org\/<\/a>) .\u201d\u00a0 Humans when they set their minds to things, imbued with image of God, and full of common grace, can accomplish great heights.\u00a0 While, I thoroughly applaud the authors central thesis, their core idea is not nearly radical enough, and while it can bring about very real gains in human flourishing, it cannot sustain them, or bring about the final and ultimate peace and end of fear.<\/p>\nWe really do never know.<\/p>\n
I Believe in Love<\/strong><\/p>\nThe fundamental\u00a0 issue with\u00a0Active Hope<\/em>\u00a0is that it fails to come to grips with a realistic anthropology, and what is more, loses site of what can bring about true human transformation and flourishing.\u00a0 The authors rightly discover that selfishness is a core issue with moving humanity forward.\u00a0 However, their addressing of the issue is left severely wanting.\u00a0 For them, the alteration of selfishness to action, is by simply helping people to see that what is good for others, will also be good for them.\u00a0 Selfishness is not addressed here, just shifted.\u00a0 This is fairly limp.\u00a0 What is to keep a billion Chinese from seeing that their selfishness and wellbeing is best preserved by the violent eradication of their biggest competitors to resources?\u00a0 What is to keep the common good from simply becoming the new tyranny?\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus and the Gospels are clear, what really changes the world is radical self-giving love, which sacrificially gives and gives, with no expectation of return.\u00a0 Miroslav Volf, MLK, and Mother Teresa are examples of those who have rightly shown the transformative power of this type of love.\u00a0 Only this kind of love, located in the cross, can melt a selfish heart, and bring about healing for the enemy, the abuser, the greedy, the sick, the powerful, the poor, and the abused.<\/p>\nU2 understand the contrasts of human heart.\u00a0 In their song\u00a0God Part II<\/em>, a response to John Lennon\u2019s atheist hymn\u00a0God,\u00a0<\/em>the lyrics deal with the fight of the human soul, between wanting to do what is right, but being gripped by sin and selfishness, and ultimate defeat.\u00a0 They find that world transformation will only come through the power of God\u2019s love to transform real evil and selfishness into active hope in \u201ckicking the darkness till it bleeds daylight.\u201d\u00a0 Love that covers over and forgives our errors and failings, yet beckons active participation in extending the same radical love to all human beings.<\/p>\nChristians should be out in front leading on these issues, the gospels demand it.\u00a0 And in many ways, throughout history serious followers of Jesus have been on the forefront of abolition (the Southern Christian defense of slavery is a sad aberration), poverty, equality, health, education, and more recently the global fight against AIDS, but most importantly the eradication of selfishness for agape love and grace.\u00a0 U2 in their song\u00a0Stand Up Comedy<\/em>\u00a0call believers to action:<\/p>\nOut from under your beds
\nC\u2019mon ye people
\nStand up for your love
\nLove love love love love\u2026
\nGod is love
\nAnd love is evolution\u2019s very best day<\/p>\n
It is here in the power of the love flowing from the cross that we can join God in the redemption of his world, into the ultimate comedy, where time shall be no more, only joy and laughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Don\u2019t believe the devil I don\u2019t believe his book But the truth is not the same Without the lies he made up. Don\u2019t believe in excess Success is to give Don\u2019t believe in riches But you should see where I live. I, I believe in love. Don\u2019t believe in cocaine Got a speedball in my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,177,137,176,180],"class_list":["post-430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-hope","tag-love","tag-macyjohnstone","tag-u2","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1758,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions\/1758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}