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Christmas, Scott Eizember, Christian Nationalism and False Promises of Peace<\/p>\n
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Just a few short weeks ago, I participated in the clemency hearing of Scott Eizember.\u00a0 Seated at the front of the room, I declared that it is always going to be evil to kill a child of God.\u00a0 Without hesitation, I declared, \u201cWhere is God at in a process such as this?\u201d\u00a0 Seeing that Scott\u2019s lawyers and I went first, my remarks served to change some of the tone of the hearing thereafter.\u00a0 Of course, there were all of the traditional arguments that were going to be made anyways\u2026but there was something else that reared its\u2019 ugly head\u2026the idea that God was involved in\u2026even guiding\u2026a process that would lead to Scott\u2019s righteous execution.\u00a0 One of the original prosecutors that tried the case stated that God was present in his argument because God had always been present in our democracy.\u00a0 Of those who have been enslaved and eradicated by our government might disagree.\u00a0 In addition to such a wild argument, multiple family members of the victims\u2026the Cantrells\u2026made the argument that Scott\u2019s execution was the only means by which God could bring them peace.\u00a0 Bad theology always brings about bad consequences\u2026but bad theology when someone\u2019s life is on the line can be deadly.<\/p>\n
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Christian nationalism is not just heresy\u2026it is the epitome of dumbassticity.\u00a0 How in the world could a nation that eradicates, enslaves and oppresses people throughout its\u2019 history be considered the standard bearer of God\u2019s will?\u00a0 Our democracy is not a divine construct\u2026it is made up of people and it is only as good as the people who make it up\u2026which throughout our history has often been suspect.\u00a0 God is not a citizen of these United States.\u00a0 God is holy\u2026and one of the holiest attributes of God is love.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see how executing Scott has anything to do with love.\u00a0 Contrary to what the idiot prosecutor argued in the clemency hearing\u2026God will not be the one executing Scott\u2026we will be\u2026including those of us who feel that our only option to resist is to try to make an evil system better.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always believed that God is with those who stand against evil.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t killing somebody always going to be evil?<\/p>\n
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As I listened to the harsh words of the Cantrells, I was reminded of the words of Christ, \u201cYou shout \u2018Peace!\u2019 \u2018Peace\u2019 and there is no peace.\u201d\u00a0 You see, they kept repeating variations of the phrase, \u201cWe\u2019ll finally be at peace when Scott Eizember is dead.\u201d\u00a0 Honestly, I couldn\u2019t believe that they had let Scott maintain that level of power and control over them.\u00a0 Do they honestly think that killing Scott is going to get him out of their head?\u00a0 I doubt it.\u00a0 If he has lived there rent free for decades, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to be moving out just because he\u2019s dead.\u00a0 Beyond the purely illogical nature of such a statement, it also reveals a really problematic understanding of God.\u00a0 You see, the peace of God exists beyond our circumstances.\u00a0 The one who has true peace\u2026the peace of God\u2026is not dependent on anything else for that peace.\u00a0 If you desire the death of another human\u2026you desire it for your own reasons\/purposes\u2026not for God\u2019s.\u00a0 I suspect that the Cantrells have two words mixed up\u2026peace and vengeance.\u00a0 The death of Scott Eizember might bring the vengeance that they long for\u2026but it sure as hell ain\u2019t going to bring about no peace.<\/p>\n
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In the days ahead\u2026before Scott Eizember is likely executed on January 12\u2026we will celebrate Christmas.\u00a0 Think back to Bethlehem.\u00a0 Think back to the manger.\u00a0 The baby brought peace.\u00a0 The angels declared as much.\u00a0 Why then have we turned the incarnation of God into a monster that carries out our vengeance?<\/p>\n
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\u00a0 Christmas, Scott Eizember, Christian Nationalism and False Promises of Peace \u00a0 \u00a0 Just a few short weeks ago, I participated in the clemency hearing of Scott Eizember.\u00a0 Seated at the front of the room, I declared that it is always going to be evil to kill a child of God.\u00a0 Without hesitation, I declared, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2509,"featured_media":10074,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[6813,612,1390,2521,6472],"class_list":["post-10071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-freshwritings","category-thoughts","tag-cantrells","tag-christmas","tag-god","tag-oklahoma","tag-scott-eizember"],"yoast_head":"\n