Exploring the Social Imagination

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

God's imagination is one without Conflict

God's imagination is one without conflict. Man is about conflict and he always will be. Some think that by creating a prison planet we can enforce people to live harmoniously. The only way we can do that is to live in God's imagination. Acts 17 24-28
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live, God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, We are his offspring.

You see, men try to 'socially' engineer their social imagination when all we have to do is live in God's. I have read all the books and theories I ever care to read about multiculturalism and pluralism and conflict theory. They have no answers except to preach tolerance and create laws that force people to be tolerant and or live in harmony. I have no problem with harmony and or tolerance. In fact, in God's imagination, His social imagination, this is exactly what is asked of us. Knowing who you are in your place means you can appreciate and tolerate others in their place. Just read again Acts 17.

God made people and He determined what place. He also determined that they be with their kind. They should not mix. God told us this, to each to be with (mate) with his/her own kind. It does  not mean that we can or should live mixed up,(everything is permissible but not beneficial 1 Cor 10:23)  it means we can and should be able to live side by side remaining distinct in our differences and roles in a place. This is true diversity.

The argument I always hear is that people have been conquering others for ages; they don't stay put. The answer is that those people have not lived in God's imagination but in man's. Yet, they keep yelling what if another group moves in on a group, then what? The answer is that they should defend themselves using God's direction - His imagination. Remember what happened to Saul 1Samuel 28.
What if they try to defend themselves and don't succeed and end up being annexed or assimilated. The answer is that they become a new group in which the minority or lesser group which was taken over becomes or takes on the identity 'assimilates' with the conquering group; and in that 'new' place they have a new identity and follow the same practices as we see in Acts 17.The retort to that is always, what about people who were taken over and enslaved. The answer is that God will deliver read Exodus.
Point being - Diversity is not lost and neither is the identity or solidarity of the concept of group. Moreover, by mixing and blending we loose diversity and create a blob of sameness. What is difficult for people to appreciate is that in our diversity we must recognize that different groups mean just that 'being different' which does not mean on the same page or having the same world view or seeing eye to eye on everything. Otherwise, if we do not embrace that diversity means different, then diversity is lost. Fortunately, this does not mean we cannot share diversity 'difference'. Anyone can notice different practices in a place and apply them their way... In sum, From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live, God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.

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