radical

This is from an internet discussion two years ago:

Who is "the establishment"? Who is in control? If society's governments are in control, we could be rightly seen as rebels and subversives, trying to subvert their purposes and undermine their systems (the puposes and systems that we see controlling the world--to our dismay).

But if God is in control (insert words like "Providence" and "Sovereignty" here), then the puposes and systems of governments and corporations do not control the world. Rather those things that are commonly perceived as "in control of us," "ruling the world," are themselves acts of rebellion and subversion (against God's sovereignty). Is this not the truth?

Thus God (and we with him, hopefully) is not trying to overthrow the powers of the world, but they are trying to overthrow, or throw off, God. We stand with God's Establishment (which cannot be overthrown, by the way). It's not for us to rage against the powers that claim to control society and us--they are raging against God (and persecuting us, who stand with God, as an outlet for their rage...)

I was thinking along similar lines yesterday, trying to sort out how I fit both with Heather and in the Christian community. Though I seem to have radical or extreme ideas, I don't seem to fit the role of a revolutionary or activist, initiating change and pushing in new directions. Then I remembered that "radical" doesn't mean "new."

radical
[F., fr. L. radicalis having roots, fr. radix, -icis, a root]

Of or pertaining to the root or origin; reaching to the center, to the foundation, to the ultimate sources, to the principles, or the like; original; fundamental; thorough-going; unsparing; extreme...

What's most radical is what has the deepest roots. That which reaches to the center, the source, the foundation. The Origin.

And I thought about the prophets. They were not "prophetic" in the sense of being visionaries or coming up with new ideas. Rather, they called the people back to God. For example, here's God's call of Zechariah:

Say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.

Be not like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.' But they did not hear or heed me, says the LORD. (Zech 1.3-4)

The prophets called those who had strayed to return. They were certainly radical, but not "progressive," not innovators. They were not creating a new thing, inventing their own new way of life. They called people back to God's creation, to the ways God had revealed from the beginning.

I see the same thing in Jesus, in his mission to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Calling God's people back. He seemed to be subversive to society and their traditions and structures, but really it was society that was rebellious and destructive, not him. Jesus stood, rooted to the absolute Source, and said "Return to me, says the LORD of hosts."