As you might know, I’m presently writing about the two fundamental paradigms that have governed humanity for all time. I’m doing this because we who follow Christ are called to fly much higher than the current political drama and intrigue that seems to be catching fire across both Europe and North America. The moment by moment news cycle of assassination attempts, character assassination, indictments, Supreme Court rulings, and late stream changes in top of ticket candidates all create avalanches of opinion pieces, conspiracy theories, charges, and counter charges. Each new poll, charge, counter-charge, debate, or convention, leads to a rise or fall of hope, so that we're bouncing around between highs and lows, almost manically. Anxiety, fear, excitement, joy, and doom, are all served up in a daily cocktail. But the result of receiving all this without a lens of discernment will inevitably be a disordered mind and clouded vision
Instead of addressing any of the particulars of our cultural 24/7 drama, I’m inviting you to fly higher with me, above the fog of war, propaganda, and political intrigue. In so doing, we’ll gain the perspective and wisdom needed to walk back down on earth, and actively work of the good of the families, cities, and nations where we live; but we’ll do so as people of peace rather than anxiety, confidence rather than fear, and hope rather than cynicism or despair. Whether you’re democrat, republican, green, libertarian, ADF (Germany), labor, social democrat, other, or ‘none’, our flight will give us the tools we need to see clearly and, out from that clarity, serve our world well.
We take off, leaving the fog of the present news cycle, with its anger, charges, counter charges, fear, and lies. As we gain altitude and rise above the clouds, we see that the clouds are but passing storms. Our flight will take us high enough to escape the present and see, instead, the landscape of history. As we begin to focus on the historical landscape beneath us though, we see that the color of our history map is overwhelmingly red - not republican red - blood red.
The ocean of spilled blood stems from the model that has undergirded, almost universally, every nation state and political system, what I call the 'domination model'
It’s Cain killing Abel in Genesis 3
It’s Lamech arrogantly declaring ‘I have killed a man for wounding me, and if anyone tries to touch me, I’ll exact a sevenfold vengeance’
It’s the rape of Dinah, and Jacob’s sons exacting revenge on said assault by murdering all the men of the town, and taking their women, children, cattle, and gold as the spoils of war.
It’s the Egyptian attempted cultural genocide of the Jews in Exodus
It’s the Assyrian empire, whose soldiers skinned their captives alive.
It’s the myriad of crosses dotting the hillsides of the Roman Empire, a sign that you either submitted to the power of the empire and emperor, or died.
It’s slavery, colonialism, the doctrine of discovery, the crusades, the inquisition, domestic violence, unrestricted capitalism that oppresses the poor, the American Civil War, the 7-12 million dead in the Russian revolution, WWI, WWII, Stalin’s Forced March, and the Camps of the German Reich, and domestic violence, rape, child abuse, human trafficking, unjust legal systems, though police, tribalism, environmental destruction, and so very much more.
Domination is essentially the view that the one with power wins, and therefore has the right to take another’s property, spouse, dignity, wealth, sexual autonomy, time, or life. The domination model has winners and losers, and the loss of the losers is always justified by the winners, often dominating in some god’s name, including the God of the Bible, Jesus, and Christianity. If you don’t believe me, read your Bible. Or read your history where pastors taught the inherent inferiority of people of color, or where those who threatened church power structures were arrested, tortured, and killed ‘in Jesus name.’ Or take a moment and consider the doctrine of discovery.
In this fallen world, domination is the default paradigm, and why, as we fly high, we see so much blood all over the map, all over history. What does this do?
Domination creates cries for justice, ranging from the ‘blood of Abel’ calling from the ground in Genesis 4, all the way to Jews longing for hostages to be freed since October 7, 2023, and Palestinians wondering when the bombings, and displacement, and famine will stop. It's the cries of ‘say her name’ in remembrance of Sonja Massey. Victor Frankl in the camps, Solzhenitsyn in the Gulag, the abused wife crying silently for justice, and literally millions of other small and large abuses .
Depressing isn’t it? When you fly high enough, you also see most of the biggest wars started because of some sense of injustice and a crowd determined to ‘make things right.’ And it’s not that there aren’t right and wrong sides in many of these wars. It’s that, at the core, the reason these wars even exist is because we’re swimming in a sea of domination. As a result, we’re inherently afraid, guarded, and often angry.
Cain’s afraid of losing favor with God and angry at Abel
Egypt’s afraid of losing slaves, and angry at the rising Jewish population
The church is afraid of losing its power and followers, and angry at its dissidents and those who question its doctrines and authority
Germany’s afraid of perpetual shame and poverty after WWI, and angry at those who imposed harsh sanctions.
Fear, pride, and anger make for a toxic cocktail. The way domination finds expression varies depending on the perpetrators levels of power, wealth, weaponry, and cleverness. But make no mistake, whether it’s words, weapons, or Jim Crow laws enacted to oppress, the roots stem from the domination model. The book of Revelation calls the domination model ‘Babylon’ for reasons beyond the scope of this writing, but whatever you call it, its easy to say that domination spills human blood, because domination runs in the blood of human veins.
Domination systems go through cycles
There’s good news too, when we fly high enough to look at history's arc. We see, in spite of the overwhelming carnage created by all forms of domination, that there is an alternative. Though the spirit of domination has roamed the earth since Genesis 4, particular expressions of it never last forever. Eventually they eat themselves alive, or drown in their own excrement of violence, lies, and oppression. This is ultimately good news, but the oceans of pain and suffering along the way, for both sides (oppressed and oppressor, winner and loser) are at the heart of the great sorrows in world. What’s more, there’s always collateral damage when domination spreads its ugly wings. For example, in Hosea 4, we read that ‘the land mourns’’
There is no faithfulness, no love,
no acknowledgment of God in the land.
There is only cursing, lying and murder,
stealing and adultery;they break all bounds,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Because of this the land dries up,
and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the fish in the sea are swept away.
Domination systems are the fruit of believing fundamental lies
Lie #1: We’re on our own. If we’re ’on our own’ in this world then, indeed, we have to protect and provide for ourselves. In the end, even relationships become transactional, only valuable to the the extent that further our own individual goals for more: security, power, pleasure, wealth…etc.
Lie #2: When you die, it’s over. If this is all there is, protecting your stuff, expanding your interests, gaining more wealth, or power, or pleasure, and sustaining your own life as much as possible all make sense. This bleak view doesn’t always lead to narcissism, but it’s not unusual. Consider the self absorbed empires of Rome, Russian Czars, French Kings and Queens, and yes, even Presidents who refuse losing as a possibility. For these men and women, this life, governed by ‘doing whatever is necessary’ to keep or gain power, wealth, or status, is all that matters. Timeless values and ethics, consideration of the common good, truth telling, and the value of ongoing character formation, are all either secondary or non-existent as considerations. All that matters is keeping one’s place, gaining more wealth, extending one’s life.
Here’s the problem from the Biblical perspective:
Jesus asks, What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? It’s a rhetorical question of course, because the answer is found in these other words from Jesus: If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find it.
We’re made to be channels of life, receiving it from above and around through spirit, water, food that comes from soil, relationships that bless and heal, beauty that inspires, creation’s revelation that uplifts, texts of God’s revelation that feed our hungry spirits, and countless other sources. We’re also intended to give freely, sharing our wealth, gifts, words, creativity, capacity for stewardship, hospitality, and ultimately sharing our very lives. Whether we die young because of telling the truth, or in battle because domination models needed to be challenged, or of old age after decades of freely sharing all we’ve received is irrelevant. What matters is whether our life is, daily, lived out from a place of surrender and service. Dominators don’t do that, can’t do that.
How do we escape the domination paradigm?
Facing the Emptiness of Domination is the needed first step to healing
In the early days of a domination model, followers are seduced by propaganda and lies enflaming fear, anger, and the vilification of someone (Jews, Protestants, Unions, Communists, Property owners, corporations, the poor, homosexuals, people of color, Muslims) and uniting people in the belief that their destruction or marginalization is vital for survival.
What comes next in many domination systems is the articulation that the mission is important enough that the ends justify the means. Massive character flaws are ignored.
An Alternative to Domination is needed
The recent opening ceremony of the Olympics offered a rendition of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ culminating in a call for peace. The problem, though, is that hating war and the domination model isn’t enough, because trying to take on the various models is a whack a mole exercise in futility. Without a workable peace paradigm, various ideologies, empires, nation states, and world views continue to rise and fall, never finding sustenance because they don’t know, as Jesus put it, ‘ the things which make for peace’
And what are the ‘things which make for peace?’ That’s the subject of the next post…coming tomorrow, because you really don't want to sit with the problem too long before bathing in the solution.
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