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Jumpstarter 9 of 10

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The Myth of Christian America  /  MCA (1 of 14): In the Beginning  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 9
Bercot highlights a pagan critique that Moses and Jesus seem to teach opposite ethics, and he presents the Christian reply that God ended the Jewish state and now advances a non-state kingdom; what does this suggest about God’s purposes in giving Israel land/government and then refusing those tools to the church, and how should that affect appeals to a “Judeo-Christian ethic”?
Another way to ask: Why might God have given Israel land and a government but not give those tools to the church? How should that affect the way people talk about a “Judeo-Christian ethic” in politics?

Direct Answer The transcript suggests God gave Israel a land and government for that time, where warfare and civil punishments functioned within their state’s survival, but God does not continue that model for the church because the kingdom of Christ is non-national and non-coercive before Christ returns. Therefore, appeals to a single “Judeo-Christian ethic” are misleading because the ethical systems are not the same in the way many modern Christians imply.

Support from Transcript:

  • The pagan critic contrasts Moses (wealth, dominion, “put their enemies… to the sword”) with Jesus (rejecting “power, riches, or glory,” offering the other cheek).
  • The Christian reply: removing Israel’s war/punishment rights would have meant “sudden and utter destruction,” given their land/government context.
  • The reply adds God “has destroyed their city and their temple, not wishing the Jewish state to continue any longer.”
  • Bercot emphasizes Christ’s kingdom has “no national, no ethnic, nor any racial boundaries,” and citizens are “interspersed among all nations.”
  • He critiques the phrase directly: “Judeo-Christian ethic… would have sounded very strange… ‘Which ethic do you mean Jewish or Christian? For they’re not the same.’”
Discussion Follow-ups When Christians appeal to Israel to justify national policy today, are they importing a state-based ethic into a kingdom that Jesus said is “not of this world”?

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