Imagine Rishi Sunak has a quantum AI supercomputer. Elon Musk installed it in the basement of No. 10 during the AI Summit last year. And imagine this isn’t just any AI supercomputer: it’s Multivac, Deep Thought and Hex rolled into one. All Sunak has do it is ask it any question about the future, and it will tell him the best way of achieving it.
Yeah, I've always felt that something like this really spoils the hymn "You laid aside Your majesty" - it tries to make this work again by having the line "You are the only one who died for me" but that's just not actually true in any way, a lot of people have died to make our way of life possible, although people often shy away from acknowledging that.
In a very narrow sense I agree with your argument that the decline of sacral kingship makes it harder for us to appreciate a central image in Christianity, but I think a more complete picture is that some features of our society make it harder for us to grasp the gospel, but a lot of features make it easier for us. For the Romans Christianity had all sorts of absurd ideas like abolishing the distinction between slave and free, sexual faithfulness even for men, a king who is a servant, etc. etc. This is why the Romans periodically thought it necessary to wipe out the church. These aren't so alien to us because the West has spent 2,000 years being shaped by Christianity. I think the more acute challenge for Christianity today is that the gospel is shocking, but people aren't shocked because they've half heard it before, and are only half listening this time because they think they've already heard it.
I also think your analogy is a good start, but needs some important modifications. First of all you need to be member of Hamas, not a neutral British bystander. And the hero of the story is Netanyahu. You killed his brother. You've murdered his people. The supercomputer spat out two plans for him. One involved wiping out the entire of Hamas, you included, for absolutely zero Israeli casualities, together with a PR plan that left Israel completely secure. He's just gone through 3 days of torture (is this an adaquete image for Jesus death? I'm not sure so I'm just going to park the question) to bring you peace instead.
He's always had the supercomputer, and all his decisions so far have been perfect. Tell me again why he isn't a good candidate for being your king?
'Become a Christian: our God is like Netanyahu' would be a courageous evangelistic technique!
More seriously, I do see your point on that re forgiveness. And am pleased you agree in even a narrow way with any part of this post!
It's a good point that even if some bits are alien to us now, lots of bits that were shocking at the time aren't now, because we're so familiar with it; that definitely seems right to me.
It's a bit sideways, but reading Judges today it struck me how ambivalent the Old Testament is about human kings. Judges 3-16 has a subtle background message of "kings are alien and cause trouble". 17-21 has a slightly less subtle background message of "not having a king also causes trouble".
When Israel asks for a king Samuel/God tell them this is a mistake (1 Samuel 8). A bit later God appoints David and gives extraordinary promises through his kingly line (2 Samuel 7).
Kings will be the cause of Israel's unity (1 Samuel 11), disastrous division (1 Kings 11-12) and through David's line the longer survival of the weak Southern kingdom.
Yeah, I've always felt that something like this really spoils the hymn "You laid aside Your majesty" - it tries to make this work again by having the line "You are the only one who died for me" but that's just not actually true in any way, a lot of people have died to make our way of life possible, although people often shy away from acknowledging that.
In a very narrow sense I agree with your argument that the decline of sacral kingship makes it harder for us to appreciate a central image in Christianity, but I think a more complete picture is that some features of our society make it harder for us to grasp the gospel, but a lot of features make it easier for us. For the Romans Christianity had all sorts of absurd ideas like abolishing the distinction between slave and free, sexual faithfulness even for men, a king who is a servant, etc. etc. This is why the Romans periodically thought it necessary to wipe out the church. These aren't so alien to us because the West has spent 2,000 years being shaped by Christianity. I think the more acute challenge for Christianity today is that the gospel is shocking, but people aren't shocked because they've half heard it before, and are only half listening this time because they think they've already heard it.
I also think your analogy is a good start, but needs some important modifications. First of all you need to be member of Hamas, not a neutral British bystander. And the hero of the story is Netanyahu. You killed his brother. You've murdered his people. The supercomputer spat out two plans for him. One involved wiping out the entire of Hamas, you included, for absolutely zero Israeli casualities, together with a PR plan that left Israel completely secure. He's just gone through 3 days of torture (is this an adaquete image for Jesus death? I'm not sure so I'm just going to park the question) to bring you peace instead.
He's always had the supercomputer, and all his decisions so far have been perfect. Tell me again why he isn't a good candidate for being your king?
'Become a Christian: our God is like Netanyahu' would be a courageous evangelistic technique!
More seriously, I do see your point on that re forgiveness. And am pleased you agree in even a narrow way with any part of this post!
It's a good point that even if some bits are alien to us now, lots of bits that were shocking at the time aren't now, because we're so familiar with it; that definitely seems right to me.
It's a bit sideways, but reading Judges today it struck me how ambivalent the Old Testament is about human kings. Judges 3-16 has a subtle background message of "kings are alien and cause trouble". 17-21 has a slightly less subtle background message of "not having a king also causes trouble".
When Israel asks for a king Samuel/God tell them this is a mistake (1 Samuel 8). A bit later God appoints David and gives extraordinary promises through his kingly line (2 Samuel 7).
Kings will be the cause of Israel's unity (1 Samuel 11), disastrous division (1 Kings 11-12) and through David's line the longer survival of the weak Southern kingdom.