Source: Turning the World Upside Down, Down Under | Christianity Today
Australian Biblical scholar Michael Bird writes on the defetist so-called ‘Benedict Option’ vs the (active resistance) ‘Thessalonian Strategy’, as a way of engaging the militant anti-Christian atmosphere in Australia.
If I had to chose between the two, I would certainly opt for Bird’s suggestion. Dreher’s (falsely) monastic soluton was tried by the fundamentalists in the tweentieth centurry and it utterly failed).
Yet, I would like to offer and extra suggestion, based on the same first century that gave birth to the Thessalonian approach and on my experience as a persecuted Christian for 35 years beehind the Iron Courtain.
What about a ‘Calvary Strategy’, one based on happily carrying the cross and willfully accepting persecution as a normal part of the faitful walk with Christ?
Persona 
I suspect that a ‘Calvary Strategy’ must underpin the opportunistic workings of a ‘Thessalonian Strategy’, according to the measure of faith given to each believer. Notwithstanding grace, when the law fails to deliver justice we look to the promised day of judgement and enter into lamentation, not to brutal agitation and acts that are born of desperation.
LikeLike