Greg Smith > Quotes

“The essential role of the Christian in secular society is to actively carry out the "ministry of reconciliation" with which we have been so clearly charged. Any admixture of political agenda is detrimental to our task: It threatens the clearest possible presentation of the message of the Gospel. It narrows the potential audience for the Christian message to people predisposed to the political views being represented. It distracts and debilitates the Christian in the pursuit of his true life mission.”
― Greg Smith, Assertively Apolitical: "Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting.”

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  (Philippians 3:20) Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”  (John 18:36)”
― Greg Smith, Assertively Apolitical: "Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting.”

“Essential Christianity is a definable concept. A thread of its demonstrable presence can be pinpointed in every generation from the time of Christ to the present. This is the fundamental backdrop for church history. If not, then Jesus lied. …teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)”
― Greg Smith, Assertively Apolitical: "Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting.”

“the light shines on... And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.  (Matthew 24:14) We are more than conquerors today because, for 2,000 years, the Gospel itself has been more than a conqueror. The testimony of Jesus Christ and his followers has been a constant since his crucifixion and resurrection. Therefore, it is important to appreciate the nearly innumerable societal and political configurations through which it has passed since its introduction into the world. It survives, moves forward and prospers… unhindered, unscathed and unaltered.”
― Greg Smith, Assertively Apolitical: "Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting.”

“And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.  (Daniel 2:44)”
― Greg Smith, Assertively Apolitical: "Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting.”

“In the case a bricklayer working for a subcontractor on the Perth Stadium construction project suffered serious injuries when he single-handedly began to remove two overhead steel purlins that were in the way when he was building a wall. One of the discussions in the case was the extent to which the principal should have provided training to the subcontractor about workplace health and safety hazards associated with the work. In that context, the court observed: Pursuant to its contract, NeoWest had autonomy in how it was to complete the works and it was the appropriate body to provide the training and induction within its specialised area and to specify the methods to be used in performing the tasks required of its workers. It would not have been reasonably practicable, or indeed wise, for the first defendant to impinge on NeoWest's training and induction of its own employees as to the proper and safe method of completing the works within its scope of works and area of expertise and specialised knowledge, possibly to override or even contradict that training and induction. Each individual trade's expertise and specialist knowledge was the very reason why the first defendant engaged subcontractors to perform the various works in the first place, rather than complete them itself.60 This limited (although still very onerous) obligation is consistent with a social approach to managing wicked problems. As I argue later in the book, you cannot solve wicked problems – we cannot solve safety. All we can do is “tame” the problem of safety – do the best we can.”
― Greg Smith, Proving Safety: wicked problems, legal risk management and the tyranny of metrics

“Part of our testimony to the world is about remaining unstained… oblivious to the warped anthropocentric mindset that besieges us on all sides… to resist the pressure to react for reasons of expediency. Christians are not reactionary. We are the core. We are the steady, white heat. Let others react and live as they will. We have a task, an all-consuming mission, to be who we are, regardless of how those around us perceive it. Societal structures and the pursuit of power are transitory. Shrouding our personal testimony for Jesus Christ with tendentious, political talk seems tantamount to lighting a candle and putting it under a barrel.”
― Greg Smith, Assertively Apolitical: "Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting.”