Campolo speaks about love and power By Robert P. Mills The Layman Online Tuesday, June 12, 001 There is an inverse relationship between love and power," Tony Campolo told commissioners who gathered for breakfast Monday morning. Emeritus professor of sociology at Eastern College in Saint Davids, Pa., Campolo has written many books and is a popular speaker. In his trademark, high-energy style, Campolo entertained and challenged commissioners. "Nietzsche was right on target when he contended that the basic drive of human nature was the will to power," Campolo began. "In this respect he was much ahead of Freud, who saw sexual desires as motivating people. Nietzsche recognized that much that went on in the name of sex had nothing to do with sex, but had to do with power. "The will to power is all too evident in the church of Jesus Christ," he said. "If there is anything Jesus Christ comes to do it is to deliver us from our addiction to power. There is an inverse relationship between power and love." Campolo credited sociologist Willard Wallard with the principle that, in any relationship, the one exercising the most power is exercising the least love and the one exercising the most love is exercising the least power. Why men are lousy lovers Campolo drew a laugh when he jabbed, "This is why men are usually lousy lovers, because they are on power trips all the time. Men have difficulty saying, 'I love you,' because to say I love you is to diminish his power." "The ideal Christian family," he said, "is one where husband and wife come together and seek the will of God in their lives, where each esteems the other better than himself or herself." "I also worry when the answer to pushy, obnoxious, dominating men is pushy, obnoxious, dominating women. If there is anything wrong with the family today, it is that we are trying to figure out a balance of power. Jesus says we are to submit ourselves to each other. I contend that love requires the yielding of power." Politics and power Shifting from nuclear to church families, Campolo asserted, "Most denominational splits have nothing to do with theology. That's all rhetoric. Behind it all we see power games being played out. And the more you're into power games, the more you're invading love because love and power stand in diametric opposition to each other." "Don't get me wrong," he said, "I'm one of those evangelicals who believe Jesus is coming back, and when he comes back he is coming in power. So you had better yield to him now. Otherwise, when he comes back, you'll be running to the hills wishing the stones would fall on you. God's power destroys what his love does not redeem." Campolo told of how Jesus resisted Satan's temptation to power by saying, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men and women to myself. That's the drawing power of love, as opposed to the coercion that lies behind power." Power and authority He said the church, instead of being faithful to its genius, now plays power games. He cited Max Weber's differentiation between power and authority. "Power," he said, "is the ability to coerce. If I get you to do what I want because you want to do so, I have authority." One gains authority "through sacrificial service," Campolo said. "The more you sacrifice, the more authority you have. My mother had great authority. She had earned it by lovingly serving me over the years." "This denomination is concerned about whether we'll be faithful to God on the homosexual issue. It's an important issue, it's a defining issue. But you must admit, Jesus is much more clear about ministering to the poor than about this issue. I'm one of those evangelicals who believe the Bible from cover to cover. I even believe the leather is genuine." Campolo then ran a series of riffs on Baptist distinctives. "The difference between a Baptist and a terrorist is that you can negotiate with a terrorist. You don't have to be Baptist to go to heaven, but why take the chance. We realize that the age of denominationalism is dying: You baptize your way, we baptize his way. We believe the bread stays bread and the wine is transformed into grape juice." Campolo ended by recounting a sermon he heard recently on the theme of power and authority. The pastor noted that in the conflict between Pharaoh and Moses, Pharaoh had the title, but Moses had the testimony. Similarly, Jezebel had the title, but Elijah the testimony. And so with Nebuchadnezzer and Daniel. "When we have the testimony," he concluded, "we can abandon our power games and live out Christ in the world." Counseling Clinton In a question-and-answer session following his speech, Campolo was asked, "What has your counseling relation to President Clinton done to your spiritual life?" He replied, "First, I've been incredibly impressed by the response of evangelical brothers and sisters who felt I was legitimizing a presidency in deep trouble. Maybe I was. I'll have to deal with that before the Lord. But what do you do when someone calls and says, 'I've messed up my life big time. Will you come and pray with me?'" "I also learned that the president of the United States has the same problems as the people in your church. If you knew all there is to know about me, you wouldn't let me speak to you. And if I knew all there was to know about you, I wouldn't speak to you. The problem with most of us is that we're like the rest of us."

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