Discerning Babel

Just astonishing.

After years of defending the Bush administration, its wars, its renditions and tortures, suddenly we have Evangelical leaders critiquing the War in Afghanistan?

Answering Questions #2- Mystery and Eastern v. Western Thought

Here's an exchange I had with a cyber-friend. Though brief, I thought we touched on some interesting topics and wanted to share the conversation with everyone else.

The Power of War

No surprise, but the United States is once again employing Death Squads to do its work. This time instead of Central America and Vietnam, it's Afghanistan. The consequences of this are terrible and if history is any precedent, the civilian costs are equally severe.

Answering Questions #1- Dominionism

Periodically, I receive questions via email and sometimes they are of a nature beneficial to the general audience. So I'm starting an ongoing series called...Answering Questions. I will keep them all anonymous.


Answering Questions #1


What do I mean by Dominionism?

Advancing the Kingdom- (Part 6) Winning by Losing

Part six of my four part series.....

We have a joke around our house. When I call home during the day and ask if we received any phone calls or mail, if the answer is no, I always respond, "Good, we don't need any excitement." And there's a sense I truly mean that. There's a peace and solace in just living a plain ordinary life, coming home to a wife happy to see me, kids that aren't out of control. We live in a pretty quiet place with not much to do as many would reckon it. Nevertheless we are pleased with our woods, hills, and river, and the wonder of the four seasons. We are attempting to raise a godly family and honour God by doing so. I am reminded of a paragraph from Schaff concerning the youth of Christ. I think of this not from the perspective of Christ, but from the viewpoint of Joseph and Mary, a couple of regular people trying to serve the Lord, and with a most extraordinary task before them. Certainly they were honouring God, and I think of the life they provided for our Lord when he was young. Speaking of this, Schaff comments:

The Salt of the Earth

I often disagree with him, but here's a worthwhile article from PC Roberts.

A sober and I'm sad to say, accurate assessment.

It's called, The Collapse of Western Morality

Perhaps the best line can be found in the concluding paragraph:

Americans will be the first people sent straight to Hell while thinking that they are the salt of the earth. The Americans have even devised a title for themselves to rival that of the Israelis’ self-designation as “God’s Chosen People.” The Americans call themselves “the indispensable people.”

Advancing the Kingdom- (Part 5) Building the Kingdom by Ordinary Means

or
Christian Life and the Kingdom


Part 5 of my 4 part series (?) on Advancing the Kingdom.

Thus far I've been critical of what I deem to be serious errors in defining the Kingdom and thus building of it. Now, I wish to turn to some of the positive aspects of Kingdom building....

ATK Part 4 Supplement- The Issue of Imminency

As a follow up to some of the comments I made in the last post….




I would also point out the problems Dispensationalism and Postmillennialism both have with the doctrine of the Imminency of the Second Coming. This is the teaching that Christ could have come at any moment in the past, including the present moment. Some may find it surprising that some systems deny this teaching.

Advancing the Kingdom- (Part 4) The Parsing of American Evangelicalism: Dispensationalism, Dominionism, Americanism, and Chiliasm

I ended the last piece with this question.


So why do I find it particularly strange this radio preacher was teaching about the Cultural Mandate, a doctrine which urges the Christian to try and conquer every facet of the Earth?

Advancing the Kingdom- (Part 3) The Sacralist Hybrid

 Now, these have been general outlines of the two extremes. There's actually another camp which represents probably a much larger number of professing Christians.

The only name I can come up with is Pietistic Transformationalism, a hybrid of the two. A Sacralist hybrid.

This seems to be where most American Evangelicals find themselves, though the present manifestation can be pinpointed to the late 1970's. These movements are always grounded in a specific historical context. In a later post I hope discuss an earlier historic parallel which generated a similar response from Sacralist Protestantism. Our present form has been shaped by the American context in general, but more specifically it represents a reactionary response to the cultural revolution originating in the 1960's.

The Kingdom War

A war worth fighting.

Within Reformed circles there's an intense debate between the Two Kingdom Theology position which I advocate here, (though in a more extreme fashion than many Reformed), and the Monistic One Kingdom position argued by Dominionists, Theonomists, and Postmillennialists, and all other expressions of Transformationalist theology.

Several items of interest concerning 11 September and beyond...

I had planned to have a post ready for today, but I've been a bit overwhelmed lately and didn't get it done. Yes, it's related to Islam, but it's not directly related to 9/11. God willing I'll wrap that up in the next couple of days.

In the meantime here are a few links I'll share. As one might expect, there happened to be several of interest that popped up today. As always I'll add that I don't agree 100% with everything written, but for that matter I don't think I've ever read anything that I can say I endorse absolutely and completely other than God's Word.

Advancing the Kingdom of Christ (Part 2 of 4) The Error of Transformationalism

Transformationalism seemingly stands at the opposite end of the Christ and Culture debate, and in some sense it is, but it's built on the same foundation as Pietism.


While rejecting Pietistic subjectivism and looking at the inward experience, this camp instead looks outward and gauges the Christian life in reference to one's impact on culture. They seek to build and conquer culture and tend to despise any hint of what they call retreatism.

Advancing the Kingdom of Christ (Part 1/4)- The Error of Pietism

What is Pietism? This term is a bit complicated and can mean a lot of different things. Of course those who self-identify as Pietists will not agree with my definitions or comments.

One, it can refer to a historical movement within Lutheranism which focused on inward piety and the Christian life.

or

Two, it can refer in a larger sense to a tendency toward inward focus on the subjective Christian experience. Rather than view the Christian life as primarily a focus on the Person and Work of Christ in all that we do, pietism tends to turn inward. It focuses on the Christian walk and inner feelings regarding that walk, and measures one's success and level of pleasing God based on personal conduct.

The Decline of Christianity in the West?

At the end of the last piece I asked if Christianity was in decline...

This is an excellent by article by a professor at Grove City College, named T. David Gordon.

A large portion in the center of this piece focuses on American Presbyterianism. Some readers might be interested in it, but others will most likely glaze over. So I am inserting a break with a note, then you can skip ahead to the last portion. But I wanted to post the whole article out of fairness to the author.---


They are a minority, but there are some in the Reformed world who oppose Constantinianism. Dr. Gordon is one who does so bravely but with humility. He is not liked by the Theonomists, I've seen that in person.


The link is here. As with many links, there are some things that are excellent, and other articles I would not endorse.

1 September 1939

Reflections on how we as Christians should think about the events leading to and subsequent to The Second World War.


I meant to publish this on 1 September, but I was having computer trouble. My apologies.
The majority of my comments pertaining to the war are directed to an American audience, though the lessons I hope are applicable to Christians in any setting.


Yesterday (1Sep2010) was the 71st anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland, the official start of World War II. Every day I look at the obituaries and find a veteran or two from that era dying off. Soon they will be all but gone. For many in that generation the changes they saw in the scope of their lives is nothing less than astonishing. Many grew up barefoot kids playing on a farm, listening to the radio, many with outhouses instead of bathrooms, some without electricity. As that generation leaves us, we find a world with space exploration, the internet, medical technology they would have never even dreamed of, and so much more.

Nothing new under the sun- Part 4

Part 4


Apostate Christianity is the great enemy, the great curse upon the Church today. We are surrounded by multitudes of 'churches,' and yet one is hard pressed to find one that teaches the Bible. You'll find many who pay lip-service to it, but within minutes of conversation it is usually quite clear the leaders have little idea of what they're doing. Even in many theologically conservative and Bible-affirming churches, rather than Scripture, the leadership seems most versed and interested in the latest innovations pertaining to church growth, so-called ministry, and the latest fads and techniques in worship.

Pardon me if my tone seems contemptuous, but if you understand my argument, you'll see I'm not overly concerned with Al-Qaeda, Pelosi, Obama, Ahmadinejad, illegal aliens, Ground Zero mosques, or gay marriage. I'm concerned with apostate Christianity. And I grow very concerned when apostate Christianity is wedded to political power as with George Bush and Ronald Reagan, or even historically with someone like Abraham Lincoln, or the British Empire.

Here's the problem. If I say, homosexual marriage is not that important to me, because knowing history I can say with confidence, we've seen these things before. Then immediately I must be a pro-abortion, pro-gay, anti-gun, socialist, earth-goddess worshipper. There's no room for discussion.

The people who think and argue this way, live and operate in very small little boxes…one's given to them by their ideological superiors. And frankly, there's very little you can say to them. Blinded by their Sacral commitments they are unable to step back and engage in honest conversation, and usually they're not interested in trying to have a conversation at all. In the last piece I mentioned that with the removal of Divine Restraint, there also seems to be a removal of discernment regarding the Church. The words strong delusion come to mind.

Confusing the Holy and the Common

Corporate v. Individual Conduct or What we do as the Church vs. What we do as individual Christians

Here's one of those laugh/cry stories. It concerns a small town in Northeast Ohio where a small church has protested and picketed a strip club and are now being counter picketed by the strippers.

What a mess!

But there are a couple of lessons that can be learned.

Nothing new under the sun- Part 3

The Early Church response was different, because it did not have a Sacralistic view of the Kingdom.
and
Sacralism affects theologically liberal Churches as well, in fact it's one of the reasons people still attend them.

Part 3

What of the pervasive and omnipresent cultural wickedness? How did the Christians in the first century view it? We find no emphasis on the pages of the New Testament which would drive the Church into some kind of activism. We find no encouragement or seed of doctrine leading us to look to the magistrate to transform society. Nor do we find it in the writings of the Early Church Fathers. We do not find it in the letter to Diognetus, nor in the letters of Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, Tertullian, or Irenaeus. It is only in the Constantinian times that we begin to see this kind of thinking and action.

Why was it absent before the Edict of Milan? Because they lacked the means that we now possess? I would argue they rightly lacked the vision. Their understanding of the Kingdom was not one of political power. They had a different vision.

Sacralism is a dangerous thing, because it confuses us. I wonder how many Americans are really upset over these same social issues the first century Church dealt with, because of their devotion to a romantic and theological vision of America?

Nothing new under the sun- Part 2

Many similarities in different forms...how the Roman world was very much like our own, and how the Church responded.

The similarities between Imperial Rome and America are often astounding. Certainly we've had other empires in the past with more of a universal military and political character granting them perhaps a stronger claim to the Roman analogy. But Rome like America, was also the source of a powerful cultural imperialism. And like America, Rome wasn't really original in its cultural creations, it was how it transformed or Romanized the other cultures. Today we would say, it was the packaging.

Nota Bene on 24 August

Today is the anniversary of both the destruction of Pompeii in AD79 and the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572.

Nothing new under the sun- part 1

In the centuries right around the time of Christ's birth, what was the status of marriage in the Roman Empire? Rome, like all civilizations had some concept of marriage and family. We argue these stem from natural law and yet like all interpretations of General Revelation, its application by fallen man was flawed and imperfect.


Roman society had some different notions than we do today about what was private and what was public. Marriage is an interesting example. We often focus on the habits of the patrician class since they were the movers and shakers in the annals of the day. But what of free men, the common citizens? They had nothing equivalent to what we would call a marriage license, no ceremony before a justice of the peace, in fact nothing that civilly recognized the actual creation of a household, the joining of husband and wife. The state in no way sanctioned or regulated the marriage relationship. It was considered a private matter.

Learning to ask the right questions as we interact with the past and the present.

Part of what we've been doing here is examining theological and cultural presuppositions which have led to a what I call a dumbing down and sometimes complete blinding of the Christian mind. We've talked about the historical record of this and focused particularly on what has happened with the American Church.

I've tried to argue for looking at history in a different way with a Christian view of the world that doesn't think in nationalistic, patriotic, civilizational, or Sacral terms, but seeks to honestly discern what has happened and what is happening. Once Sacralism is abandoned it allows us to view the world in an entirely different paradigm and places us not only outside of what passes as Christian thought and politics but for that matter completely outside the spectrum of the majority of the historical and political discussion in America.

Contrary to charges of isolation and irrelevance this different perspective helps us to consciously maintain our identity as the Church, offer a powerful critique and demonstrate wisdom in looking at the problems and issues of the temporal realm. The gospel will always remain an offense, but sadly when overlapped with a Sacralist agenda few unbelievers are ever really exposed to the genuine gospel of the Kingdom.

Who's Hiding What and Why?

Who's hiding what and why? More on Wikileaks. Great questions....one's not being asked by our statist media. What are Christian conservatives in the United States saying?

Here's a link to a post by Fred Reed.

Word of warning. Fred is not a Christian and can be a little borderline. What I mean is...a little crude at times. I have hesitated to post links to him before, but we're all adults here, and I think he's often worth the read.

It's another example of an unbeliever engaging in honest discussion and evaluation. He understands the world far more than the Christians writing over at American Vision or any of the other similar sites. Does he get it all right? Of course not. But as I keep saying over and over, he's willing to ask the questions those with specific agendas are unwilling to even ask. Does he have a Christian worldview? No, but the Sacralist writers don't either......
Who's hiding what and why? This is more on the Wikileaks issue. These are great questions....one's not being asked by our statist media. What are Christian conservatives in the United States saying about this issue? They want treason trials and executions....no interest in finding out the truth.


Fred's ex-military, an expatriate, very insightful and sometimes hilarious. Obviously I cannot endorse everything he says, but like I said, we shouldn't be afraid to ask questions and read things that challenge us a bit.

So, you've been warned....

I went ahead and posted his text here, but I included the link to his actual site up above.

Five Point Reductionism- Part 3...Accused by Onesimus

Recently, I had an occasion to interact with someone who was clearly not understanding the dynamic/dialectic of Scripture. As I mentioned in part 1, I was at another website, on a post dealing with Unconditional Election and Irresistible Grace. The author of the post gave the standard Arminian position, and I responded. Another commenter going by Onesimus accused me of sin and blasphemy.

Here's my first post, followed by Onesimus and then my reply. I haven't heard back. I hope he answers.

Please feel free to comment, especially if you don't agree.......

Five Point Reductionism- Part 2, Method and the danger of Meta-system

In the end, the Five Points express truth but are a wholly insufficient and lopsided expression of it. I've always marveled at Calvinism's insistence in employing these points as an expression of their system, or even worse as a starting point. The Five Points resulted from the work of the Synod of Dordt in the early 17th century. The Arminian party put forward the Five Points of Arminianism, I summarize:



Partial Depravity

Conditional Election

Universal Atonement

Resistable Grace

Conditional Salvation



And the Calvinists responded with their Five Points...



Total Depravity

Unconditional Election

Limited Atonement

Irresistable Grace

Perseverance of the Saints.



So the Calvinistic points are just responses to another faction's argument. Calvinists then take the Five Points and teach them as a bedrock to their system. Again, while true, how can we think we can reduce the faith to five doctrines? Why would we want to? On one level we could say the bedrock or foundation is one point....Christ Jesus. On another level we would need to insist on a hundred points.

Five Point Reductionism- Part 1

Recently I was on another website and responded to an article concerning Unconditional Election and Irresistible Grace. Some of you will recognize these two doctrines as the 'U' and 'I' in the famous Calvinist acrostic TULIP. If you're unfamiliar with it, read on.

While TULIP is certainly true, the problem is the Bible also teaches reciprocal truths on each of these points. The so-called Five Points are dealing with eternal truths, focusing on the decretal activity of God as it pertains to individual salvation. It deals with fallen man's state and need, God's purpose and how salvation is applied. But the categories all deal with what I would call the eternal or invisible. This would include God's workings beyond the realm of space and time (meta-creational/eternal) and with man's internal or spiritual state.

The Vaudois

Though no fan of Darby's theology, he wrote an excellent little paper concerning the Waldensians or as they were often called The Vaudois. He deals here primarily with the most famous group in the Cottian Alps to the west of Turin. They seemed to have been descendants of the Lyonist group. The Lombardic Waldenses were east of Turin and spread throughout Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Germany, and Poland.


The Vaudois

J. N. Darby.




I know not whether your readers are interested, as I have been, in the hunted remnant of the middle ages, both east and west, during the time that ecclesiastical corruption and wickedness were on the throne of their power. They laboured under a double disadvantage. They have no historians but their enemies, alike bitter and unprincipled, who would stop at no calumny to blacken them, their own stupendous wickedness making the accusation of it a natural weapon. This was one reason why we know so little truly of them, and that little to their disadvantage.

The Reformation: Romanticism and Reality

A few reflections concerning the Reformation.




Historians have long debated the reasons for the success of Martin Luther, Zwingli, and the other Reformers versus the failures of other per-Reform movements. Why did Luther succeed in 1517, but Hus fail in 1415?

Biblical Christianity and the Ground Zero Mosque

I had planned to write a post concerning the 'Ground Zero' mosque controversy, but was pleased to discover someone else had already written a conscise and quite adequate response.

Here's the link.

Compare this with the response over at American Vision...what's even more astounding are the comments. This exposes the heart behind Sacralism and especially the Theonomic version.

This is not Biblical Christianity. Some of the readers I think, understand why I can get a little passionate about this! When you consider the massive numbers of people following these types of sites.......

I ask is there much difference between 2010, and 1210? We are in a dark time.

Saul's Politics

For those unfamiliar, a quick discussion on law, what the Evangelicals do with it, and the most important part...why?


As brilliant as the founders were in constructing a government with balanced powers, there are certain issues regarding the law in relation to this balance that remain unresolved.

There is a 3-fold tension between:

Legislative power

Judicial Review

and the

Popular Sentiment

Vietnam and the Clash of Ignorance

Here's a story from the AsiaTimes regarding Vietnam. It's ironic, but now they are actually looking to establishing stronger economic ties to the United States due to the growing power of their ancient enemy...China.

The United States pulled out in 1975, and 35 years later the United States though militarily defeated has won, almost.....with Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken. You can defeat Imperial Legions with guerilla warfare, but you can't defeat the most flesh-pleasing and enticing culture the world has seen since the Roman Empire.

Will the U.S. really pull out of Iraq?

A link to the latest Margolis article. A frank discussion of America's plan for Iraq.

A quick follow up on the Nazi article...

The recent post.... What type of theology leads the church to support something like Nazi Germany, is largely a recapitulation of ideas already discussed here. I wasn't as careful in how I wrote it. Readers already familiar with the ideas here can follow it without difficulty, but newer readers might be a little confused.

In addition, I freely admit, it's a bit of a rant. I'm usually pretty level headed, but this one theological-historical interaction is something that really upsets me. I consider their arguments to be deceptive and quite dangerous.

If you're looking for something a little easier to read in regard to Two Kingdoms and Nazi Germany then I recommend these two previous posts......

Two Kingdom Theology on Guard

and

Why am I talking about this?---part 4


Blessings.

Beasts at play

A follow-up on the Afghanistan article focusing on three issues.

1. The NGO workers
2. The Afghan girl on the cover of Time
3. A few more comments on regional issues and a link.