Anwering Questions #18- How Should We Respond To Gay/Homosexual Marriage? (Part 7)

Marriage for the unbeliever is like all things....ultimately sinful. It's part of what condemns them. The little bits of relationship, love, and humanity they experience result from Common Grace. Sometimes people will experience a great deal of this and are very guilty when they stand before God.[i] Others receive very little of this in their miserable lives, but they still stand condemned.

Answering Questions #18- How Should We Respond To Gay/Homosexual Marriage? (Part 6)

The Israelite Theocracy presented a multi-faceted picture of Adam (the Hebrews) in the Garden (the land of milk and honey) as well as a picture of man's inability to find his own righteousness (the law standing alone) and a picture of the gospel (the law's condemnation and the picture of redemption). With Israel we have a picture of both the 1^st and 2^nd Adam, the condemnation/despair and the redemption/hope.

Or to put it another way, from start to finish it was a picture of Jesus Christ the True Israel and demonstrated the consequences of rejecting Him.

Answering Questions #18- How Should We Respond To Gay/Homosexual Marriage? (Part 5)

At this point Proverbs 14.34 is usually invoked to contradict what I’ve said….

Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a reproach to any people.

We see this everywhere, on billboards and certainly on Church signs[i] around election time.

Answering Questions #18- How Should We Respond To Gay/Homosexual Marriage? (Part 4)

To answer my first question:

For the unbelievers among us, what purpose does marriage serve?

Answering Questions #18- How Should We Respond To Gay/Homosexual Marriage? (Part 3)

There were some Christians in the 1600's...early Congregationalists who refused to perform marriages.[i] These elders said the Bible nowhere teaches that a 'minister' should marry you,[ii] nor does it give any credence to the whole idea of a 'church wedding'.... all holdovers from medieval Catholicism and the Romanist view of marriage as a Sacrament, viewing the building as a holy temple, etc...

A Miscellany for 21 August 2012 (MacArthur, Zenawi, and Akin)

I have several more articles just about ready to go, but tonight I wanted to comment on three things.

Answering Questions #18- How Should We Respond to Gay/Homosexual Marriage? (Part 2)

There are others who have made America into an idol and created a myth-narrative to go with it. Essentially the United States has become the present manifestation of the Kingdom of God or at the very least the leading vehicle for the Kingdom of God to work on this earth. It's not that far of a leap if you incorporate culture (and thus politics) into the definition of the Kingdom. Following Verduin, we have labeled this extra-Biblical and very pervasive error...Sacralism.

If America or the West abandons its supposed Christian heritage, then it's as if the Gates of Hell have triumphed.

Answering Questions #18- How Should We Respond to Gay/Homosexual Marriage? (Part 1)

I've received a couple of questions regarding this matter and basically I can sum up the questions in this way...

Why are so many Evangelical and Reformed leaders so adamant about the need for Christians to oppose the Homosexual agenda, not just theologically, but in social and political terms as well? And why has this become so much more intense over the question of marriage?

It's a complex question, but to put it simply....for different reasons.  Since that's not very helpful, we'll have to look at some of the larger issues, or to put it differently, we have to look at some basic or foundational issues and assumptions that are driving people to think a certain way and thus respond a certain way. After examining this a bit, we can weigh their considerations and then attempt to come up with an answer, hopefully one that is Biblical and helpful.

Philosophical Wanderings 2

 

Since these comment threads are so long, I'm just putting them up as posts. The comment module will only take about a page at a time. If I want to type a 5 page response, I have to break it up and copy-paste. Plus it's harder to read for anyone following. This is easier.

Pardon any typos....I'm not getting too carried away since this is just an ongoing discussion.

Philosophical Wanderings....A discussion thread that took on a life of its own.

This is just an topically eclectic thread that has grown to the point that I thought I would just post it by itself and then we can continue the discussion under this heading.

Here are the original comments.......followed by a long response by me.

Why No Time? 2/2

Anyway, this is what I'm dealing with. It's no big deal...just consumes a lot of time and energy. One of the advantages of punching a time-clock is that you go home and don't have to worry about your job anymore.

God willing by dropping this electrical job and perhaps/hopefully dropping this other job...I will have more time. Some might balk at this and suggest I'm breaking a commitment. There's no contract, it was tentative agreement. I'm very careful about how I commit myself. And I don't do this in a shady or ambiguous way. I'm cautious. There are just some people that I don't want to work for and you don't always know that right away.

Why No Time? 1/2

Personal issues and a little window into my world....

To the anonymous who is praying for me and all others likewise engaged....

As always, thank-you.

This is just a personal note. Nothing profound, but an explanation regarding my lack of web activity.

We're fine, I'm just insanely busy. This summer has been especially bad in terms of 'after-hours' work. I've been dealing with the electric company which is a nightmare. In fact, that job I just cancelled. I did so because it has been a dreadful experience and it has reached the point of absurdity.

One day when I get to my 'Life in Babylon' series that will basically be a small book...I hope to share and elaborate on my observations and experiences regarding the Christian interacting with our economic and social system. I have much to say.

No Time

 

It's been a frustrating week. I've been going to work quite early, in part to deal with the heat and often getting home late. I'm exhausted and disappointed that I haven't had time to get to my writing.

I still want to finish the articles on the issues surrounding Kirk Cameron's movie...I've got a couple more parts to finish.

A Few Clarifications Regarding Philosophy and Christian Theology

This is an update/revision of an article originally published in July 2010

For years I grappled internally and with others over theological issues. As time progressed I became convinced most theological debate was basically fruitless due to fundamental differences regarding reason itself, and accepted or assumed thought categories.

We bring this baggage with us when we read the Bible and we run the risk of two extremes.

Kirk Cameron's Monumental Part 5: The Enforcement of Original Intent and The Road to Oligarchy

From the standpoint of non-Sacral Christianity, a composite society is highly desirable and allows for maximum freedom. In the end that's not what we're supposed to spend all of our time and energy looking for, but, if it's a possibility we ought to support it in the civil sphere.

And yet at this point, I cannot in good conscience support the American Establishment in any sense. America's economic and foreign policies promote violence and bloodshed and so like a Christian living in Rome I go about my business, but I will not worship Caesar nor will I support the legions or the machine that empowers the empire.

Unlike many of my ancestors, I wouldn't have supported the Rebellion of 1776, but once the new American state was established I would have been content to live within it.

Kirk Cameron's Monumental Part 4: Common Law, The Puritans, Composite and Monistic Views of Society

Did the Founders belong to a time when a Sacral Christian consensus still reigned? Of course. And yet, they were of many different stripes and persuasions and a jumble of ideas came together in what they produced. The Sacral consensus of the Middle Ages and Reformation was beginning to crumble and the Founders were men of their day. They imbibed (as we all do) from a variety of sources of worldviews, everything from English Common Law to Locke and others.

Interestingly Jefferson detested the famous Blackstone commentaries on English Common Law, which is often something Christian America advocates point to when trying to build their case for the Founders attempting to establish a Christian state. While it may work with someone like John Adams, they won't find an ally in the author of the Declaration of Independence.

Answering Questions #17- Calvin v. The Calvinists, The Renaissance and Reformed Scholasticism, Orthodoxy, Armstrong, Amyraut and Muller…Incomprehensibility and the nature of Theology.

A friend recently sent an email referencing Brian Armstrong’s “Calvinism and the Amyraut Heresy: Protestant Scholasticism and Humanism in Seventeenth-Century France”

I responded………

Kirk Cameron's Monumental Part 3: Foundations of Law, Theonomy, Social Consensus/Contract and The Problem of Democracy

In addition to questions concerning 'rights' and the 'state' and how these concepts are read (by many Christians) back into the Bible, there is the whole question of democracy itself. America is of course a Republic, which by definition has a public or democratic element, and yet foundationally rests in the notion of rule by law. There are many forms of Republicanism, but in the United States we have specifically a form of Democratic Republicanism.

So though we're ruled by law, our legislators (our lawmakers, law proposers, law givers) are selected democratically. These legislators have a dual obligation. They are to forge laws compliant with the 'static' foundational document of the Republic (the Constitution) but they also are to represent the 'dynamic' needs of their constituents, dynamic in that they (the needs of society) change with the cultural and historical context.

Updates 7 July 2012

The following links are to older posts which have been recently revised and updated. Some will be of interest to newer readers.

Two Kingdoms and Separatism

I Remember 

In times of Interdict, the heretics rejoice 

Nominalism versus Thomism? 

Mercersburg and Hegelian Historiography 

How to pastorally deal with the default setting 

The Bereans versus The Gatekeepers

The Real Issue Behind the Pseudo-Isidorean Decretals

Two Kingdoms- Neither Left nor Right on the political spectrum

Kirk Cameron's Monumental Part 2: The Theology of Nationalism and Historical Narrative

Cameron brings along Marshall Foster to help him interpret the monument's symbolism. Foster is a popular 'historian' in these circles. I've listened to him lecture on numerous occasions and find myself rarely agreeing with much of anything he says. Even when gets something correct, it is framed in a misleading or manipulative manner. History has a narrative to it, and it's amazing how it seems to perfectly match the Theonomic Reconstructionist and Christo-American cultural and political agenda.

Providence guides history, but history isn't complete and unless God has specifically laid out a historical narrative, which he hasn't for any nation in the New Testament but the Church...it is a dangerous thing to impose one upon the annals of history. History is messy and complicated and imposing these narratives (like God's hand was on America) on history is a dangerous business, can be self-deceptive, have a tendency to whitewash and mythologize, promote unbiblical pride and bigotry, and can blind people to the evils their nation commits. Assyria was used by God in Isaiah 10, but then Assyria was crushed and punished by God for her wickedness. America and the Americanists would do well to take heed. They think of themselves as a North American Israel...but how do they know they're not an Egypt?

Kirk Cameron's Monumental: Initial Considerations

Dominionism is the idea that says we must seek to transform society and culture. Among the myriad of Christian sects almost everyone would agree that Christianity brings a set of ethics and values to the table, it has something to say regarding human conduct and behaviour.

Protestants in particular have laid an emphasis on the new life, being 'born again' as Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3. As New Creatures, we approach all ethical tangles differently than the nonbeliever. In addition our entire focus is different, we seek heavenly wisdom, we are to lay up treasure in heaven where are our hearts, our hopes are.

Dominionism says we must go further. Based off their reading of Genesis 1.26-27 they believe we are to subdue the earth. This combined with Paul's injunction to 'bring every thought captive' launches them on what seem to them to be a clear programme to transform all of culture and society. To them this is Kingdom work, this is bringing the Kingdom of God to earth and making it manifest.

Updates

Some recently updated posts from 2010:

Two Kingdom Theology On Guard

Greeks, Turks, and Two Kingdoms

Common Grace Culture

News Commentary 28 June 2012 (2)

 Some musings about the continued fallout....

I heard a commentator today mention that this decision coupled with an Obama re-election will further radicalize the extreme Right. I agree. But what does that mean for Christians who reject Sacralism?

This has already entered the Church and though I'm no fan of Barack Obama, I am not content to sit in a congregation where people are cursing the nation's rulers, engaging in seditious and violent rhetoric and promoting law-breaking and armed resistance. Anyone who has read my writings knows I am no fan of the great lie known as the United States. Nevertheless I am to pray for the peace of this Babylon, not try and overthrow Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Sennacherib, or Caesar.

News Commentary 28 June 2012 (1)

A few thoughts regarding the Supreme Court decision today....what it means for the American Church and what the present social polarization points to in the coming days, months and years.

First a few specific points of consideration....

1.    Romney has been avoiding an in-depth healthcare discussion due to the conservative condemnation of his Massachusetts programme. But now, Evangelicals more than ever will be polarized by the Supreme Court ruling the health reform as Constitutional. They will rally around Romney who has promised to work towards repealing Obama's reform....even though putting the rhetoric into action will be difficult.

A Significant Date in History

28 June 1914 (updated)

First published in 2010

The Imperial Sociopath and Hypocrisy

A Sociopath believes the rules don't apply to him. He is above the standards that other people have to follow.

A sociopath is blind to his own shortcomings. He often critiques others for violating rules that he will violate with abandon. He is either completely blind to his own crimes or in every case makes an excuse, finds a justification for them.

The Reasons for my Criticism of the United States

This post dates from November 2010, but I thought it would be a good time to repost it. There are many new readers to the site and I want to make sure people understand that my criticisms of the United States are not rooted in some kind of Leftist freedom bashing agenda. My statements not only come from years of intense reading and study, but a specific theology...one that informs both my citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven and the kingdoms of this world.

Here's the original post...

A Strange Sense of Service Part 2

Actually the death toll from American foreign policy is pretty staggering. We condemn others for aggression, when in fact there has been no country since World War II that can compare with the United States in the realm of aggression. And I say this fully conscious of the charges many would bring against the Soviet Union. A very evil government, but in terms of aggression... their actions do not surpass the United States. Not even close.

A Strange Sense of Service Part 1

Some will take this the wrong way, but I want to make a few observations regarding one of the top headlines from the past twelve months. I wrote this at the time but never published it. Almost a year later and with the 4^th of July approaching...it's worth revisiting.

Apparently on 6 August 2011 some thirty American soldiers and eight Afghan soldiers were killed when their helicopter was shot down. This was one of the worst single-incident losses of life for American troops during the Afghan War and the media gave this event a massive amount of attention.

Of course the sheer numbers makes it newsworthy, in addition to the fact that most or all of these Americans were members of the Special Forces.

This single event provides a great example to demonstrate several things.

Answering Questions #16 -Dissecting Stellman's Apostasy

In some recent comments it was mentioned that a PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) pastor recently converted to Roman Catholicism. The PCA is one of the conservative Presbyterian bodies, not to be confused with the PCUSA which is the Mainline and much larger Presbyterian body which abandoned Scripture long ago. The PCA formally broke with the mainline body in 1973.

The pastor in question is Jason Stellman, a pretty strong proponent of the Reformed variety of Two Kingdom theology and certainly someone I would have recommended not long ago. I often visited his website and sometimes commented there.

Sacralist enemies of Two Kingdom theology have tried to find a connection....find a way to show that Two Kingdom theology leads to Rome. It doesn't, in fact the two systems are operating in very different universes. In the past it has actually been Theonomy and various Sacralist positions which have produced converts to Catholicism and it's always been an embarrassing point for them. I almost sense a state of glee at this man's defection.

Apologies and The Gift of Time

 

Once again I wish to extend my apologies to the readers of this weblog. Normally I'm able to produce material at a pretty steady tempo, but the last couple of months have left me exhausted and in terms of time...exasperated.

We've had health issues and other personal situations that have dominated our time. In terms of my business I've been bogged down by time constraints and a lot of hours in the office working on estimates and plans. It's been very frustrating as I've just not been able to use my time the way I would wish. Calculating building materials is not something I'm interested in, but theological, historical and contemporary commentary don't pay the bills.

Returning Soon.....

The last couple of weeks have been too busy. I haven't had any time at all to work on 'blog' matters. God willing I'll be responding to comments and putting up new posts in the next couple of days....

Sorry for disappearing.

A Strange Encounter Part 12

As I looked through the literature I realized he was a member of a local congregation I was well aware of. Faith Baptist Church is part of the Independent Fundamental Baptist tradition. They also run a college and programme for aspiring pastors. These folks proudly fly their flags and believe that they represent the real and genuine America. We see them all the time at the shopping mall. These groups are permeated with legalism rooted in a cultural narrative. (See The Good Old Days)

They almost have a uniform, certainly a look you're supposed to emulate. We have a lot of these groups around here. We have the Wesleyan and Holiness groups which are trying to emulate the pre-1920's look, we have the Amish, and we have the Baptists that seem to view the 1950's culture...America on top of the world...as the golden age.

Ecclesia Part 7: Pragmatics and Conclusion

When the 'licentiate' is 'ordained' we'll stay away. I don't recognize the authority of the presbytery. It, like all denominations are para-church organizations. This 'service' is nothing more than homage, a ceremony to clericalism. We'll stay away, but we'll return the following Sunday and try to keep encouraging others and hopefully be encouraged.

Ecclesia Part 6: Submission and Authority

So why in the world would we once again attend a PCA? Good question. We're not going to become 'members' though we did once before. I worked out a compromise with the elders. This time I'm not inclined to try and work with their system.

Submission versus Oppression

If they want to make a list of who's a member (in the Biblical sense) of course that's fine. If that helps them to govern or pray, no problem. If they want to ask for my testimony every three days and for me to account to them for my actions every week, that's fine. I'll submit to that. If they want me to study out issues with them and if they push for regular attendance, that's fine too. That's not in opposition to Scripture. I will bend over backwards to comply with their requirements, with their supervision, even to the point of being ridiculous.

But when they want me to stand up and take extra-Scriptural vows and to submit to extra-Scriptural standards I won't do that.