Radio Free Babel Part 1

Aka Christo-American Radio

-Some reflections on an episode that demand comment

I know there are some readers at this site who listen or have listened to the programme CrossTalk. It's a pretty popular Christian radio show that's broadcast all across the country. I don't actually get it where I live but every once in awhile I will download and listen to a podcast.

They come across as very conservative, very committed to Biblical fidelity. But this programme and those put out by others, play no small part in what started me wanting to write, to do something, to counter their message. They are reaching a considerable number of people that really are sincere in wanting to adhere to Biblical Christianity. I'm arguing that programmes like this are actually leading them astray.

Focus on Sacralist Jurisprudence 4

Taking up the sword of the Spirit, which is Civil Litigation.

There was another story on the programme regarding a woman who was attending a university in pursuit of some kind of counseling degree. I believe it was near the end of the course that an issue arose regarding counseling homosexuals and she openly declared her Christian beliefs and insisted her worldview rested upon Divine Revelation.

They basically told her that unless she changed her belief system they could not grant her certification, she could not graduate.

The Federal Government's Day of Thanks... to the Unknown God

It sure isn't the God of the Bible. Maybe it's the giant idol in New York harbour? Actually it's pretty clear what America worships.....food, football, and consuming for the sake of consumption...in others words America's 'god' is not the Father of Jesus Christ. It's America itself. America has a knack for taking things that aren't necessarily intrinsically evil and making them into something heinous and perverse.

Beware of those who confuse this god with the God of Scripture.

I didn't have time to write my Thanksgiving 2011 post. Maybe next year. So for now I'll just post the link to last year's article.

As for me....it's just another Thursday. I'll be working outside. Thankfully, the weather is supposed to be a bit warmer tomorrow.

http://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-day-2010.html

Focus on Sacralist Jurisprudence 3

Self-Deception Regarding Motives

Some have argued that we should abolish public schools altogether. Okay, again when they're in control are they going to allow the Leftists to form private schools that teach Atheism, Socialism, anti-Christian morality? No? Then are they going to form a government institution to regulate education? I think they're either being naive or deceitful...or a bit of both.

Do you really think if they took control of the nation’s institutions that they would allow an education free-for-all, complete liberty?

Focus on Sacralist Jurisprudence 2

Bringing Down the Babylonian School System

They make much of their fight for school vouchers. The argument goes something like this…Basically in the United States we pay property taxes that go toward paying for public schools. People like me who home school or others who send their children to private schools are paying these taxes but receiving no direct benefit. Of course so are the many people who don't have children in school. The Voucher argument is that these families should receive a subsidy or voucher to then pay for the private school, charter school or whatever. It's about choice, fairness, and liberty they say and resisting the government schools and their agenda.

While I have little sympathy with the government school agenda I will suggest doing something people on the Christian Right refuse to do...often out of principle. Step into the other person's shoes for a moment, not to validate them, but to give a little larger perspective.

Answering Questions #12- Negativity, Interpretation and Agenda

I like a lot of the things you write and the way it makes me think, but I'm concerned with the negative tone. Does everything always have to be so dark and gloomy?

I've been meaning to get to this for some time and after a recent exchange I thought it might be a good time to answer it.

The Envy Straw Man

A Response to Colson's Fantasies

I hear Colson every day on the radio. It’s amazing but whatever the topic he has an almost perfect track record, he gets it wrong almost every time.

The latter part of the 20th century has seen some incredibly destructive forces at work in the Church...

Francis Schaeffer, RJ Rushdoony, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Chuck Colson are all part of the generation that is rapidly disappearing.

The new generation is just as bad if not worse…except for one thing. Their errors are perhaps more obvious in some ways. Maybe I’m fooling myself to think that, but it would seem the Joyce Meyer’s, the Joel Osteen’s, the Rick Warren’s and the Brian McLaren’s are so obvious that no one reading their Bible would fall for them…but I guess people still do. The nature of the error changes or in some cases is just repackaged and tracks differently.

But you have to hand it to Colson, he’s achieved some pretty amazing stuff. Within a generation he softened the Evangelical posture toward Roman Catholicism and that coupled with Dominionism’s ever growing fondness for the Middle Ages has brought about a new appreciation for Rome and its errors.

He’s influenced a lot of people and done great harm to the cause of Christ and His Kingdom. Here’s yet another interaction with his daily commentary. Today’s just put me over the edge. He contradicts himself terribly and he has either a very inverted sense of truth, reality or both.

Rejecting both Patriarchy and Egalitarianism in the Church- Part 4

Final segment....

And with Pietism you always abandon wisdom for a checklist. You can’t think through issues and say this might be okay for this kid and not for that one, or this might be okay on occasion. Or (and this never seems to arise), maybe I don’t know that family’s situation and though they’re not doing things the way we do…it’s really not my place to judge them.

Rejecting both Patriarchy and Egalitarianism in the Church- Part 3

For those familiar with the terms, do this mean I’m arguing the Complementarian position? Maybe, but if I go to the Wikipedia article on Biblical Patriarchy I can agree (in part) with many of the notions outlined there as well. The key differences are with regard to Dominionism and the questions it engenders in the social sphere and my main critique with regard to many in the movement is that they make these issues into components of the gospel.

Rejecting both Patriarchy and Egalitarianism in the Church- Part 2

We always have to behave as Christians and sometimes that means in order to do that, we have to turn our backs on certain activities. Not because they are inherently unclean as a Pietist would argue, but because at the given time and place they are corrupted or structured in a way that we either have to violate Christian principles to do it or be deceitful and mislead those around us. Ignoring the prescribed rules and forms we force our Christianity on those around us.

Maybe as a Christian I cannot be a police officer, but when Christians enter into that office and then choose to ignore the enforcement of laws they don't like...they're breaking their oath (which they shouldn't have taken in the first place).

If I can’t be violent and prideful in my normal Christian life, then I can’t do it while I hide behind a vocation or office. If I can set aside my Christianity for the sake of office, then women certainly can as well.

You don't get to suspend your oath to Christ in order to do your job.

But then the Dominionist counters… how can we conquer that sphere? It's a false dilemma generated by a wrong set of questions.

The question of Christian women being politicians...the fact that we're even asking the question shows we're on the wrong track.

Rejecting both Egalitarianism and Patriarchy in the Church Part 1

A follow up note to the post dealing with the 12 November 2011 Republican Debate.



This is hardly an exhaustive treatment of these issues but I wanted to elaborate on my comment regarding Christian female politicians. I believe they shouldn’t be running for political office, but in saying that I’m not arguing from the Patriarchal position. Let me explain.

America, the failed experiment…

Evidence? Just watch the November 12, 2011 Republican Debate.

I’m not really sure why I am surprised, but I am. Last night as I watched the Republican debate on Foreign Policy, on more than one occasion, I was literally stunned. Watching this with my kids, I keep asking them if they understand what is meant by certain terms and if not, explaining them. I try to interpret political speak for them, making it very clear for them why politicians are referred to as forked tongued serpents.

A poignant example from tonight was when I had to explain what Mitt Romney means by the 21^stcentury being “an American Century,”

...or what terms like ‘exceptionalism’ mean, when they’re used be people like this. 

In this case they're euphemisms for Empire.

My children are usually asking about which candidates are Christians or claim to be…every day as they learn about current events, the contemporary church and Church History…they’re learning the meaning of these caveats and how the term Christian has become almost meaningless.

Focus on Sacralist Jurisprudence 1

Culture Warriors and the Sacralist Swords of Threat, Litigation, and Fear.

The other day on Focus on the Family they had a guest from the Alliance Defense Fund. As the Christian Right has grown in influence, its leaders have deliberately worked to form organizations and tools that will help them wage relentless culture war. Increasingly they are forming groups devoted to tackling legislation and the judiciary. To do this they're looking to lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians all interfacing in the overlapping realms of Christian media, ministries, think-tanks, and political organizations.

Dominionism: Part 6

Elitist Tendencies

One final point.

There is an Elitist tendency among those who profess this creed. Focusing on Ivory Tower philosophical issues and matters of theory these folks end up spending a lot of time on issues that the average person doesn't really have a lot of time to think about.

The factory worker and the farmer are not terribly concerned with residential architecture, sociological models, what makes good art, and so forth. Not to say the aforementioned questions have no value, but they simply are not that important to people's daily lives and I don't think they need to be.

I know the arguments...the trickledown effect of what happens in these circles and that's why they're focused there. They are truly the architects, the planners of a new culture.

Dominionism: Part 5

The Unassailable Philosophical Wall

Are the Dominionist Blueprints, their models for transforming the spheres...Christian? Biblical? Are they providing us with a Biblical Worldview?

While coherent with the philosophical systems they've created, in many, maybe even most cases they're not in accord with Scripture, and this is usually pretty clear by just comparing what they're suggesting with the Pilgrim ethic of Scripture. Just reading through the Gospels or Epistles in most cases quickly resolves any doubts. I'm afraid their systems are man-made and many of them have reached a point in which it would seem they can no longer see the forest through the trees.

Halloween 2011 and LPR's Issues Etc.

As a follow up to my Halloween article found here:

 http://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2010/10/all-sacralists-eve.html

This audio link might be of interest....

http://issuesetc.org/2011/10/28/issues-etc-encore-christians-and-halloween-with-gretchen-passantino-10282011/

Hardly in agreement with my position, this Conservative Lutheran programme exhibits some of the classic modes of Sacralist thinking when it comes to issues like this. They're not necessarily pushing the Christian version of Halloween, but they're not exactly refuting it either.

Either way the agenda is to find a way to redeem it, make it Holy... and because society is doing it, we are compelled to somehow participate. Anything else would be Retreatism.

Dominionism: Part 4

Establishment, Dissent, Social Gospel and The Golden Age

Is the Kingdom of God manifested in temporal, geographical, and cultural terms? Through our labours can we make this a reality?

Some argue…yes, but that will be in the future when Christ returns and establishes a temporal, geo-political Kingdom based in Jerusalem which will last for 1000 years. At least the adherents of this Premillennial vision of a physical Kingdom don’t believe it comes about through human endeavours.

Dominionists, Transformationalists, Constantinians, Postmillennialists…all nuances of the same Kingdom-vision, believe more or less this can be done now.

Dominionism, Sacral Transformation, Elitism, and the Unassailable Philosophical Wall: Part 3

The Medieval Manichee, the Modern Liberal, Monism and Pluralism

According to Kuyper, Christ declares, 'Every square inch is mine'......our job is to make this a reality.

The reality of life in a fallen world...accepting that some things won't ever be perfect and that some questions don't have good solutions.....is not acceptable. Every cultural question must have an answer and everything is now cast in strict moral categories. Pragmatism is not allowed. Everything is ideological and since so many of these areas of culture are shaped by law and power...everything ultimately becomes political.

Interestingly Marxists have understood this principle as well...they just have a different solution, but they frame it in very similar ways.

Dominionism, Sacral Transformation, Elitism, and the Unassailable Philosophical Wall: Part 2

Christo-Americanism the foundation of Dominionist Cooperation

In the United States the final straw was the decade of the 1960's. Sweeping legislative and social changes left conservative Protestants (loosely labeled Evangelicals) in a state of shock. Men like Francis Schaeffer stepped into the gap and began to re-teach many things that had been forgotten and even frowned upon from the glory days of old Christendom. Even as late as the 1980's, the Middle Ages were frowned upon as...a spiritual Dark Age. But to Dominionists like Schaeffer, the Middle Ages were an almost-glory, a period of Ecclesiastical triumph, clouded not by the cultural hegemony and holocaust of Roman Catholicism, but simply by Rome's lack of understanding regarding Justification by Faith Alone. If Rome had retained the Protestant formulation, then more or less, all would have been well. If this vision wasn't re-captured and all of modern life evaluated in light of it...the Church would fall to its great enemy, Secular Humanism.

A note regarding the new series and the approaching holy-day

As I'm getting back to writing I'm publishing a series on you guessed it...Dominionism.

There's nothing terribly new with this. I'm largely revisiting many of the same issues. Why am I doing this? It's a multifaceted issue and it's helpful to continue to review it, examining it from different angles. Certain approaches resonate with some folks more than others. For some it takes multiple angles to slowly put it together. Some readers already see this complex of theological ideas for what it is. Others are still struggling with the error, and yet others haven't quite put it together yet. They see some of it, but it hasn't hit them yet. So...I'll keep writing.

I've got pages of notes, in fact pages of article topics that I want to dive into. God willing we shall do so. Things are starting to slow down a bit and now I can turn back to writing. I miss it.

Since we're nearing the time of All Saint's Eve, I thought I would post the link to my Halloween post from last year. For those who weren't reading this weblog last October I touch on the fact that there are some who flee Halloween because of their view of the Kingdom in relation to culture and some who feel it must be conquered for Christ and have thus tried in earnest to label it Christian. Both approaches are wrong.

And for the many churches who celebrate Halloween masquerading as Reformation Day...they're only deceiving themselves.

http://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2010/10/all-sacralists-eve.html

Dominionism, Sacral Transformation, Elitism, and the Unassailable Philosophical Wall: Part 1

Rule, Reign, and Transformation

Many have heard of Francis Schaeffer and perhaps have seen his movie How Should We Then Live? In it he traces the decline of Western Civilization and attempts to motivate his audience to think about these larger cultural issues. Schaeffer was a key architect of the early Anti-abortion and Christian Right movements.  Maybe architect isn't the right word. He provided inspiration and helped formulate some of the basic concepts. Others like Falwell and some of the wealthy and less known backers helped get the political wing moving.

2 October 2011 Update

My apologies to all....

I hope to return soon. I have some stuff just sitting there that I haven't re-read in order to publish. This Summer has been an adventure.

I've worked more hours and made more money than ever before....but we feel like we're broke...struggling to pay the bills.

It's largely inflation...it's crushing us. Thankfully I can raise my rates, something others do not have the power to do.

Sadly, it has meant some LONG hours. I get home later and then spend time on the phone and in my office working on plans and bids. I've got notes for many articles, some which probably won't get written.

Also, Summer is a time to try and get outside. It's a time of lawn mowing, garden tending, bicycle rides, hiking, and sadly this year only one backpacking trip....an excellent inexpensive hobby.

But today Autumn is here in full force. It's about 4C/40F here and pouring rain. The time for longer hours inside is returning and DV (Deo Volente) more time for writing.

Building the Kingdom through residential architecture?

Here’s a Colson commentary from the other day. It’s a great illustration of how these folks think. It clearly displays the assumptions of Dominionist thought and hints at the frightening extent to which these people would flex their muscles if given unlimited power. This can be seen clearly even when it comes to a seemingly innocuous topic like residential architecture.

Here’s the link to the original post and my comments are interspersed below.

Michele Bachmann and Dominionism

Here’s the transcript of an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air Programme from a couple of days ago. It is rather interesting and illustrative because it demonstrates how Dominionism has crept into the American political scene. Does Michele Bachmann know who Abraham Kuyper is? Probably not…but his theology is shaping her and the entire contemporary political debate.

Sacralism and the state of things Part 4

High Places, apostasy, and no Reformation on the horizon...but it might be a good thing, if we reckon things as God does.

 TD Gordon, a man I respect and often agree with (though he might not reciprocate) spoke years ago about the fact that the cultural climate in Europe just prior to the Reformation helped usher in that era of reform. Now I don't get excited anymore about the Reformation, but I can appreciate his point. The revival of learning generated at the end of the Middle Ages and the new learning (both good and bad) brought about by the Renaissance helped prepare the way for the Reformation. People were reading books printed on the newly invented printing press, and there was a revival of interest in the classics and a desire to question the Medieval way of understanding things.

While we have new and exciting technological innovations in our day that seem to be conducive to an even greater period of learning and investigation...the reality is... it's not happening.

People (at least in America) seem to be more uninformed and undiscerning as ever. In another post I mentioned how I was startled to talk to a professing Christian college student who didn't even know what the Berlin Wall was, nor had ever heard of the Cold War. She knew all about the Casey Anthony trial but had never heard of the Iranian Revolution.

Sacralism and the state of things Part 3: Dominionist Economics and Empire, the Cold War, The War on Terror, its implications for the Church and society.

So what to do?

I'll admit, it's a bit discouraging when I look at the contemporary ecclesiastical scene. I'm even discouraged looking at the news. They should be unrelated, but they're not....

Camouflaged Sacralism

While it may sound strange to some, we attend an annual event near our home. It's a World War II re-enactment. I'm not into re-enactors too much. I have no desire to do it, but sometimes it can be interesting. I like to get my children out and have them experience things. I'm not afraid to push them a bit as long as I'm there holding their hand. We talk about it. I don't believe in a libertine go with the flow mentality, but I also don't agree with the shelter and hide approach.

Sacralism and the state of things Part 2- Of course the Norway killer was a Christian...at least the way Sacralism defines it

There are strong Romantic sentiments reigning within Christian circles today. They glory in the heritage of Christendom, the West.

Upon closer examination they would truly find that much of what they love is really not ancient but only as old as the 19th century. And the 'Christian' culture they venerate was naught but a veneer and one easily broken in the 20th century by a variety of forces. The 21st century is proving to be an era of payback and backlash. The people (the lost) who for so long were oppressed by this power...which both secularism and Sacralism wrongly define as Christian... are rising up and we're entering into an era of retribution and reprisal. Obviously the homosexuals are leading the charge at the moment. It will pass, but not anytime soon.

Anti-Wisdom Part 2

 The issues at hand:

Transformationalism Politicizes the Gospel, leading to agenda-driven thought, and often a complete rejection of genuine discussion and investigation. Is this wisdom applied or utter moral foolishness?

Does Dominion-driven Worldview teaching promote Christian wisdom in this world? If it's a false theology is it even promoting a Christian Worldview at all?

Is the true Biblical Worldview something for regenerate believers or something for societal transformation?

These are some questions to keep in mind as you read through these posts. These are key questions I'm continually asking as I interact with what I believe to be a erroneous theology, a false system masquerading as Christianity.

So continuing the previous discussion, how can we be wise, and does Christian wisdom mean all issues are reduced to simple categories?

Constantinianism and the state of things--- Westernism, Sacralism's Deadly Third Category, Francis Schaeffer and why we don't need to save Leonardo.

First, a quick revisit of some basic concepts....

As we've stated many times, Sacralism redefines Christianity. Biblically we can speak in terms of the individual being redeemed and joined to Christ. We can speak of the collective body of Christians....the Church of Jesus Christ....His body.

Sacralism adds a third extra-Biblical category, that of Christian nation, culture, or civilization. Of course the Bible speaks in terms of a Christian nation, but this is applicable to the Church, the Kingdom of Priests.

Nowhere do we find any notion of a nation entering into covenant with the Almighty. The one exception to this, Old Testament Israel was initiated by God and He set the terms of their covenant relationship. Moab, Edom, Babylon...none of these nations could become Yahwist or Jehovah-ite nations. If they wanted to convert.....they became Jews, which meant abandoning their nations and entering into the fold of the covenant people. They didn't transform their nation into Judeo-covenantal states, they left their nations and became Jews.

In the New Testament the holy nation, the Israel of God (Galatians 6.16) is the Church composed of all nations and peoples. They retain their earthly citizenship but enter into and participate in the heavenly kingdom.

Sacralism adds an additional tier (a supra-collective category) that cannot be located or extrapolated from Scripture. It is derived from philosophical speculation stemming from a wrong theological method and a grave misunderstanding of the Kingdom if not the entire message of the New Covenant.

A note on the glossary entries

The previous four posts are simply definitions that are being linked in the glossary. It's not my intention to invent wild sounding and super technical sounding terminologies. We're talking about complex and nuanced concepts that are hard to explain in a few paragraphs and even harder to reduce to one term. Many of these overlap and are variations of some of the same recurring theological themes. Not everyone will be interested in these concepts, and that's fine. But some will be, and as I said, they regularly recur in these writings. This way...for my sake, I can refer someone in a comment to the glossary or even allude to it in a quick post.

For years my close friends and I have employed these concepts in our discussions...usually by referring to this or that 'thing,' but that's not very helpful to people reading these posts. If I said, 'you know...how Catholics do that thing with the visible church...'

It would mean something to a few people, but most readers would have no idea. These somewhat painful glossary entries are an attempt to at least categorize some of these concepts. I worked on these last night and realized they’re too long to place in the glossary itself, so I’m putting them up as posts and linking them from the glossary.

So if you're interested, by all means. If not, then just ignore them. They're just part of the resource/reference sections for the blog.

Glossary Links- Perspectival Soteriology

Perspectival Soteriology

Others use the term Perspectivalism, and I'm certainly not advocating their theological position, but it's not entirely without validity. While I don't accept the oft used Triads and other perspective-'frame'-works, I do acknowledge that a concept of perspective helps us to make sense of passages of Scripture and concepts that seem to conflict.

Glossary Links- Hyper-Eschatologized Ecclesiology

Hyper-Eschatologized Ecclesiology and its symptom or fruit...Ecclesiastical Apathy-

These are high sounding terms for a concept that's really not too difficult. This phenomenon occurs in several different traditions and factions and yet it certainly is not enshrined in any confession.

Glossary Links- Hermeneutical Compression and the Analogy of Scripture

Hermeneutical Compression-

This is but another way of describing one or some of the various nuances that result from theological systemic thought and commitments when applied to Revelation.

Glossary Links- Sacralist Collective

 

Sacralist Collective-

The Bible deals with individuals and a collective body... the Church. The Church of course can be viewed in terms of local congregations or broadly speaking as the Church Militant (here on earth) and the Church Triumphant (the Eschatological Church). But to simplify, the Bible deals with individuals and the various categorical modes of the Church.

 Sacralism adds an additional layer which more or less ends up dominating their theology. This tier could be described as the Cultural or Civilizational layer or stratum. Historically this is referred to as Christendom or even sometimes placed within the broader category of Western Civilization. Nowhere does the Bible speak of Christian cultures or nations that are somehow sanctified and structured according to covenantal directives. This concept is derived and driven by philosophical necessity stemming from some basic theological foundations. The argument here is that this concept is not only flawed and un-Biblical, but quite destructive. Much of the contemporary language concerning Dominion and Worldview stems from this assumption. In addition this false premise establishes the framework for the so-called Biblical view of the arts, sciences, etc... views not derived from Scripture, but from philosophical deduction.