Two Views of Theocracy
The best form of theocracy is not as scary as you might think
By P. Andrew Sandlin @ RazorMouth.com
{Note: A very good article that says it better than I had ever hoped anyone could}
Among Christians pressing for the recovery of Christian culture and society, two distinct paradigms prevail.
The first we may label “coercive theocracy” and the second “conversionist theocracy.”
Both believe in theocracy of some kind. Theocracy simply means “God’s rule.”
In its most general sense, therefore, a theocratic society is one in which God rules.
...
Conversionist theocrats believe we create a theocratic society by means of individual conversion,
family obedience, church fidelity, vocational government, and so forth.
We believe societies change because men change;
we do not believe that men change because civil government imposes legally coercive changes.
Theocracy is the social expression of regenerated hearts.
It is the effect of godly, self-governed individuals.
Such Christian self-government, practiced by a majority on a wide scale, produces a theocratic society.
God’s rule is reflected in men’s lives, and thus in a highly decentralized political order.
Self-governed men require almost no civil government. Christian theocracy thus renders political tyranny obsolete.
2 Sides of an Invalid Coin
Why Christians lose the debate over evolution
By J. Andrew Deane @ RazorMouth.com
As Dr. Greg Bahnsen wrote in one of his earliest articles,
"The methodology of science is simply not equipped to deal with events that
are neither recurring or repeatable under experimental control.
In the matter of origins, where the scientist can neither observe nor experiment,
one is left to depend on either guesswork speculation or infallible revelation."
Such words are so desperately needed in our day, but until Christians quit of their self-imposed evasive maneuvering
and start meeting the unbeliever at such a basic level as our spiritual fathers like Dr. Bahnsen,
we are doomed to be bulldozed like the house in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
An Orthodoxy That Works by Love
We Don't Need Doctrinal Pharisees, Either
By Steve M. Schlissel @ Center for Cultural Leadership
They'll know you are Christians by your love."
To this day I find my jaw dropping over the fact that the one mark which the Head of the Church
said would characterize His Church was not included among the Top Three
by the humans who defined the Church at the Reformation.
The reason for this, of course, is history.
Our Fathers were battling particular errors.
Understanding this fact does not necessarily lead us along a path of liberal relativism.
But failure to recognize it can be even more deleterious.
Know the Tracks Before You Throw the Stones
An Excursus on Covenant and Election
By Larry E Ball @ Center for Cultural Leadership
There is presently raging in reformed circles a great debate that springs
from what one side calls a new emphasis on the “objectivity of the covenant.”
Vindictive and bitter words are being hurled.
The following is an attempt to take a conciliatory approach in order to stimulate dialogue,
which has all but ceased to exist.
...
Indeed as we run on the covenantal set of tracks, we warn the covenantal elect that they can apostatize.
Yes, Christians must be justified by faith alone.
Then, by the grace of God, Christians must walk in faith and obedience.
On God’s decretive track we know that the elect cannot apostatize.
On the covenantal track (the Visible Church) we know that the elect (covenantal elect) can apostatize.
The warning is not just hypothetical, it is real (covenantally speaking).
Running on the decretive tracks, we know the elect will persevere.
On the covenantal track the elect can fall away from the faith.
It all depends on which set of tracks you are running!
The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms
Who does the Second Amendment protect?
By Neal Shaffer @ The Rutherford Institute
On this much we can all agree: America has a very powerful relationship with firearms.
We owe our existence as a nation to the practical application of guns,
and just as surely we owe the twinge of some of our greatest tragedies to their misuse.
From there the debate branches out in a hundred directions or more,
polarizing the American populace along the way.
Guns have become a litmus test for political orientation—a window into an entire belief system:
pro-gun equals conservative; anti-gun equals liberal.
Unfortunately, as is often the case, the breakdown obscures the reality,
and honest debate is rendered all but impossible.
There is no shortage of opinion, and every question is rhetorical.
The End of Home-Schooling
by Steve M. Schlissel @ Center for Cultural Leadership
Going the next step in education reformation
Don’t get upset with me over the title. You can read the word “end” as “goal.”
That’s the way St. Paul used the word in Romans 10:4: Christ is the end, i.e., the goal of the Law.
In speaking of the end of home-schooling, we are speaking first of its goal.
Covenant Kids: Who are They, Really?
by Gerry Wisz @ RazorMouth.com
Children in Reformed churches have always been a cause of conversation, worry, and, sad to say, ambivalence.
There are two schools of thought on covenant kids: the academies of presumption and assumption.
Straight Talk on the 'Covenant of Works'
by Steve M. Schlissel @ Center for Cultural Leadership
'If we don't keep it simple, it's Aristotle, not Jesus'
The dispute over the so-called covenant of works is retrogressive; it's backwards.
Here's the scoop. Man was created into a covenant.
Where was God on September 11?
@ christiancounterculture.com
Is this miserable picture being painted by a loving God who is said in the Bible to do ‘whatever pleases him’? (Psalm 115:3).
Most Real Fantasy
by Douglas Jones @ credenda / agenda
Something is desperately odd when, of all people, Christians so easily call stories like The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of
Narnia, and even, shudder, Harry Potter, "fantasies." The assumption is that reality is pretty much what bare science says it is, blocks of chemicals and cells
of organisms pushing off each other, everything visible and measurable. We take "realistic" literature to be stories which stay put within these quantifiable bounds; fantasy, by contrast, is typically described as taking place in "an imaginary world," a "nonexistent realm" in
which the characters have "supernatural powers."
Let's Have More Teen Pregnancy
by Frederica Mathewes-Green @ Center for Cultural Leadership
Instead of chastity-belting our teens we should help them hitch up earlier. "Teen pregnancy is not the problem," she notes. "Unwed teen pregnancy is the problem."
Elders, their Families and Theological Fine Tuning
by Fred Peatross @ RazorMouth.com
A popular misunderstanding about “pastors' kids” - “Well managed” is the faithful process of parenting, not the end result.
YOU ASK ME WHY? (written in 1979)
by Virginia Birt Baker -- Home-schooling mother of four, 1972-1987
You ask me why I teach my children at home with Christian textbooks and Christian values?
Well, now, that's a good question. I know what you're thinking. The public schools have better facilities and trained teachers, and there may be some private school nearby. So why all this fuss and bother of setting up a separate school in my home? Why not teach the children religion at home and in church?
But, you see, you've asked me something that gets right to the core of the meaning of life. If a home-located alternative learning arrangement meant simply tacking on a prayer each day, or an extra course in Bible study, it wouldn't be worth all the time and expense.
I teach my children at home because I believe that all of life is religious. God is at the center of everything. He made all things. He guides and controls them, and He demands that we, His creatures, honor Him as Lord and Savior in everything we do.Of course, that includes our studying, as well as our everyday work. It includes every part of life, without exception. It means that I can't be satisfied with submitting my children to Christian training at home and church only. As a parent, I'm responsible for those thirty or more important hours that they spend each week in school. Some of the most significant training of my children takes place in the school atmosphere. How can I leave God out of the picture here?
But, you say, what's the difference if my child studies arithmetic, history, literature, or English in a public school or in a home school? Much. I want my child to learn, from his parents, that all of life belongs to God and was made for Him.-- In science, I want him to know that he is studying God's laws for the universe and God's concept of origins. Honest scientific research does not teach theory for fact but supports God's word and a young earth.-- In history, I want him to see the unfolding of God's plan for the ages and the redemption of His people in a world which is totally meaningful, and in which every event moves in terms of God's purpose. "Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set," the Proverb states.-- In arithmetic and mathematics, I want him to learn that there are absolute truths, and that mathematics is a cumulative development beginning with a strong foundation of arithmetic that is a part of the whole of knowledge. By developing his capacity to do critical thinking and logical reasoning through concrete mathematical problems, he will acquire confidence in his own powers of understanding this physical world.-- In literature, I want him to test other writers by Christian standards so that he will appreciate what is good and true and beautiful, and discern what is false or dishonoring to God.-- In reading, I want him to learn the phonetic principles of our language in a systematic, sequential manner. Our English language is made up of letters that represent sounds, and it is absolutely imperative that beginning reading starts with phonics.-- In English, I want him to know the history behind our mother tongue, the precise grammatical structuring of our language, and its effective and graceful expression.-- In civics, I want him to know that true government is ordained of God and that great political movements have powerful religious inceptions.-- In economics, I want him to learn Christian moral standards in the marketplace, placing emphasis upon the individual. I want him to learn the principles of honesty, integrity, politeness, respect, co-operation and fair play, because these are rules that God has set up for the ordering of our lives together.
All this is a big order. It can't be accomplished in fifteen or thirty minutes a day. It takes everything we've got to instill in the hearts of our children that true fear of the Lord which is "the beginning of all wisdom."
Moses said it thousands of years ago. He told the people of Israel then how to bring up their children: "Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be a frontlet between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Jeremiah said: "Learn not the way of the heathen."
And Paul told the Ephesians: "Grow up into Him in all things . . Walk not as other gentiles walk . . being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them . . Neither give place (opportunity) to the devil . . and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness . . Understand what the will of the Lord is."
This means Christian education -- in all of life. This means training for eternity.
Expensive? Yes, of course, in both time and money. We pay our full share of taxes for the public schools, and we support our own school in addition to this. But we count it a privilege to have this wonderful opportunity, in a land of freedom, to dedicate ourselves and our children entirely to God.
Ginny Baker, 2293 East FM 564, Mineola TX 75773
Permission given to copy.
Airplane Philosophy…
by Linda Hoffman @ Chalcedon
The airplane philosophy…"If you're traveling with children, please secure your relationship with God before you assist your children with theirs."
Blame it on the Wine
by St. John Chrysostom, Homilies 57:5
"What? Did the wine, O man, produce this evil?—St. John Chrysostom, Homilies 57:5
Not the wine, O man,
but the intemperance of such as take an evil delight in it.
Say then, 'Would there were no drunkenness …,'
but if thou say 'Would there were no wine,'
thou wilt say, going on by degrees,
'Would there were no steel, because of the murderers;
no night, because of the thieves;
no light, because of the informers;
no women, because of the adulteries;'
and, in a word, thou wilt destroy all."
Is Finding the Will of God a Biblical Idea? or really a pagan notion?) by Bruce Waltke @ Christian Counter Culture
For many, trying to discover "God's will" is a confusing and frustrating process. In an effort to divine God's will, people try praying harder, meditating more on Scripture, or briefly living a better life. But such activities have more in common with paganism than with biblical Christianity. Exploring a misunderstood area of Christian concern, Bruce Waltke asks, Can we ever know God's will? He gently shows readers that the truest course to the will of God is found in faithfully answering the call to walk close to the Lord and be conformed to his likeness. Only then will we have the heart of God and know what pleases him.
The Blessing of a Boring Testimony
by P. Andrew Sandlin @ Chalcedon
...One of the most moving statements I've ever read is that of the French
Reformed baptismal liturgy, recorded in Philip J. Lee's masterful Against
the Protestant Gnostics:
Little child, for you Jesus Christ has come, He has fought, He has suffered. For you he entered into the shadows of Gethsemane and the terror of Calvary; for you He uttered the cry "it is finished." For you He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, and there for you He intercedes. For you, even though you do not know it, little child, but in this way the Word of the Gospel is made true, "We love Him because He first loved us."
Tippling Teens and Young Boozers
by Joel Miller @ Razor Mouth
Does more youth-drinking justify greater federal involvement in anti-alcohol efforts?
...Great. The institutions that have done so well in curbing drug abuse are to take over liquor reduction as well. Drugs still pour into the U.S. despite heightened seizure efforts and bigger busts every month. Now we're going to duplicate this success for the teen-drinking problem? Expect your pimple-faced, ratty-haired youth to come home spittle-spewing drunk tonight.
...the only thing reaching epidemic proportions is bad parenting, and the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse study should be nothing more than a goad for parents to redouble their efforts at guiding their children to greater maturity.
Teen Booze Redux Goofing up youth gulping-down numbers
Too Smart for Homeschooling?
by Dale Meador @ Razor Mouth
Gasbag Parade pundit says educating kids leads to unfulfilled lives...
...Oh, the horror of it. Imagine: parents raising their children! What could be more abhorrent and unnatural than a mother teaching her child?
Good grief! If we encourage this sort of thing, more and more “bright young parents” will “sacrifice” a “rewarding” career to “stay home and teach the children!” They’ll foolishly trade a 10 or 15 year stint behind a 30x60 inch desk in a 60x90 inch cubicle down at the agency, sorting through paperwork and producing goods or services that no one will remember 15 minutes after they retire, for a life spent building character in another human being!
Tolkien's Ordinary Virtues
by Mary Eddy Smith @ the Discerning Reader
...For Smith, like the rest of us, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings yields essential lessons in living. In this eloquent book, Smith approaches Middle-earth as a training ground, "a place where [we] can apprentice to those whose gifts of charity, wisdom, kindness, mercy, love and faithfulness far surpass [our] own."
Invasion of the Pod People
by Brian M. Abshire @ Chalcedon
...Let me suggest that these people are not Christians, no matter how “orthodox” their profession may be. They are pod people, like in those cheesy old 50’s movies, where aliens look like, talk like and act like human beings, but are really something nasty and sinister. They are among us, they fellowship with us, sometimes they preach from our pulpits, teach in our seminaries and serve on our elder boards.
Conquest of the Pod People
by Brian M. Abshire @ Chalcedon
...They are among us. They look like us, they talk like us, and they act like us. But they are not of us. They are… Pod People…
It's Time We Talked About "Tongues"
Christian CounterCulture online magazine
...A few generations ago, bringing up the subject of "tongues" would have led most Christians to think of passages such as James 1:26 (above). But the recent "pentacostalizing" of Christianity has eclipsed the Bible's emphasis in favor of the more "ecstatic" one. Today's "feelings-obsessed" Christian culture is quite willing to ascend into a state of irrational exuberance in the name of spirituality. But descending to the rather mundane world of individual acts of word and deed... well, this is just the sort of "spirituality" our generation seems to disdain. After all, you can place moral judgments on acts of this kind; they can be right or wrong, good or bad — a serious violation of postmodern sensibilities. Yet this is what the Bible demands.
Hail Lincoln, Full of Grace
by Jamey Bennett @ Razor Mouth
...This week, public schools across the U.S. are celebrating the "holy day" of Abraham Lincoln's birth. If you are like those children, and most other Americans, you were raised to think that Lincoln was a wonderful gentleman, full of grace and truth. Charles Adams, tax historian and scholar, paints a much more realistic picture of Lincoln in his work When in the Course of Human Events, showing Lincoln in all the grandeur of his terrible dictatorship.
Why Atheists Don't Exist
by Doug Fattig @ The Door Magazine
Pondering the imponderable
Quit Digging Foxholes for God
by Michael E. Rench @ Chalcedon
...An Open Letter to all of the Rapture Theorists in the Worldwide Evangelical Community.
One suggestion; Stop the nonsense.
For the last 180 years, false prophets in the evangelical community (I am not talking about cults now) have been telling their congregations to get ready cause Jesus could come this year, etc. But Jesus did not come. So the question remains, if He did not come, could he have done so? Well, our Lord can do whatever God ordains that he should do. The issue is not what is Christ capable of doing? The issue is what has God ordained for Christ to do in the future? What is the prophetic witness of Scripture concerning the future? What if there is more to God's prophetic plan than meets the evangelical imminent eye? What if there is not merely more, but What? What if the whole prophetic scheme of the Rapture Theorists is seriously askew and unbiblical?