I was thinking

A society which denies the existence of God implicitly disavows any universal moral commonality and framework by which mans conscience is empowered to convict based upon actions.  Lacking any morals constants, prior restraint is not a justifiably actionable sociological function.  A pragmatic consensus replaces the conscience; laws exist to structure mans pursuit of self-exaltation and possession.  This leads to a society which is governed by that selfsame consensus, replacing justice with pleasure, desire, and hunger.  Reducing mankind to aimless drifters; travelers toward a hope that cannot be found, a hunger which cannot be satisfied and a thirst that can never be quenched.  And with the loss of restitution as the natural consequence of the violation of your neighbors sanctity, a moral downgrade and the rise of deliberate lawlessness is inevitable.  Mankind becomes stranded on a ferry that never crosses the river of moral indecision and so is carried along by strong, deep currents of idolatry to later be spit out onto a sea of unintended nihilism.  Without justice there is no rudder, no ferryman to see us to the other side.

The Community of Costco

In that I work for a large warehouse style retailer, this struck a chord with me.

“Gone are the days when we knew the wheelwrights and cobblers who worked for us.  The anonymity of our world makes accountability a vague and abstract virtue.  The cord has been broken by the distance that has cropped up between the worker and the consumer, a distance imposed by the complexities of modern factory production and the many layers of people who are, in one way or another, involved in the sale and distribution of the product.  In the whole process, the worker is disengaged from any sense of responsibility for the quality of the product, any sense of accountability to the person who eventually purchases the product.”

NO PLACE FOR TRUTH, By David Wells

Reasons Why I Am Not A Theonomist

The Kingdom of God post-theocracy is manifested within the confines of the covenant community apart from a visible, national body, both within the families of covenant members and the administration of Word and Sacrament in the visible, institutional Church. Both of which are private, apolitical activities. Also, Christianity cannot claim any manner of superiority in regards to moral, ethical, or legal codes, rather, it shares those with the secular culture; for man, not possessing the law, still has its memory in his conscience, and so, knowing right from wrong, he shows that morality and ethical behavior are not localized with the Christian tradition but in the possession of Cain as well as Seth. And in doing so man reveals himself to be in the possession of a knowledge of justice, without which and primarily by, all legal systems legal systems find their substance.

Furthermore, within this secular or non-sectarian culture, the duty of the civil magistrate, in the execution of his office, is to restrain evil in society, not to transform individuals. Religious expression and freedom exist only within the domain of a government which shows no partiality to one group over another, and this is provided by the secular magistrate and the principality of which he is a representative; for ecclesiastical, constantinian forms of government allow for no dissent but instead enforce an artificial homogeneity. As well, the civil magistrate has not been charged with the furtherance of the Kingdom of God but rather it is the people of God who live under the civil magistrate who have been charged with the furtherance of the Kingdom of God through the preaching of the Gospel. For “Common grace was introduced to act as a rein to hold in check the curse on mankind and to make possible an interim historical environment as the theater for a program of redemption.”[1] What is interesting as well, is that we see the origin of cultural activity in the civilization of Cain(Genesis 4:17-22), indicating a non-redemptive nature. As well, the republishing of the cultural mandate in the Noahic Covenant(Gen 9) lacks a Sabbath addendum, indicating the secular nature of the restraining forces and aesthetic elements of culture.[2] In this identification, culture becomes the the strand of unity between the those in covenant with Yahweh and those who are not, a blessing that falls on the just and the unjust alike.

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Notes
1. Meredith G. Kline Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview (2006, Wipf & Stock) Pg 155
2. Ibid; pg 155 “For to place the stamp of the Sabbath on a cultural program is to set it apart as holy to God, as a bearer of divine name and of the promise of being crowned with consummation glory.”

Sacramental Activity?

The distinction between the faith, piety and practice of confessionally Reformed Christianity and the faithfulness, pietism and practicality of much of Evangelicalism becomes apparent in the contrast of response to initiative. The difference between Word and Sacrament vs. advice and excitement is that one produces gratitude in response to the Law and Gospel, while the other incites, through psychological manipulation and suggestion; an introspection and insecurity that in turn is used to justify the pursuit of a pietism that produces a rationalistic gnosticism nourished by a lack of confidence in the life and work of Christ and an overemphasis of the ability of the individual. Sin becomes confused with the affectations and accouterments of the sinner and creation is divided into the “sacred” and the “secular”. By this conflation of substance into the sin which utilizes it, an inverse conclusion is arrived at; for if one thing can be sinful than why can’t sanctification be caused by the possession and use of Christian “culture” and “merchandise”?

The reinvention and reintroduction of iconoclasm into much of mainstream Protestantism is the result of a loss of confidence in the traditional method of preaching and by a view which transforms the sacraments into empty sepulchers of memory. The verbal method of transmission that is preaching is no longer viewed as sufficient to reach the masses. Baptism has become a mere act of obedience and communion a memorial, remembering nothing but a name. Nothing is communicated, nothing is received other than the reminisce of a deed. So what inevitably occurs is that other, cultural and non-ordained practices are elevated to the level of sacrament and thought to communicate that necessary spiritual food to our souls. The most notable example is contemporary Christian music, but this envisioning of “stuff” that sanctifies by communicating grace is extended into the civil realm.

Thus, what we do has become sacramental in much of Evangelicalism; in the counter culture of societal sanctification or the sacramental application of Christendom, vocation has become a sacrament, rather than a common element of creation. It is thought that we must now resort to the contextualization of the Church and the Gospel into the new media, maintaining relevance in the new world. And so the recidivism of the verbal to the pictorial is of inevitable necessity in the new paradigm in order to advance the kingdom of God. Spiritual utilitarianism, the new iconoclasm, the new industry of indulgences fueling the false expectation that a parochial culture will produce a life of sanctity, mortification of the flesh, and ultimately the notion that we can express and present the life and work of Jesus Christ with nary a word from our mouths; personal piety over corporate, covenantal participation, one finds that the objectivity of the covenant to be too rankling to man who would pull God down to him.

This is a form of Christianity that has more in common with the pioneer spirit and rugged individualism of early America than the historic Christian Church; the me first and God second religion, looking to God for reward and safety rather than mercy and grace. Furthermore, in this commingling of cult and culture, this confusion of the two kingdoms, some within the Church begin to see themselves as a political body empowered and compelled to take action by virtue of their status and possession of moral and ethical “superiority” in the culture to transform it. Yet, lacking authority, but proclaiming superiority of ethics and culture, they inevitably generate the the notion that they are fundamentalist, extremist, intolerant of all but their own kind and seeking to bring all people under the sway of their ideologies.

My position is that this, if practiced on a large scale this cannot but help to cause a reaction of oppression, discrimination, and fear. Thus the identity of the Church, when not in political ascendency will be that of the oppressed, but a persecution  caused by a paradigm of manifest destiny rather than simply the preaching of the Gospel. And to begin to associate the people of God, or the Church, with the political and socially oppressed is to incorporate, implicitly, the notion of revolution as a viable act in the furtherance of the Gospel and the liberation of God’s people in order to extend the reach of the Kingdom of Heaven. What makes this even more odd is that this notion of being on the outside looking in is developed by the American Church in a situation of affluence and in the absence of real political and social oppression in comparison to the global, in/visible church; this is not the liberation theology of Latin America, where there is real oppression. Therefore, any oppression that does occur is the consequence of an attitude of ascendancy and arrogance, not on account of a confession of Christ as Lord as primary but the way in which they use the Word of God as a manifesto for all life.

To do this is to believe that the Church’s place in this present evil age is one of social and cultural domination and enforced cultural homogeny rather than contribution without permanence; that we contribute to society, on the terms that Caesar has set without seeking to become Caesar. The Church must be content to dwell in the tents of impermanence rather than in cities of permanence.

The Mega-Mart

I remember when I was a child that the church which we attended had a bookstore in the foyer, directly to the right of the sanctuary. It didn’t occur to me until much later exactly what an unholy marriage of commercialism and sanctity that that was.

I tend to think that there is a connection between the historic selling of indulgences and the modern idea of “christian” merchandise for the non-theological”spiritual edification” of the body of Christ. It tends to create a false sense of ones spiritual maturity based entirely on a new system of “kosher”. The union of the Church and the market serves only to create and perpetuate the notion that how we do Christianity and the Christian life are primarily choices of the individual, of the heart and of affluence. Often, this is the characteristic element in the Christian counter-culture or “ghetto”; that the clothing we wear, the books which we read, the music and art we enjoy, and sometimes even the food that we partake of, that these are the things which primarily mark us as Christians. It is the affectations that are taken upon ourselves rather than a belief which we confess. And unfortunately, the aesthetics that are employed in the practical structure of the Church become what all Christianity should look like and those who differ in appearance are immediately thrust outside of the pale of orthodoxy.

And all this is seen in the transformation of the the bible and the Gospel itself into a commodity to be marketed, packaged, and sold at a premium, resetting the table in the temple and transforming the Sunday service into a commercial for the store right out the door. In appealing to man’s desires rather than declaring his needs, the Church becomes marked not by her confession but by her appearance, now as the kindly spiritual grocer who will give sage advice and and purport to sell only American made, 100% organic spiritual nourishment for the spiritually destitute. Ours is a society that values aesthetics and utility over authenticity and truth. What will it do for me and my status rather than ” what does the scripture say” is the prevailing common wisdom. This is the Mega-Mart Church, where Christianity of every conceivable permutation lines the shelves, awaiting the consumer to choose them; maybe they’ll have a coupon.

 

 

 

One step forward, two steps back: Confessional Digression

Convictions are the root on which the tree of vital Christianity grows. No conviction, no Christianity. Scanty conviction, hunger-bitten Christianity. Profound conviction, solid and substantial religion. Ignorance is not the mother of religion, but of irrreligion. The knowledge of God is eternal life, and to know God means that we know him aright.

Faith and Life by B. B. Warfield from Selected Shorter Writings, Vol 1

I think at the heart of the motivation for the confessional subscription of both the parish assembly and the governing officers, there lies conviction. Not the desire for status but submission and accountability is what compels the faithful to bear the weight of their conviction. Subscription is nothing more than a public proclamation and attestation to the biblical content of the confession regarding the faith, piety, and practice of the Christian, but it is nothing less than that either.

The abandonment of the confessional framework for preserving and instructing the Church in many areas emanates from the dissolution of conviction-unable to stand against the unwavering assault of cultural secularism and inclusivism- which leads, I think, to the slow, and methodical abandonment of the purity of the Gospel. Because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is simply too exclusive, too socially passive for the philosophical pluralism that seems to be holding sway at this point in history.

But it does not stop at the mere dissolution of conviction but in the concession to ideologies and the metaphysical narratives of secular, philosophical pluralism. With convictions left to wither, a void is left which must be filled in order to balance the ballasts. In relation to this loss of grounding, the question of ecumenism is often at the heart of the call for either the revising or abandoning of the confessional structure and method of subscription because the less that is said, the easier, it is said, we can avoid unnecessarily schismatic altercations and preserve and broaden the unity of the body of Christ; the five sola’s of the Reformation and those who hold to them, being the main cause of such schism. Often it is precisely not that which is common to the historic Christian creeds and confessions which is included in such documents but that which is the bare minimum that must be believed in order to don the moniker of Christian. In relation, Warfield said,

Least of all, are we to seek unity by surrendering all public or organized testimony to all truth except that minimum which-just because it is the minimum, less than which no man can believe and be a Christian-all Christians of all names can unite in confessing. Subjection to the tyranny of the unbeliever is no more essential to unity than subjection to the tyranny of the believer (say the Pope); and this of course can mean nothing other than-”Let him that believes least among you be your lawgiver.” There is a sense, of course, in which the visible unity of the Church is based on the common belief and confession of the body of truth held alike by all who are Christians; but this is not the same as saying that it must be based on the repression of all organized testimony to truth not yet held by all alike.

True Church Unity: What It Is, in Selected Shorter Writings Vol. 1

It seems for some reason that many Churches and Denominations are digressing to a past recollection of a time of ignorance, calling it a simple faith. From Confession to simpler Creedal statements, to end in heresy. Inevitably, the degradation of the confessional nature of a protestant congregation or denomination will result in the loss of that which is exclusive and essential to the historic Christian faith, those theological and doctrinal threads which come together to weave the tapestry of the Drama of Redemption.