Comments on: The “Two Kingdoms” Tyranny

By: moog

moog — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:29:00 +0000

(2 of 2) In chapter one he referrences 'The monumental work of St. Augustine' "The City of God" in which St. Augustine explained, humanity is confronted by two cities – The City of God and the City of Man. The City of God is eternal and takes as its sole concern the greater glory of God. Here, all things are ruled by God's Word, and the perfect rule of God is the passion of all its citizens. In the City of Man there is a far different reality. This city is filled with mixed passions, mixed allegiances, and compromised principles. Unlike the City of God, whos citizens are marked by unconditional obedience to the commands of God, citizens of the City of Man demonstrate deadly patterns of disobedience, even as they celebrate, claim their moral autonomy, and then revolt against the Creator. See any similarities to our political class?

By: moog

moog — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:28:42 +0000

(1 of 2) In the book "Culture Shift" by R. Albert Mohler Jr. so vividly and accurately characterized the root cause of our culture shift away from the institutions of faith, family, and freedom toward the monolithic culture of the elite political class, which accepts no judgement or point of view that is anything less than the monolithic artifact of self worship – revealed sublimely as the secular alter upon which all freedom should and must be sacrificed for the greater good of non-religion, non-representative, non judgmental, non-offensive aspects of social order. Or else!

By: J.R.

J.R. — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:13:38 +0000

I believe you severely misunderstand the two-kingdoms model. That the church has abdicated its responsibilities is an unfortunate fact, but that abandonment is more along the extreme lines of D.L. Moody and the Anabaptists than a two-kingdoms model which merely understands that you can't Christianize America (or any other nation) by holding a National Day of Prayer. America is not the promised land and never will be. While we can work for morality, justice, and peace, we must never think we have a Christian nation simply because we have more Pro-life congressmen than not, or because we are allowed to have a creche on a government lawn. Too many work for those temporal things, and not enough for the eternal. Just pointing out the other side of the coin; your point about the church not doing enough for its members is well taken. But be careful what you blame for it. I think it's human selfishness, not two-kingdom tyranny.

By: James H. Dobbins

James H. Dobbins — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 22:32:22 +0000

Joel,
Interesting article. Thanks. I suggest that the Church, specifically the Catholic Church, has never abandoned the teaching of Moses, for it has been incorporated into the commandments of Jesus, who told us to love others as He has loved us; and to love our neighbor as we love ourself. In addition, typology is a major field of study which helps us see the totality of God’s salvation history. Many organizations throughout the universal Church do this, such as the St. Vincent DePaul Society and Catholic Charities. At our parish in Virginia, over 85% of the people we help are not Catholic, and most are sent to us by the local county offices because they cannot handle it. We also have “sister” parishes in impoverished areas whom we support. As to the issue of large salaries, our priests make approximately $700.00 a month and the bishop does not make much more, an infinidecimal part of the total contributions even though our priests do not have an outside job. Their lives are dedicated completely to the Church. The salary of our previous bishop was so small he was refused an American Express card. We also have Church affiliated organizations, like the Knights of Columbus, who do a great deal of charity work. We do try to care for our poor, both corporately and at the parish level. Our nuns, who are nurses, provide a great deal of help to our senior citizens in many different ways. They also run organizations for women who are abused, are in a crisis pregnancy, and who are trying to recover from the emotional effects of an abortion. Most other parishes have similar programs. But one of the greatest tragedies is the division among churches. Jesus founded His Church, and it is still His. He also called for one flock and one shepherd. He abhors division. Shortly before his death, Luther wrote a letter to his wife in which he said he wished he had never broken from the Catholic Church. He said the result was not what he sought, and he lamented the division that began among protestants in less than 10 years after he broke. Now, in the US alone, there are over 30,000 different protestant denominations, something that must make Jesus weep. You are right, Luther was wrong. He was also wrong to think he had the right to remove seven books from the bible because he disagreed with them, regardless of his publicly stated reasons.

By: Nik

Nik — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:46:44 +0000

Thank you so much for saving me out of the 2K Theology!! I'm one of those "young, restless and reformed" who have stumbled upon Calvinism. I also was saved from my pessimistic eschatology (into Postmill)! But… I've been listening to White Horse Inn as a pass-time (I loved their cultural exegesis and criticism of pop-evangelicalism). As I listened I became increasingly convicted of my desire for Christian society and my Theonomic itchings. I started to think I was wrong to want markets free, abortion eliminated, wars held accountable to scripture and Christian culture allowed to be expressed publicly. It is due to your site (and others) that have helped pull me out of 2K! This article is particularly helpful!

The hope is in Kuyper's scriptural understanding of sphere sovereignty and people like you promoting an alternative to the anabaptist leanings of Westminster west.

Thank you for your service!! And thanks for not being afraid of Rushdoony !!!

By: Jim Humble

Jim Humble — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:46:22 +0000

Airwolf

The church I go to helps people,we do not have social security,but we do have a welfare program, financial counseling, debt counseling.
Our preachers do not get a salaries,they volunteer to preach.
Our church is some the first group of people to show up in any disaster around the world to help with food and clothing.