Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away
On the so-called “free market” and the economic idolatry of the “invisible hand”:
“The alcoholic with plenty of money and access to an open liquor store may, in a purely negative sense, be free from anything interfering with getting what he wants; but in reality he is profoundly unfree and cannot free himself.”
William T. Cavanaugh, Being Consumed, p. 8.
Thomas Blake:
“[Antinomians] alwaies speak of those places which declare God’s grace to us, but not our duty to him …the severing of the promise from the duty, so that Christ is heard only in a promise, not at all in a precept, when they heare that Christ will save; but are never told that they must repent. These are but delusions; promise-Preachers, and not duty-Preachers; grace-Preachers, and not repentance-Preachers”
Quoted in David Parnham, “Motions of Law and Grace: The Puritan in the Antinomian,” Westminster Theological Journal 70.1 (Spring 2008): 73-104.
Earth population “exceeds limits.”
Idolatrous myths that lead to the liquidation of human beings. She is Science and Technology Advisor to Hillary Clinton, but I doubt there is any “science” backing her religious claims of over-population.
And statistics is not the same as science. Science as a discipline cannot go from “there are this many people” (a statistical observation) to “there ought to be this many people” (a moral imperative) without faith.
Alexis de Tocqueville predicted it in his Democracy in America. We Christians must be aware of the idolatry of our society.
The OPC Presbytery of Northern California and Nevada had a conference on animus imponentis on February 6 and 7. Rev. Alan Strange, Dr. John Fesko, Dr. George Knight, and John Muether each spoke on the subject and there was a Q&A time. It was recorded and is available on the Presbytery’s website for download in MP3 format.
Though the author is a Roman Catholic, this op-ed not only provides a timeline of telling statistics, it raises important questions about the ethics of contraceptives.
Along the lines of what Ellul would say, the creation of of contraceptives is nothing less than the creation of a new technology, which forces us to think about appropriate use and detrimental effects on society. How does this technology change our view of marriage, procreation, and sex? How might a Christian’s use speak of the wisdom of God in creation without resulting in foolish disorder?
If we don’t think about these questions, we’ll fall into (ethical) pits and be just like the world.
Recommended reading:
. This gives a detailed history of the “sex revolution” and its connection with pagan spirituality & contrasts this with a Christian view of sex.
“It was the largest church service I’ve ever seen.” I don’t think the NPR reporter who spoke these words knew how perceptive she was being. Sometimes mixing politics and religion produces a new religion.
From Obama’s misuse of Scripture (1 Cor. 13:11) in his inaugural speech to the irreverence of the closing prayer, the evidence that Christianity has been remade into an American religion is obvious. Rick Warren himself prayed more as an American than as a Christian, including everyone present regardless of faith: “Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans–united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.”
We as worshippers in this great religion (call it “Americanity”?) are to leave this mountaintop inaugural revival in “the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family,” as the Rev. Lowery put it (apparently the good reverend forgot what Paul wrote in Romans 8:9). We are to take this power with us as we return “to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your [presumably God's?] will.”
We have our marching orders and we have our hope, a hope illustrated in Scripture with the imagery of swords being beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks (cf., Isa. 2:4; Joel 3:10; Micah 4:3) which, for Christians, refer to the new heavens and new earth, but to adherents of the American religion, this hope is now made possible due to a newly inaugurated president.
Indeed, it was a large church service, but let’s be more clear on nature of the faith being practiced. And it’s not Christianity.
Recommended reading:
. Nichols was recently interviewed on the topic of this book by Ken Myers on Mars Hill Audio Journal 92 and on the Christ the Center podcast.
. A more academic work than Nichols’, Hatch demonstrates persuasively how revolutionary democratic principles wound up influencing American Christianity.
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