Touching The Organic Nature Of Christian Doctrine & The Superiority Of Right Doctrine

“The Christian truth, with the certifying of which we have to do, is essentially only one, compact in itself, vitally interconnected, — as such at the same time organic, — and it is therefore not possible one should possess and retain a portion of the same, while yet not possessing, or rejecting, the other portions. On the contrary, the member or portion of the truth, which it had been thought to be appropriate or maintain alone, would by this isolating cease to be that which it was or is in itself; it would become an empty form or husk, from which the life, the Christian reality, has escaped.”
F. H. R. Frank
19th Century Lutheran Theologian

I challenge anyone to understand and embrace the truth in the quote above while at the same time saying things like, “the differences between credo-baptism and paedo-baptism shouldn’t be a matter to divide over,” or “whether it is the memorial view of Communion, or whether the receptionist view or whether the transubstantiation view we can still all just get along,” or “eschatology doesn’t matter, one can be premil, postmil, amill or preterist and still be co-laborers together.” Understanding the truth in the italicized quote above makes one decidedly particular in his understanding of the Christian faith. Now, that is not to say that there aren’t allowances to be made for other Christian systems (Lutheran, Baptist, Holiness, Pentecostal, Wesleyan etc.) that have errors in them. We should be able to be like B. B. Warfield who said that;

“There is but one kind of theism, religion, evangelicalism; and the several constructions laying claim to these names differ from each other not as correlative species of a broader class, but as more or less perfect, or more or less defective, exemplifications of a single species. Calvinism conceives of itself as simply the more pure theism, religion, evangelicalism, superseding as such the less pure.”

And so the Calvinist owns the less pure expressions of Christianity as Christianity but quite without communicating that all the examples given in the paragraph after the italicized quote (and more) don’t really matter. Those differences do matter and having errant views on these matters stunts the maturity of Christians who hold to those views, and frankly ends up making those who hold to the less pure expressions to be weaker Christians having lesser character. Bad theology hurts people — even people who are beyond doubt united to Christ.

So, the Calvinist will seek, at one and the same time, to correct his errant brother while still calling him “Brother.” The Calvinist will not act as if all of the doctrines of the Christian faith are not organic. The Calvinist will not suggest that some doctrines of the Christian faith are optional and this because the Calvinist understands that the Christian faith is organic and that Calvinism is the most faithful expression of the Christian faith.

Dalrymple On Propaganda

“Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to cooperate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.”

~ Theodore Dalrymple

1.) Dalrymple here goes a long way towards suggesting that not being open about your convictions in order to protect one’s self from consequences, when practiced on a wide scale, guarantees that the propaganda will win the day.

2.) Think about all the absurd things we have been told in the recent past that had no correspondence to reality.

a.) Wearing masks will aid in delivering you from getting Covid
b.) We went from being told that “getting a untested vaccine will prevent covid” to being told, “getting an untested vaccine will diminish the impact of covid.”

c.) Large jets flying into tall buildings make the buildings collapse
d.) The Epstein files are not that important
e.) Jeffrey Epstein killed himself while guards and cameras abounded
f.) Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine are ineffective against covid
d.) Iraq has weapons of mass destruction
e.) The Israeli Government did not know about 10/7 before it happened
g.) The USS Liberty was our fault (Doug Wilson – Amfest)
h.) The covid vaccine is “safe and effective.”
i.) Charlie Kirk was murdered by a sole crazed gunman
j.) Race is a social construct
k.) Men can be born in women’s bodies and women can be born in men’s bodies

After reading the list above now go back and re-read the quote above. All of the above has been dished out to us in order to humiliate us. It is gaslighting propaganda on a massive scale to the end of controlling us via controlling our ability to think rationally. As Dalrymple notes the end of all this is the inability to distinguish good from evil, and truth from lies. A people who are inundated with this kind of methodology (and we are inundated with it) become a people who no longer even have the opportunity to be a people with integrity.

All of this is why Solzhenitsyn admonished us to “live not by lies.”

A Revisionist Reading List On WW I

Recently, someone asked me for a reading list for revisionist history of WW I.

1.) The Myth of a Guilty Nation — Albert Jay Nock

Nock demonstrates that the basis of the Versailles treaty, that Germany was uniquely guilty for starting WW I is an outright lie. Nock brings forth documents and quotes from politicians at the time that demonstrate that Germany indeed was not uniquely responsible for the war. Nock does not argue that Germany had no responsibility for the war though his work points in the direction of Germany being the nation aggressed against and not the aggressors.

2.) The Two Edwards; How King Edward VII & Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey Fomented The First World War — Peter Hof

Hof is convinced that the two Edwards secretly planned and arranged the war. Hof insists that both lied in order to steer the nation into war with Germany. Other books (Quigley especially) will suggest that all of this was part and parcel of Alfred Lord Milner’s conspiratorial work with the Round Table movement.

3.) World War One; A Short History — Norman Stone

Stone provides a quick read highlighting some of the more traditional understandings of the war. However, he also introduces some interesting “what ifs” along the way.

4.) Germany Not Guilty In 1914 – M. H. Cochran

This book is written in response to a prominent historian at the time Bernadotte Schmitt who had written a hatchet job of a book putting all the responsibility of the war upon Germany.

5.) Two World Wars & Hitler; Who Was Responsible — Dr. Jim Macgregor & Dr. John O’Dowd

6.) Hidden History; The Secret Origins of the First World War; Gerry Docherty & Jim Macgregor

7.) Prolonging the Agony: How the Anglo American Establishment Deliberately extended World War I by Three-and-a-Half Years; Jim Macgregor & Gerry Docherty

 

A Conversation We’d Like To See Take Place

It was the Christmas season and being in the gift-giving mode Evan handed the Pastor a copy of “Who Is My Neighbor,” the anthology assembled by Achord & Dow

“What’s this” Pastor Jackie said staring suspiciously at the gift.

Evan answered, “It’s a book that reveals that the Church has for centuries supported what is now called Kinism.”

Pastor Jackie, visibly stiffened and imperceptibly snorted. He informed Evan that he’s heard about this book and the word coming back to him was that these were a bunch of quotes mined and taken out of context.

Evan, never one to be put off, said; “Have you or any of your clergy buddies or even anyone you know ever demonstrated that any of these quotes in this volume are taken out of context?”

Pastor Jackie’s hair stood on end. He realized now that this was a challenge and not merely a conversation. He understood that this was a gift the same with giving someone the plague might be a gift.

Evan took Rev. Glease’s silent hesitation for the concession that it was and immediately unloosened a verbal arrow that went straight for the Pastor’s shrinking heart;

“Look, Pastor, if you can’t demonstrate and prove to me that this book is just quote mining then I don’t think you should be spouting that this book is just filled with quotes taken out of context. Until you or any of your friends can demonstrate that this book is just filled with quotes taken out of context I’m going to be handing out these books in church like eggs at the annual Rotary club Easter Egg hunt.”

With that Evan pivoted and left behind a dumb struck Rev. Jackie Glease. Glease knew he not only had just been thunderstruck, he knew that his real problems were yet ahead of him. He knew Evan was not one to be shushed. He knew that soon enough he would be inundated with appointments with people who wanted to probe about the quotes in the Acord & Dow Anthology, “Who Is My Neighbor.”

He also found himself praying that his people wouldn’t learn about the other anthology that also was filled with quotes on the same subject. Rev. Glease knew that answering questions on “Who Is My Neighbor” didn’t need to be complicated by having to answer questions on the anthology “A Survey of Racialism In Christian Sacred Tradition,” by Alexander Storen.

Glease went into his study and picked up the phone and put in a call to Doug Wilson. Certainly Doug would have some clever way to dismiss all these bothersome quotes.

Vos On The Implications Of The Image Of God In Man

“The man bears God’s image means much more than that he is a spirit and possesses understanding, will, etc. It means above all that he is disposed for communion with God, that all the capacities of his soul can act in a way that corresponds to their destiny only if they rest in God. This is the nature of man. That is to say, there is no sphere of life that lies outside their relationship with God and in which religion would not be the ruling principle. According to the Roman Catholic conception, there is a natural man who functions in the world, and that natural man adopts a religion that takes place beyond his nature. According to our conception, our entire nature should not be free from God at any point; the nature of man must be worship from beginning to end. According to the deeper Protestant conception, the image does not exist only in correspondence with God but in being disposed toward God. God’s nature is, as it were, the stamp; our nature is the impression made by this stamp. Both fit together.

Geerhardus Vos
Reformed Dogmatics Vol. II – pg. 13-14

1.) This quote proves that Vos would have abominated R2K with its teaching that there are spheres of life that lie outside the Christian’s relationship with God and in which the Christian religion is not to be the ruling principle.

2.) This quote also attacks the Thomistic Roman Catholic paradigm of Natural law. When Vos offers;

According to the Roman Catholic conception, there is a natural man who functions in the world, and that natural man adopts a religion that takes place beyond his nature. According to our conception, our entire nature should not be free from God at any point; the nature of man must be worship from beginning to end. According to the deeper Protestant conception, the image does not exist only in correspondence with God but in being disposed toward God.

Vos is telling us that one can’t excise the natural man in order to place him in a natural law realm that isn’t conditioned by religion. Religion does not take place beyond man’s nature. Thomists (Roman Catholic and “Reformed”) are the ones who will advocate that the image of God in man only exists in correspondence with God. The Reformed always taught this was not the case but rather that the image of God in man was found in man being disposed toward God, when not in rebellion against God.

3.) Natural Law advocates work assiduously to make sure that religion is not the ruling principle in every area of life. Whether it is the stout Natural Law types like R2K, or whether it is the Amber Ale Natural Law types, both try to place some kind of buffer zone between religion and every area of life to the end of muting the impact of religion.