Second Word — Blessings & Cursings

Text — Exodus 19:4, 20:22-26, 34:17, Lev. 26:1-2, Dt. 4:15-24, 11:16-17, 27:15
Subject — Images
Theme — Blessings and cursings associated with Idol worship.
Proposition — The blessings and cursing associated with idol worship should cause us to to eschew all idolatry.
Purpose — Therefore having considered the blessings and cursing associated

By way of Introduction this morning we note that the Law of God for His people is not cordoned off into some private space in our lives or restricted in application to our personal lives. God’s law is totalistic in its application.

That Reformed people have not constrained God’s law to some private personal sphere or limited it in its application to some Church realm has been a conviction that has been around for a very long time in Reformed Church. That God’s law is totalistic in its application is seen by a few quotes,

“It is our duty, as far as lies in our power, immediately to organize human society and all its institutions and organs upon a distinctively Christian basis. Indifference or impartiality here between the law of the kingdom and the law of the world, or of its prince, the devil, is utter treason to the King of Righteousness … The Bible, the great statute-book of the Kingdom, explicitly lays down principles which, when candidly applied, will regulate the action of every human being in all relations. There can be no compromise. The King said, with regard to all descriptions of moral agents in all spheres of activity, “He that is not with me is against me.” If the national life in general is organized upon non-Christian principles, the churches which are embraced within the universal assimilating power of that nation will not long be able to preserve their integrity.”

~ A. A. Hodge

“…And this generall Rule give me leave to assert and commend to your most serious considerations and consciences. That whatsoever Law of God, or Command of His, we find recorded in the Law-booke, in either of the Volumnes of GOD’S Statute, the N.T. or the Old, Remaines obligatory to us, unless we can prove it to be expired, or repealed. So it is with the Statute-Law of this Nation, or any Nation.”

Herbert Palmer – 1601-1647
English Puritan
Sermon before Parliament — August 13, 1644

“But it is questioned whether the law pertains to the kingdom of Christ, which is spiritual and distinct from all earthly dominion; and there are some men, not otherwise ill-disposed, to whom it appears that our condition under the Gospel is different from that of the ancient people under the law; not only because the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, but because Christ was unwilling that the beginnings of His kingdom should be aided by the sword. But, when human judges consecrate their work to the promotion of Christ’s kingdom, I deny that on that account its nature is changed. For, although it was Christ’s will that His Gospel should be proclaimed by His disciples in opposition to the power of the whole world, and He exposed them armed with the Word alone like sheep amongst the wolves, He did not impose on Himself an eternal law that He should never bring kings under His subjection, nor tame their violence, nor change them from being cruel persecutors into the patrons and guardians of His Church.”

John Calvin
Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses — p. 77.

I could provide reams and reams more of similar quotes. All I am seeking to establish by such quotes is that Reformed people have for 500 years insisted the God’s law is not restricted to some personal private realm nor has God’s law been seen as less than totalistic (covering every realm of life) for all people.

And the reason I take the time to note this is that there are some pretty heavy Reformed hitters out there who are insisting that God’s law does not apply to the public square but instead the public square must be governed by a Natural law that is not allowed to explicitly reference God’s revealed Law in order to inform how we are governed.

When we come to God’s law we see a parallel in the way God’s works in ordering creation and the way he works in ordering man’s social existence. As God created order in the heavens and the earth w/ Ten words (Gen. 1:3-29) so He creates order in society w/ Ten words.

In the 1st commandment the prohibition is against serving any other God

As he have noted the 2nd commandment is a prohibition on

Making images to represent the true God (32:4)
Making images to represent false gods (any likeness of anything)

The problem with Idols is it allows the Deity to be controlled by those in charge of the Idol

This is to forget it is God who controls us, not we who control God.

1.) image worship is forbidden because it reduces God

a.) reduces God’s incomprehensibility to comprehensibility
b.) reduces God’s majesty and transcendence
c.) reduces God’s nearness & covenantal intimacy.
d.) reduces God’s Sovereignty

All of these put us in control of God

2.) image worship is forbidden because it creates self willed worship

God will not only be worshiped alone but He will be worshiped alone only in and by the way he dictates.

3.) image worship is forbidden because in it we become like what we worship (Ps. 115:4-8)

I.) A Brief Word On God’s Character Seen In The Second Commandment

The Hebrew word qana [a”n’q] and its cognates are the most extensively used words for jealousy in the Old Testament. In Exodus 34:14 we learn that “the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” In Deuteronomy 4:24, God is described as “a consuming fire, a jealous God, ” giving the idea that he will judge because of his jealousy. In Joshua 24:19, Joshua challenges the people to serve the Lord but reminds them that serving God will be difficult because “He is a holy God; he is a jealous God.” In Zechariah 1:14, when the Lord is asked why he allows Jerusalem to be down-trodden by the nations, he replies, “I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.” In verse 15, he continues to explain that while he intended to punish Israel for her sin, the nations have “added to the calamity.” Because of his jealousy,God will restore Jerusalem to its rightful people and will build his temple there (v. 16).This concept is also brought out in context of the last days in Joel 2:18: “the Lord will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people.” The Hebrew noun is alsoused to describe a man’s jealousy for his wife ( Num 5:14-30 ) and God’s passionate anger against sin ( 1 Kings 14:22 ; Psalm 78:58 ).

God’s jealousy in 20:5 describes His passion for His Holy name. His people were to be known as God’s people so that if they committed idolatry it was God’s name (His character, His renown) that would be besmirched and seen as less glorious than it always remains. Eventually, this idolatry problem finds God removing his shekinah glory from the temple in Ezekiel 8:3. In Ez. 8:3 we have a description of an idol that was set up in the temple mount “that provokes to jealousy.”

God deigns to place His name upon us but in being adorned with His name we are not to provoke Him to jealously by involving ourselves with idolatry.

II.) The Familial Promises Attached To This Prohibition

A.) Cursings

Sanction and Blessing. To the second commandment are appended a sanction and a blessing.

We find the idea of blessings for obedience in many places in Scripture. Lev. 26:23=24 is one such example

23 “And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, 24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.

In the Exodus reference we see that if the head of the family turns away from Yahweh to worship images, his entire family will be swallowed up in his self-willed worship. His sin becomes their stumbling. “The third and fourth generation” are mentioned, because sometimes parents lived to see these, and so with their eyes beheld the punishment inflicted upon their posterity for their sins, which must be distressing to them; The idea here is that these warnings might impress their minds and affect them, to think what their sins would bring upon their descendants, who would quickly come after them, and share in the sad effects of their iniquities, and so be a means to deter them from them.

Note how this reinforces Federal Theology.

That this blessing and curse are added to this commandment is significant. Lying and stealing are serious crimes, but turning your back on the Lord to practice self-willed religion is most serious.

This teaches us that true religion is not a matter of voluntary choice which is w/o repercussions. It is required by God, and failure to meet His requirements leads to judgment. To assume that men are free to worship or not worship w/o radical consequences for a family and even a society is to negate the very meaning of Biblical faith. The life of a family and a society is its religion and if that religion be false, then the family and the society is headed for God’s cursings. Obedience is thus not a matter of taste: it is a question of life and death.

B.) Blessings

If there are cursings that descend upon the family for the head of the family’s sin so there are blessings. All the way to the most extended generation imaginable, God will show his favor to those who are faithful to Him and keep His commands. David’s house continued for generations, even though they were punished for Solomon’s sins (1 Kings 11:34, 38-39).

“Showing Mercy” — This idea of Mercy in this text communicates the idea of God’s loving Kindness and Devotion to His people for the sake of His covenant with them. This idea of God “showing Mercy” is a strong term that communicates God’s unfailing commitment to His people.

Scriptures also describes this covenant faithfulness as “abounding in love,” (34:6) as a “Mercy that endureth forever (Psalm 136), and as so great that it takes back unfaithful Gomer (Hosea 2:19).

What might we say here?

You can love your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren best when you love God, thus leaving Generations yet unseen a Godly legacy.

For those without a Godly heritage in their family we can still take hope because Scripture teaches us that God, being merciful often graciously interrupts this cursing of the generations. These blessings and curses are not rules that God can not interrupt for His own ends. Pious Jehoshaphat had a godless son Jehoram (1 Kings 22:43; 2 Kings 8:16-18). Three godless sons and a godless grandson (2 Kings 22-23) succeeded God-fearing Josiah.

III.) Other Considerations Concerning Idolatry

The Impact of Idolatry On A Culture

In OT Israel the health of the body politic (commonwealth) required the prohibition of Idolatry, because the toleration of Idolatry meant the overthrow of God as God unto His people, which would result in death for the people. (All those who hate me love death).

As such in the OT Idolatry was punishable by Death since it constituted Treason against God.

Deuteronomy 17:2-7

2 “If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden, 4 and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. 6 On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge[a] the evil[b] from your midst.

Now, were we to implement this kind of procedure in our culture people would think it extreme, yet we are not inclined to think it extreme that people are put to death for treason against the State (Julius and Ethel Rosenberg).

But of course we do not visit Idolatry with capital punishment in this country but Calvinists over the Centuries have had other views.

‎”The third opinion (of Calvinism) is, that the Magistrate may and ought to exercise his coercive power, in suppressing and punishing Heretics and Sectaries, less or more, according as the nature and degree of the error, schism, obstinacy, and danger of seducing others, doth require. This as it was the judgment of the orthodox Ancients, (vide Optati opera, edit, Albaspin. pag. 204, 215.) so it is followed by our soundest Protestant Writers; most largely by Beza against Bellius and Monfortius, in a peculiar Treatise De Hareticis à Magistratu puniendis. And though Gerhard, Brochmand [de magist. polit. cap. 2. quæst. 3. dub 2.] and other Lutheran Writers, make a controversy where they need not, alleging that the Calvinists (so nicknamed) hold as the Papists do, that all Heretics without distinction are to be put to death: The truth is, they themselves say as much as either Calvin or Beza, or any other whom they take for adversaries in this Question, that is, that Heretics are to be punished by mulcts, imprisonments, banishments, and if they be gross idolaters or blasphemers, and seducers of others, then to be put to death. What is it else that Calvin teacheth, when he distinguisheth three kinds of errors: some to be tolerated with a spirit of meekness, and such as ought not to separate betwixt brethren: others not to be tolerated, but to be suppressed with a certain degree of severity: a third sort so abominable and pestiferous, that they are to be cut off by the highest punishments?”

~ George Gillespie
Westminster Devine”

Calvin writes in his defense of the execution of Servetus:

Whoever shall now contend that it is unjust to put heretics and blasphemers to death will knowingly and willingly incur their very guilt. This is not laid down on human authority; it is God who speaks and prescribes a perpetual rule for his Church . It is not in vain that he banishes all those human affectations which soften our hearts; that he commands paternal love and all the benevolent feelings between brothers, relations, and friends to cease; in a word, that be almost deprives men of their nature in order that nothing may hinder their holy zeal. Why is so implacable a severity exacted but that we may know that God is defrauded of his honor, unless the piety that is due to him be preferred to all human duties, and that when his glory is to be asserted, humanity must be almost obliterated from our memories. [12]

Philip Schaff’s comment is important:

Calvin’s plea for the right and duty of the Christian magistrate to punish heresy by death, stands or falls with his theocratic theory and the binding authority of the Mosaic code. His arguments are chiefly drawn from the Jewish laws against idolatry and blasphemy, and from the examples of the pious kings of Israel. [13]

Gillespie and Calvin understood that to allow a alien law order, which allows Idolatry and all manner of sin which also is defined as criminality, to thrive in the name of some kind of enlightened pluralism was, in reality, to support the alien gods and the alien law order. To allow a law order to thrive that is alien to God’s law order to is to breathe life into the alien law order and to consign God’s law order to the garbage dump.

So, where Idolatry is allowed to have its way in any culture / social order means the eventual extinction of that culture / social order as people will disregard any social order constraints that get in the way of their self-assertion and desires. Just as Israel apart from the one true God was a nation where “every man did what was right in His own eyes,” so any nation that stands apart from the true God will have a culture where every man does what is right in his own eyes.

The only cure for this is Jesus Christ. Only Christ can provide the atonement necessary for those who have served false gods and desire to return to the only true God and the life that he promises.

Conclusion

Re-cap

Cultural Marxism, Critical Race Theory, Dr. Derrick Bell & B. Hussein Obama

Recently a videotape was released of B. Hussein Obama lauding and embracing Dr. Derrick Bell, a key advocate of what is known as “critical race theory.” Most Americans, being too busy watching the NCAA Basketball tournament do not realize how significant the discovery of this videotape is. So, because Americans don’t care to understand matters of such grave import if they don’t lend a quick and easy explanation and are too apathetic or preoccupied to realize that the man who is called “President” has drank deeply from the well of Cultural Marxism, this entry is committed to setting forth, in an easy to understand way, why Obama, first lauding and embracing Dr. Derrick Bell and later requiring the reading of Bell’s works as assignment for his students is a matter to note.

Since some Americans learn better visually then by reading, I offer the below video for their consumption.

http://content.bitsontherun.com/previews/ITUgkkVN-svqBtzyp

For the rest we start our examination of Obama and Bell by noting that the critical race theory that Bell created and Obama embraced starts with an understanding that critical race theory is a subset of critical theory, or to put it another way, critical race theory is the critical theory of Cultural Marxism as applied to race.

For a brief explanation of cultural Marxism of which critical theory is a tool in order to advance see,

https://ironink.org/2010/09/gramsci_aamp_cultural_marxism/

https://ironink.org/2012/01/1300/

Critical theory became a key tool used by the Cultural Marxists who desired to overthrow the Christian influenced social order of Western Civilization. Critical theory was a tool of destruction introduced by a chap named Max Horkheimer in an essay entitled “Traditional and Critical Theory.” In Horkheimer’s essay we learn that Critical theory, in line with it’s Marxist pedigree, is a social theory dedicated not only toward critiquing a culture and prevailing social order but also to transforming it and changing it. In the creative hands of the Marxists the aim was to change and transform Western civilization. When considering this aspect of Critical theory keep in mind that Marx said that “the point is not merely to understand the world, but to change it.” Critical theory was oriented towards that goal.

Critical race theory then was, as we have already said, a subset of this Critical theory as applied to race, and as it is applied to race its purpose is to critique the idea of advance by way of merit and ability as merely a guise used by whites to maintain their power and dominance over blacks. Bell’s writings suggest that merit and natural ability were not the real reason for advantage but rather were the social construct used to explain white advantage over blacks. The consequence of Bell’s writings is that the reader was instructed that the differentiation in the degree of ownership is accounted for, not by sweat and hard work, but rather by institutional racism. The natural conclusion of this thinking was that the social injustice engendered by such a social construct racist system can only be rectified by a redistributionist economic model where whites have property stripped from them in order to give to the minority oppressed. This was coupled with the zealous pursuit of quotas and set asides, as well as a post-modern view of truth where a matter is true only if advances the critical race theory cause and a matter is false only if it does not advance the anti-white, anti-Christian, cultural Marxist agenda of Derrick Bell. Keep in mind in all this that this is the same worldview out of which B. Hussein Obama is living as evidenced not only by his support of Bell but only by his close relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright (who himself was a disciple of James Cone and was inspired by Derrick Bell) and by his close relationship with Bill Ayers.

Ayers affection for critical race theory is heard in the below 67 second clip.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/03/15/Ayers%20Revolution%20Needed%20To%20Stop%20White%20Supremacy

So we begin to see a tapestry being woven here. The Dunham family moved in 1955 to Mercer Island Seattle in order to put daughter Stanley Ann Dunham in a school that they knew was being led by self-admitted and known Communists John Stenhouse. There Ann Dunham was instructed by two teachers Val Fobear and Jim Winterman where subject matters such as Atheism, Materialism and Communism were covered. Not only did the Dunham’s send Ann to this school they also attended a Church led by Communist Stenhouse called “The Little Red Church on the Hill” where Stenhouse would teach on Marx’s planks of communism. Of course Stanley Ann Dunham would become the mother of B. Hussein Obama, who in his book, “Dreams Of My Father,” speaks of a mentor named “Frank” (Frank Marshall Davis). Davis was a known communist who belonged to a party subservient to the Soviet Union. In fact, the 1951 report of the Commission on Subversive Activities to the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii identified Obama’s mentor as a Communist Party USA member. What’s more, anti-communist congressional committees, including the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), accused Davis of involvement in several communist-front organizations. While in college Obama has high esteem for cultural Marxist Dr. Derrick Bell, and later assigns Bell’s writings to the students of his classes. We also know that eventually Obama ends up in Chicago teaching the techniques of Cultural Marxist, Saul Alinsky (Rules For Radicals). During the 2008 Presidential campaign Obama has to disavow his pastor of 20 years Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who is himself a cultural Marxist of the Black Liberation theology variety and who practices in the pulpit, what might be called, “critical preaching theory.” Once elected Obama surrounds himself with Czars and personnel who have some connections to one Marxist variant or another (Van Jones, Donald Berwick, Leon Panetta, Kevin Jennings, Anita “Mao is my hero” Dunn, Eric “I don’t prosecute Panthers who are Black” Holder, etc.). In Obama’s first two Supreme Court appointments he places a woman who worked closely with Dr. Derrick Bell and a woman who gave a critical race theory soundbite when she said, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” Finally throw in in this context Obama’s wife’s comment about “for the first time being proud of America” and one begins to see not merely a narrative but a Novel the size of “War and Peace,” that tells the Obama story. Really, does B. Hussein Obama have to walk up to a microphone and say, “I am a cultural Marxist,” in order for voters to understand that B. Hussein Obama is a Cultural Marxist who isn’t particularly fond of non cultural Marxist white people?

B. Hussein Obama’s whole career — his whole identity — has been shaped by Marxist / Cultural Marxist categories. From his Mother’s training in Communism, to his mentoring relationship with Frank Marshall Davis, to his affection for Dr. Derrick Bell, to his work as a communist agitator, er, I mean, community organizer of the Saul Alinsky stripe, to his friendship with known Marxists Bill Ayers and Bernadin Dohrn, to his Chief Executive appointments to various offices Obama while clearly Black on the outside is clearly red on the inside.

Rage Against The Machine — Reflections On The Belhar

The Belhar document reads more of Karl Marx than it does of Jesus Christ. This can be seen in the way that the Belhar exudes the stereo-typical Liberation theology motifs. Drawing from European “theologies” and Marxism, Liberation theologians developed their own theology by radically reinterpreting Scripture with “a bias toward the poor.” We see this in the Belhar w/ its statement that,

• that God, in a world full of injustice and enmity, is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged

As we have noted previously this statement by itself, were we living in a Church that understood God’s Revelation, would be enough to end the whole Belhar project. God is only God in a special way to His people, regardless of their social status or class ranking. God does not love the poor in Christ more than He loves the rich in Christ, and God does not love the poor outside of Christ more than He loves the rich outside of Christ. God hates workers of iniquity and workers of iniquity are all those who have not sued for peace with God, through Jesus Christ alone. Only on a insane Marxist liberation playground is God, in a special way, the God of the destitute, the poor, and the wronged, though God is God, in a special way, the God of the poor in Christ when they are attacked by the rich outside of Christ, and He is God in a special way to the destitute in Christ when they are persecuted by the rich outside of Christ, and He is God in a special way to the wronged in Christ when they are persecuted by the wrong ones outside of Christ.

THE BELHAR AND LIBERATION THEOLOGY — PRESUPPOSING WHITE BIAS

Liberation theology also begins with the premise that all theology is biased – that is, particular theologies reflect the economic and social classes of those who developed them. Accordingly, the traditional theology predominant in North America and Europe is said to “perpetuate the interests of white, North American/European, capitalist males.”

That this is part and parcel of the Belhar agenda is seen by a overture to Synod that is coming out of Classis Lake Erie. In that overture we have all kinds of the kind of language that is mentioned in the preceding paragraph. The Overture from George Vander Weit, Akron CRC and now Lake Erie reads,

“Thus, even while we consider a document that we hope will improve race relations among us, racism is evident both in the comments of Anglos and ethnic minorities.”

“No matter what we do with the Belhar, our very discussion of it reveals how insidious and pervasive the matter of racism among us is.”

“The Akron CRC council overtures Classis Lake Erie to overture Synod 2012:

A. To call the denomination to repent of the personal and institutional racism that causes separation between fellow members, excludes some from full participation in the life of our denomination and hinders the denomination in achieving the diversity goals it has set for itself.”

Note that according to this overture racism is evident both in the comments of Anglos and ethnic minorities. Now, this sounds like a concession, in as much as “ethnic minorities” are mentioned but as the denomination is predominantly white it doesn’t take much to realize where the real problem is in the denomination. Note that according to this overture that racism in the CRC is pervasive and insidious among us. Note that according to this overture the CRC is guilty of personal and institutional racism. All of this is the language of Liberation theology. There is more of Marx than Christ behind the Belhar.

LIBERATION THEOLOLGY AND THE BELHAR — PRESUPPOSING THE NECESSITY OF A REDISTRIBUTIONIST MODE

Continuing on with Liberation theology and how the Belhar reflects this. The traditional theology the Liberation theology is seeking to overthrow allegedly “supports and legitimates a political and economic system – democratic capitalism – which is responsible for exploiting and impoverishing the Third World.”

Now the Belhar Confession necessarily moves us in this direction when it, in section 4, ascribes the presence of poverty and destitution in human society to injustice alone (in apparent contradiction to passages such as Proverbs 6:10-11; 11:24; 21:17; 23:21; 28:19), and asserts that the victims of this “injustice” are, “in a special way,” God’s people.

This two-fold assertion necessarily leads the church to two conclusions:

That the central work of God and his church in this fallen world is a work of justice rather than a work of mercy, and
that “doing justice” is principally the work of redistributing the material goods of this world, taking from those who have more and giving to those (God’s special people) who have less.

The Accra Confession (2004), which is the philosophical, theological, and political offspring of the Belhar Confession (1986) (see note below), takes this position to its logical conclusion by making belief in this kind of public policy an element of true faith. It also proclaims that “neo-liberal” economics, which it defines, in part, by belief in private property rights and free market methods, must be rejected by all Reformed Christians, “in the name of the gospel.”#

Note: The connection between the Belhar and Accra Confessions is well attested and cannot be ignored. In fact, the Colloquium on the Accra and Belhar Confessions, held January 15-17, 2010, outlined this connection, and their concluding document (attached), approved by its participants, including Peter Noteboom of the CRC, makes this position a matter of public record within the Reformed community. Any assertion that we can adopt the Belhar without essentially adopting the Accra is shortsighted.

So, once again on this score we see that the Belhar grows out of the soil of Marxist Liberation theology.

LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND THE BELHAR — SHARED METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Karl Marx once famously said, “the point is not merely to understand the world, but to change it.” Liberation theology follows this music and the Belhar serves as a choir singing this tune.

Gustavo Gutierrez, author of A Theology of Liberation, provides us with a representative methodology. Like other liberationists, Gutierrez rejects the idea that theology is a systematic collection of timeless and culture-transcending truths that remains static for all generations. Rather, theology is in flux; it is a dynamic and ongoing exercise involving contemporary insights into knowledge, humanity, and history.

Gutierrez emphasizes that theology is not just to be learned, it is to be done. In his thinking, “praxis” is the starting point for theology. Praxis (from the Greek prasso: “to work”) involves revolutionary action on behalf of the poor and oppressed – and out of this, theological perceptions will continually emerge. The theologian must therefore be immersed in the struggle for transforming society and proclaim his message from that point.

In the theological process, then, praxis must always be the first stage; theology is the second stage. Theologians are not to be mere theoreticians, but practitioners who participate in the ongoing struggle to liberate the oppressed.

That the Belhar partakes of this Marxist liberation theology mindset is seen in the fact that the Belhar is one long document that says very little in the way of Theology but is long on a praxis, the goal of which is to change the world. Now, in earlier entries we saw that the change that the Belhar is looking for is open to interpretation. I would say that given we are seeing what a Marxist document it is that the change it is looking for is a change not in the direction of Biblical Christianity but a change towards socialism.

LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND THE BELHAR — SHARED VIEWS OF SIN

Sin. Using methodologies such as Gutierrez’s, liberationists interpret sin not primarily from an individual, private perspective, but from a social and economic perspective. Liberation Theologian, Gutierrez explains that “sin is not considered as an individual, private, or merely interior reality. Sin is regarded as a social, historical fact, the absence of brotherhood and love in relationships among men.” [Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1971), 175.]

Once again we see the Belhar just boiling over with this kind of language.

Repeatedly in the Belhar we here of “the absence of brotherhood and love in relationships among men” with its constant bleating about a unity that is left undefined as to the foundation upon which it gathers men and that is left unknown in terms of that which we are to be united in except some vague concept of “justice.” Also we hear the Belhar regard sin as a social, historical fact when it inveighs against the “rich” and speaks of,

that in following Christ the church must witness against all the powerful and privileged who selfishly seek their own interests and thus control and harm others.

As Gutierrez explains sin is not a merely interior reality, according to the Belhar, it is a social historical fact.

In observing just these few aspects of classic Liberation Marxist theology we can see that the Belhar document ought to not only not be received as a Confessional document for the CRC but that it should not even be received as a contemporary testimony. Biblical Christianity does not equal Marxism, neither as a confessional document nor as a contemporary testimony.

Dostoevsky & McAtee On Christianity & Collectivism

The radical declares,

“Everyone belongs to all, and all belongs to everyone. All are slaves and equal in their slavery… Slaves are bound to be equal. Without despotism there has never been either freedom or equality, but in the herd there is bound to be equality…. The moment you have family ties or love you get the desire for property. We will destroy that desire; we’ll make use of drunkenness, slander, spying; we’ll make use of incredible corruption; we’ll stifle every genius in its infancy. We’ll reduce all to a common denominator! Complete equality!”

The Possessed
Fydor Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky was a 19th century Russian writer who explored the human psyche, particularly as that psyche was conditioned by ideology and religion. In the quote above we find that Dostoevsky understood the nascent proto-Marxist type ideology which he believed were Demon like ideas from Western Europe that was possessing Russia.

It is interesting that even in 1873 Russia, Dostoevsky could identify the heart of collectivism that remains with us yet today. Dostoevsky understood that the end of equality, absolutized, is slavery.

The thing I really want to tease out from this quote is Dostoevsky’s connection between collectivism and the destruction of family ties. The collectivist attack on property requires an attack on family love. If various forms of Marxist collectivism is to be successful in its desire to extinguish private property it must, at the same time, extinguish Biblical notions of family. The simple idea that a man and a woman come together and form a new, yet extended social unit that is itself strengthened with the blessed arrival of covenant seed is an idea that arises not from Natural law but from Scripture. So, when the collectivist wars against property, he must do so, if he wishes to be consistent by attacking the family structure, which is itself an attack on Scripture. This reality puts those “Christians” who insist that the Bible has nothing to say about social order issues on the horns of a dilemma. Either they concede that the Scripture does speak a word about the nature of the family or they are left with pulpits that are silent on these issues preaching to atomized individuals that Jesus died to redeem as isolated from any previous, current, or future familial identities. A very odd way of preaching for those who subscribe to covenant theology where “the promise is to you and your household” is a key cornerstone of Reformed Federal theology.

I submit Christians must enter into this great war that has been being waged since the garden. It was in the garden where the first successful salvo against Biblical Christianity was fired against the family as the Serpent attacked family ties, bypassing Adam’s authority to beguile Eve, in a successful attempt to sell the poison of man’s equality with God, which resulted in a collectivism against God. In point of fact the greatest need in the Church today is to realize the threat that egalitarianism is to Biblical Christianity. The drive to fuzz and deny all distinctions, to erase all notions of biblical hierarchies (Husbands w/ headship over wives, Parents w/ headship over children, women the weaker vessel compared to men, Employers w/ headship over employees,) and to flatten out all God ordained differences is the worldview that currently is the greatest threat to Biblical Christianity in the West.

Without Biblical distinctions regarding gender, roles, ethnic groups, and authority structure, we will be amalgamated into the herd reality that Dostoevsky warns about. It will be a herd reality where a few elite are, in essence, the Farmers over the undistinguished and undifferentiated mass herd. Those who advocate complete equality in terms of “equality of identity” are the enemy and they are the enemy because Scripture identifies them as such. They are the enemy who overthrow the 5th commandment where a distinction and hierarchy of parents is required before they can be honored. They are the enemy who overthrow the great commission where a distinction of nations is required before those nations can be baptized, discipled and taught to observe all things taught by Christ. They are the enemy who overthrow Galatians 3:28 where a existing distinction between Jews and Gentiles, Slave and Free, Men and Women, must exist before there can be comfort that all can be justified in Christ. They are the enemy who overthrow the 8th commandment where a distinction must exist between what is my property and what is not my property before any forbidding of theft can make sense. Egalitarianism is the enemy and egalitarians are the enemy precisely because their egalitarianism strikes at the heart of God’s revelation. Keep in mind that the ultimate goal of the Father of egalitarianism is to erase the distinction and hierarchy between the Creator and the creature. They desire to make God and man a common denominator. That is the ultimate distinction that is under attack in all of these penultimate battles.

If Hart’s Scholarship Is Anything Like His Internet Interaction — Katy Bar The Door

Darryl G. Hart to Mark Van Der Molen:

Mark, you mean the overture written by some who accused Westminster California of Pelagianism?

(Of course, Hart thinks that it is absurd to suggest that Westminster California might be guilty of Pelagianism, so this is his attempt to portray the authors of the overture as kooks.)

Mark responds to DGH:

Darryl, would you supply some evidence that some ministers made this accusation?

(Rather than rushing to judgment, Mark asks Hart for the evidence.)

DGH to Mark:

Mark, are you looking for more evidence or are you taken aback that this charge would be made? I’m reluctant to give you another flawed source to quote against ministers in your denomination.

Anyway, I thought you knew more about the criticisms than I did.

(Notice that initially Hart defers. Of course, he gives a reason for his deferral, but see what happens.)

Mark to DGH:

No, Darryl, it’s neither of those things.

To put it in your terms, I’m just calling your bluff.

So where’s your evidence of an OPC minister accusing WSC of Pelagianism?

(Attorney Van Der Molen clarifies his request.)

DGH to Mark:

Mark, I thought you thought I didn’t know what was going on in the OPC. Why don’t you stick to the URC and leave Presbyterianism to us Gentiles?

Here is an excerpt from the lengthy Kerux (http://www.kerux.com/pdf/Kerux.24.03.pdf) review of The Law Is Not of Faith

(it culminates a lengthy introduction to a bloated review that puts the entire book in the context of coming down on the wrong side of Augustine vs. Pelagius):

“This is unwitting Pelagianism (calling it “typological” does not alter its essential and substantial character) and Augustinian Calvinists are correct to see it as a threat to sola gratia as Augustine saw it 1600 years ago.”

I guess this just proves that no one reads Kerux.

Of course, saying that a particular author is committing unwitting Pelagianism is quite a bit different, from having “accused Westminster California of Pelagianism,” but wait – there’s more!

Mark to DGH:

Darryl, I asked for evidence that the authors of the overture I mentioned had accused WSC of Pelagianism.

You answer with the Kerux article who argued that theology that says sinners can “merit” God’s reward is “unwitting” Pelagianism.

None of the authors of the Kerux article were authors of the overture.

So, where’s the evidence?

(Mark notices the key problem with Hart’s evidence. Hart’s evidence isn’t from the pen of one of the authors that Hart was defaming.)

Mark continuing:

For the readers’ {and Darryl’s} benefit, here’s the overture:

http://theaquilareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5975:overture-proposed-to-opc-presbytery-seeks-study-on-republication-of-the-covenant-of-works-in-the-mosaic-covenant&catid=50:churches&Itemid=133

Notice that Mark provides evidence.

DGH to Mark:

Mark, so let me get this straight. WSC is guilty of infidelity for the slightest infraction of departure from the glories of neo-Calvinism. But if an overture originates from a presbytery where a seminary is located whose founder has a journal that makes complaints about a book similar to those of the overture, it’s only coincidence?

Once again, your slipperiness is astounding. Just be honest and above board in your disagreements. Make a case that this view is outside the standards of our churches. Don’t simply traffic in innuendo.

At least the 2kers are upfront about their disagreements. Your complaint seems to be no more than they disagree with what you’ve always thought. I wonder where you would have come down on Calvin and Luther.

————————–

Rather than apologizing for his defamation, Hart accuses and defames Mark of “slipperiness” and suggests that Mark is dishonest. Then, without batting an eye, Hart accuses and defames Mark, suggesting that he not “simply traffic in innuendo.”

One wonders whether Hart’s presbytery is aware that this is how Hart acts on the Internet.

________________

All this from a exchange at Green Baggins.

This post cut and pasted from Turretin Fan’s Blog.