With R2K Darryl Hart Becomes An Orthodox Gnostic

Just a few lines regarding Gnostikoi Hart’s latest temper tantrum over at moldlife.

1.) D. Gnostikoi Hart accuses me of a lack of intelligence. Now this is what we would expect from someone of the Gnostic faith. I don’t have the special knowledge that Gnostikoi Hart has therefore I must lack intelligence. In Darryl’s Gnostic world intelligence equals having a special knowledge that only the enlightened Gnostikoi can have. All others are obviously just too stupid to plumb the secret knowledge.

2.) Darryl complains that without his special knowledge I can not have certainty. Darryl’s R2K teaches him that no one can have certainty regarding finding solutions to social woes in Scripture. Here we see that Darryl can find certain knowledge in the Scripture that one can’t be certain but those who disagree with R2K can’t find certainty.

Now lets tease this out. Darryl insists that R2k, “denies the certainty that supposedly comes with finding the solutions to social woes in Scripture .”

In light of this, let’s make a small list,

a.) Sodomite marriage — R2K denies the certainty that supposedly comes with finding the solutions to social woes in Scripture.

b.) Abortion — R2K denies the certainty that supposedly comes with finding the solutions to social woes in Scripture.

c.) Passing laws allowing Bestiality — R2K denies the certainty that supposedly comes with finding the solutions to social woes in Scripture.

d.) Killing off 4 million Ukrainian Kulaks in a policy of political starvation — R2K denies the certainty that supposedly comes with finding the solutions to social woes in Scripture.

e.) The State pursues a policy where it owns all property — R2K denies the certainty that supposedly comes with finding the solutions to social woes in Scripture.

f.) The State pursues a policy wherein they have legal ownership of all children — R2K denies the certainty that supposedly comes with finding the solutions to social woes in Scripture.

3.) Darryl complains about my lack of intelligence and yet he seems to hold that somehow having a “B” in one’s name accounts for why people reject R2K. I suppose in Darryl’s special Gnostikoi knowledge “B” is an evil letter that has less light in it then the letters D-A-R-Y- and L.

4.) Yes, R2K, destroys the Gospel. Any “Christian” movement that has ministers holding that it would not be an offense unto discipline if a Church member campaigned politically to overturn laws forbidding bestiality obviously is destructive of the Gospel. Any “Christian” movement who has Seminary professors saying publicly that Christianity can allow into its membership, those who advocate that sodomite civil unions should be made legal is a movement that is destructive to the Gospel. This is really not that controversial.

5.) Darryl seems to think that teaching Economics in the context of a Christian Worldview is destructive of the Gospel. I would dearly love to see that teased out.

6.) Darryl accuses me of being Manichean. Actually that is not true since a Manichean worldview would require me to believe that God and Satan are equally equipoised against each other so that neither of them can advance. I simply don’t believe that. God is sovereign. Satan does absolutely zero to resist God’s sovereign doing. Darryl is just practicing the politics of personal destruction when he suggests that I am Manichean. (Isn’t it interesting how the dualists accuse the non-dualists of dualism?)

7.) Darryl will have to take it up with Scripture when I talk about the Kingdom of God rolling back this present wicked age. Colossians 1 says that, Christians have been translated from the dominion of Darkness to the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. I am merely using the language of Scripture when I write about the triumph of God’s Kingdom over the opposition of the Serpent. No Manicheanism here.

8.) Darryl reveals his lack of suppleness in his thinking when he doesn’t seem to understand that many people I read and recommend others to read can have insight precisely because they have stolen Christian capital in their own Worldviews and writings. This stolen capital thus make them worthy of reading. It’s called plundering the Egyptians from what they plundered from us to begin with. Even an intelligent Professor like Darryl ought to understand this. In this complaint Darryl really reveals his lack of understanding of non R2K positions. We need to have compassion, patience and sympathy upon those who struggle to understand.

9.) Poor, confused Darryl asks,

“But how can Rabbi B account for the truths that non-believers, people who belong to Satan’s kingdom, see?”

Now anyone who has read Van Til could answer this even if in a haze. The answer is that they have borrowed capital in their worldview. No Worldview is perfectly anti-Christ and so Christ haters will often import, inconsistently, Christian capital into their worldview to get their Christ hating agenda off the ground. Has Darryl never read Van Til?

10.) Darryl’s accusation that I employ the antithesis only when convenient has been put to rest by #8 and #9. What Darryl then proceeds to tell us is that he employs the antithesis only when convenient. It is convenient for Darryl to employ it when it comes to Church membership. But it is not convenient to use it when using it in 95% of his living that goes on outside the Church.

11.) Darryl mentions God’s Kingdom vs. Christ’s Kingdom. Is that Kind of like the Dispensational distinction between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven?

Seriously though … I get Darryl’s putative point. According to R2K, God rules over all things providentially but has entrusted to Christ a Spiritual Kingdom that has nothing to do with God’s providential rule outside the Church.

I’ll just speak to that via a quote from Ridderbos. Darryl’s worldview capacity may not allow him to understand this quote but certainly others will.

“But the Kingdom of God also defines the Church in its relation to the world. The Church has a foundation of its own, has its own rules, its own mode of existence. But precisely because of the fact that it is the Church of the Kingdom, it has also a positive relation with the world, for the Kingdom of God is seeking acceptance in the world.
A sower went forth to sow. And the field is the world. That is why the Church is seeking catholicity. And this catholicity has a double aspect, one of extension and one of intensity, in accordance with the nature of the Kingdom. So the Church is as wide as the world. The horizons of the world are also the horizons of the Church; therefore its urge to carry on missionary work, to emigrate, to cross frontiers. This is because the Church is the
Church of the Kingdom. She is not allowed to be self-contained.

But there is also an intensive catholicity of the Church because of the Kingdom. The Church is related to life as a whole. It is not a drop of oil on troubled waters. It has a mission in this world and in the entire structure of the world. This statement does not arise from cultural optimism. This is the confession of the kingship of Christ. For this reason, too, the Church is the Church of the Kingdom.

And the third remark is my concluding one: as Church of the Kingdom, the Church is seeking the future. She has received her talents for the present. But her Lord who went into a far country will return. Her waiting for Him consists of working. Otherwise she will hear: What have you done with my talent?”

Herman Ridderbos,
“When the Time Had Fully Come: Studies in New Testament Theology”