“…whatever social agenda a Christian pursues is one thing but leave the visible, institutional church out of it. The church, as a visible institution, as the embassy of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, has no social agenda for the wider civil and cultural world.”
R. Scott Clark
R2K Aficionado
This means that the institutional Church has zero to say on sodomite Marriage in this culture.
This means that the institutional Church has zero to say on women in the Military in this culture.
This means that the institutional Church has zero to say on abortion, euthanasia and other end of life issues for this culture.
This means that the institutional Church has zero to say on the Marxist inspired Government theft, usury, and inflation in this culture.
This means that the institutional Church has zero to say on any law order that is explicitly non Christian.
One could only wish that this would mean that Scott would be consistent and as a officer of the Church quit advancing the R2K social agenda for the Church.
One simply is required to realize that Scott is pursuing a social agenda with this tripe. Scott’s social agenda is the institutional Church’s complete withdrawal from culture and Scott is a hot Social gospeler in pursuit of that social agenda.
I would just add that he is not against individual Christians and groups of Christians getting involved in social & political issues, even forming Christian societies and organizations that seek to advance a Christian agenda, transform society, etc.
He himself does not shy away from addressing cultural and political issues in his blog and via his twitter account. A brief look at his Twitter activity will demonstrate that he is no fan of Marxism (cultural or otherwise).
I would certainly disagree with him on his limiting the involvement of the church as church in these issues, but he is not completely against addressing issues such as abortion from the pulpit (for example).
Again, I am no fan of NL2K (as you know). But it should be borne in mind that not all proponents of that view advocate a complete retreat from dealing with social or political issues.
Nothing wrong with pointing out the logical inconsistencies of the position, though.
Andy,
The problem here with your observation is that this view provides no boundaries. It is true, Christian societies might be formed but every Christian society you could imagine. There might be one Christian society in favor of overturning Bestiality laws while a different Christian society would be formed to keep Bestiality laws. Imagine formation of one Christian society supporting Marxist tax policies while a different Christian society would be formed to oppose Marxism in the Government. Theoretically all these Christian societies could exist and there would be no Institution declaiming which are indeed Christian societies and which societies are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
As such it really doesn’t matter if Scott is against Marxism. He would be just one voice vis-a-vis other Christian voices that are advocating Marxism as Christian. Tomato vs. Tomatoe … Potato vs. Potatoe.
Even if you individualize or create societies R2K is a flaming disaster.
Some R2Kers take it so far as to say that the church has no power over them regarding an individual vote in a straight up and down vote on abortion