Category Archives: Theonomy

Abolish The Police, Resistance to Tyranny is Obedience to God, Theonomy

Are There Really Pro Second Amendment Cops?

bm

Bojidar Marinov says:

Folks, don’t make foolish mistakes. If you think that a sheriff who supports private gun ownership is “pro-Second-Amendment” because “people should be safe,” you don’t understand reality, and you don’t understand the Second Amendment.

Reality check: The purpose of the Second Amendment was NOT to give safety to individual citizens against criminals. That has never been the point, and has never even crossed the mind of the Framers to establish that as a special right. The purpose of the Second Amendment was to DENY SAFETY TO GOVERNMENT AGENTS against individual citizens, when those government agents cross the line.

Thus, when a sheriff says you should have a gun to defend yourself against criminals, he is still not “pro-Second Amendment.” He will be “pro-Second-Amendment” only when he says that YOU SHOULD HAVE A GUN TO SHOOT COPS WHEN THEY BREAK THE LAW. This was the specific purpose of the Second Amendment, and if a Sheriff doesn’t say it explicitly, he is NOT “pro-Second-Amendment.”

So be wise and informed, and don’t fall for statist propaganda, even if it comes from your local beloved Sheriff.

Christianity, Theonomy

Anarcho-Capitalists are Cool. Theonomists are More Cool.

Anarcho-capitalists believe there should be no government. I don’t know of any Christian anarcho-capitalists, but that certainly doesn’t mean there aren’t any. I’m very sympathetic to the anarcho-capitalists, and they make a lot of good points. An atheist anarcho-capitalist is much closer to espousing a biblical society than the typical American neo-conservative evangelical.

On a scale of government intrusion, 100 being an all-powerful dictator and totalitarian, and 0 being no government (anarcho-capitalism), I’d put the USSR at 90. They may have aspired to 100, but humans will always have limited resources to achieve our aspirations. I’d put the Democrat party at 55. I’d put the Republican party at 30, and the civil law of the Old Testament at 5. By my estimation, the difference between Republicans (most Christians) and the Bible is greater than the difference between anarcho-capitalism and the Bible.

One of the points that ancaps make is that it is immoral for anyone, including government, to force you to pay them. I wholeheartedly agree. There is no civil penalty for not paying taxes in God’s law. I think the Bible teaches that you ought to pay just taxes, but whether you pay or not is between you and the Lord.

However, where ancaps go wrong is that they take the principle that no one ought to force anyone to do anything out of thin air. This is a belief they take on blind faith. It is a biblical belief, but the non-Christian ancaps reject the only valid source for moral oughts. This is a huge problem as there is no foundation for their system.

The Bible gives very specific instructions to civil magistrates. Their ONLY job is to punish evildoers (Romans 13:1-7). They don’t get to build roads, protect wildlife, give people handouts or make up whatever laws they want. The only standard for good and evil is God’s law, and the only job of government is to enforce God’s law.
Therefore, maximum liberty isn’t zero government, but biblical government.

The last criticism I have of ancaps is that there has never been a successful society built on anarchy. When there is no biblical government, a tyrant will take over.

I don’t want to end on a criticism, so the last thing I’ll point out is that as I’ve listened to some ancaps, they’ve discussed love in society. I’ve never heard Republicans or Rush Limbaugh talk about love. Christians talk about love a lot, but I’ve never heard them talk about love in politics or society. I’ve only ever heard about it listening to non-Christian ancaps. Shaggy hippies seem to have co-opted and redefined peace and love, but those are concepts for which Christians should be striving.

Practical Ideas, Theonomy

Awesome Idea!

An idea for taking dominion from Jordan Wilson.

Here is the manifesto/mission:

Too many young men and women have no mission. Teenage girls and boys and twenty somethings have nothing to train for. No war to win. No summit to reach. If they have no mission, you’ll watch them get worldly – fast. They become narcissistic and preoccupied with worldliness. They go after shallow boyfriend/girlfriend relationships as ends in themselves. They spend their time with the trivial: gossip, video games, cars, fornicating, travel, the love of money. Things that give them the next kick of pleasure. Without a mission that is Christ-focused which extends beyond themselves most young people will fall away if not fully, at least to some degree. For the ones that don’t, the ultimate goal for the Christian young person becomes how pious they can be, and how much sin they can avoid, while accomplishing little. Maybe have a couple kids and snatch a few souls from hell in their life. Satan loves this dynamic. In the new testament, we see the gospel spreading from household to household.

Are you between the ages of 18-30? Do you want to love your neighbor? Do you want to see God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven? Do you want to have an eternal impact for the kingdom for centuries and even millennia after you die? (not merely a temporary “revival”). Do you want to be a central cog in creating 60,000+ disciples in the next 125 years where you live? Want to see a whole town be transformed from idolotry and Satanic living to living for the glory of God? Want have your children and grand children, walk down the street and visit the local pub / university / movie theater / restaurant / gym etc. filled with other Christans and ownd by a Christian to the glory of God? Where Christ is worshiped as Lord in every place? How much do you think about today how your actions will affect your great, great, great, great, great, great, great grand child?

Find a Godly wife who wants to be led. Share your vision with 24 other men. Have a mission that you all work towards together as households. Live in the same town and meet regularly and have a purpose as the heads of your respective households. Conduct business there. Create culture there. Have fellowship. Worship together. Work hard. Shine your light. Pray together. Bless, encourage and exhort one another. Help each other achieve the mission together. Each family have at least 5 children (maybe 10?). Also adopt a little foster kid or three, they’re the cheapest (you get paid actually). Train up your children in the Lord, have them buy into the same mission that you are on, and their children after them. Multiply. Apply the Bible to every area of life and society. Disciple your family. Bless the town where you live with acts of service, whatever your skills are. Evangelize pagan men. Disciple them too. Have them copy your lifestyle and join your mission together with their family’s. Win them TO something. Have your children marry other godly men and women who are also on the same mission. Teach them to pass the mission down to their children and their children after them. Maybe you already live in a town where you know these men and go to the same Church. Lead them on a mission, have them lead others. Inspire them. Have a vision for success with God as the one in whom you put your hope. You probably won’t see much of the fruit in your lifetime. Who cares. You’re planting seeds. It’s not about you anyways. When persecution comes, endure it. Be thankful you’re counted worthy to suffer for Christ.

If 25 faithful men each had households who had on average 5 kids, and that pattern continued within 5 generations there would be 60,000 of you 125 years later. Starting from just 25 men. Think that would impact your town? Even accounting for households that fall away over the years, they should be far outnumbered by households which are evangelized and discipled along the way. The better the culture that is created, the brighter the light is shining, the more that will join you. Take over every institution. Meet regularly with leaders from other towns who are doing the same thing across the country, and around the world. You won’t accomplish this mission without a fight, but it’s the fight you want to be in.

Has there ever been a better opportunity in history? We have the Bible in every language and readily available. We have the Holy Spirit as our comfort and Guide. We have media and technology to assist us. We have entire libraries of theology from throughout church history available on our screens for free. We have social networks to coordinate. Civilly, we have relative freedom to carry this out, certainly much more than the Israelites who were enslaved in egypt but still flourished and went from 70+covenanted servants (the house of Jacob) to millions within 400 years.

5 children
25 grand children
125 great grand children
625 great great grand children
3,125 great great great grand children
15, 625 great great great great grand children
78,125 great great great great great grand children
390,625 great great great great great great grand children
1,953,125 great great great great great great great grand children

Theonomy

Freedom-loving Croats

It’s sad that these Croats love freedom more than most Americans. The government doesn’t have any right to stop people from crossing the border. If Christians adopt pagan and Islamic ideas we might as well give up hope of defeating paganism and Islam.

Conversation, Theonomy

The Only Argument Against Theonomy Falls

lntheonomy

These guys have presented the only real argument against theonomy I’ve seen, and I’ve been thinking about it. It’s not a very good argument for three reasons.

1. They appeal to lex talionis (the principle that the proper punishment for a crime is an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth.

Lex talionis is theonomic. It’s taken from the Old Testament civil law in Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, and Deuteronomy 19:21. And God has defined specifically what fits that description throughout the civil law. If you reject theonomy, by what standard is lex talionis just?

2. These guys said that if someone voluntarily agrees to submit to theonomy (or whatever system of law), then the punishments are then just for that individual. I asked whether someone who voluntarily joined a homeowner’s association that called for the death penalty for painting their house the wrong color, would the death penalty then be just for someone who picked the wrong color? They never answered the question. This shows an inconsistency in their system of thought.

3. They said that the Noahic covenant (Genesis 9) dictates that the only capital crime is murder. I asked what the Noahic covenant dictates as to the punishment for kindapping, rape, theft, etc.? They never were able to respond except that at the end they claimed lex talionis is valid and would provide the proper punishment for these things.

Their arguments are more complex than most people’s silence and inability to respond to theonomy, but their system is still arbitrary. If you reject theonomy, there’s no longer a basis to judge any law, and you can no longer say theonomic laws are unjust.

Christianity, Great Quote, Theonomy

Black Robed Regiment

Here’s a quick conversation on Facebook.

Stephen says, “I think you need to get out while you can. I suspect things are going to get really nasty in the USA, and Texas will not be immune to it, no more immune than elsewhere in the US. I would never have believed I would say this a few years ago, but I think things will be worse in the USA than parts of Europe, worse that the UK. I can hardly believe I am saying it, but there appears to be an authoritarianism, born of a largely unrecognized teutonic influence in America, coming to the surface in the USA that will end up being as bad as anything Europe had in the 20th century. I have been told this for many years by an American friend who insisted that I did not undertand the teutonic influence in the USA (I was first told about this by my friend nearly 30 years ago when it seemed incredible and the USA was a different place or at least seemed to be). I thought he was woefully mistaken. I do not think this now. I think he understand perfectly. Come to Britain while you can. We shall quite possibly be leaving the EU in year or so, and after that your chances of getting in, unfortunately, will diminish.”

bm

Here’s how Bojidar Marinov responded,

“Well, yes and no. Don’t forget that these things don’t happen in the UK only because the government has won this war there. The reason the new totalitarians are so violent in the US is because there is still a spirit of resistance here.”

“At its very bottom, the really fundamental conflict in the US is not in the society, the people vs. the government. The fundamental conflict is in the church: the preachers vs. their listeners. And it is a war of deception, not a war of arms. The listeners in the churches are fully aware of what is happening in the society; they are still blind to the fact that their own preachers are accomplices of the enemy and are charged with the task to keep them down while the government advances its agenda. What most outside observers – and most American Christians as well – often miss about the US is how much this nation is driven by what’s preached from the pulpits. The statists know it very well, though, and that’s why they have worked so hard to capture the pulpits. And I am not talking about the liberal pulpits here: The pulpits in the so-called “conservative” and “Reformed” churches are just as much accomplices to statism as the liberal and the Charismaniac churches.”

“The solution to America’s slippery slope to statism and tyranny is actually very simple: purge the pulpits of any preacher who doesn’t preach righteous rebellion against unjust authority. Yes, even the celebrities. Yes, even those that are otherwise orthodox and preach really good sermons on the doctrines of grace or the five points of Calvinism. And even those that are good men and wonderful pastors. If they fail to take the right side in the great conflict of our day, they are useless and even dangerous. Kick them out. Replace them with preachers who will fearlessly oppose the Beast. Restore the Black-Robed Regiment.”

“The solution to Britain’s spiritual problem is not that simple. In Britain, it will take longer, and will take more steps.”

Christianity, Theonomy

Worthy of Death

Theonomy is the doctrine that the civil law of Moses in the Old Testament (the civil laws given to Israel’s government) are applicable today. I wanted to look at the phrase “worthy of death” as it comes up a couple times in the New Testament.

Here is each instance of the phrase in the NASB:

  • Deuteronomy 21:22: If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree…
  • Deuteronomy 22:26: But you shall do nothing to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, so is this case.
  • Acts 25:11: If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die…
  • Acts 25:25: But I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him…
  • Acts 26:31: “…and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another, saying, “This man is not doing anything worthy of death or imprisonment.”
  • Romans 1:32: and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

In each instance up to Romans 1:32, it is clearly speaking of the death penalty for certain crimes. In Acts, Paul was essentially accused of blasphemy, which was a death penalty crime under the law of Israel. Paul denied it and appealed to Caesar and was shipped to Rome.

Here is the context of Romans 1:26-32:

“For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is [r]unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing [s]indecent acts and receiving in [t]their own persons the due penalty of their error.

28 And just as they did not see fit [u]to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, [v]haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

It says those who do not see fit to acknowledge God are given over to homosexuality, leading to murder and a long list of other sins. Then, it says that those who practice such things are worthy of death. Homosexuality and some of the sins on the list, such as murder, are crimes that receive the death penalty in the Old Testament.

Clearly, Paul was saying that the civil law of Moses was applicable and just.

Theonomy

Libertarianism

bm

“Libertarianism was a child of Christianity – specifically Reformed Christianity – and in motivation and structure belongs to Reformed Christianity. The attempt of secular libertarianism to exist outside its roots will naturally cause it to wither and die.”

Theonomy

I Love God’s Law!

Here’s a great conversation regarding how to handle Syrian refugees.

1st Question: “With today’s situation with ISIS, how does one distinguish true refugees from embedded terrorists? Is this something to be left in the Lord’s hands, or Is there some other response? I do realise that much/all of the aggression could be the Lord’s wrath towards America because we have forgotten Him.”
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Bojidar says, “It has to be like everything else: From the mouths of two or three witnesses. It strikes me how no one really thought of the obvious solution: The legitimate refugees themselves, running from ISIS, would be able to recognize if someone is a member of ISIS. It is this fact that makes me skeptical when people say that ISIS would infiltrate the refugees – it would be just as dangerous as Eichmann infiltrating modern Israel.”
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2nd Question: “How then would you determine between true and false witnesses? I would expect the ISIS thugs to support each other and to bear false witness against the real refugees. How do you correct for that?”
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Bojidar says, “Just like everything else: Compare testimonies and use deductive logic and/or direct revelation. There is no cookie-cutter approach to this problem, and that’s why God instituted the only legitimate function of civil government: the courts. (And prosecution, by logical extension.)

Solomon understood that this is the greatest challenge before a godly ruler, and specifically asked for wisdom to deal with it (1 Kings 3:6-15). And guess what, his most famous court case was exactly that: to judge whose testimony was true and whose false (vv. 16-28). The solution to that case shows that it takes direct AND SPECIFIC wisdom from God, and that there are no fixed approaches to that issue.

(Which is why I argue that unless we restore the Biblical view of the gifts of the Spirit, we won’t be able to present a Biblical alternative to the modern court system. There is a reason why judges are called “sons of God” in the Bible.)”
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Question 3: “In a nation that is clearly *very* far away from following God’s Law, where we don’t give a rip about two witnesses, where we don’t have judges like Solomon who seek God’s wisdom, etc., how are we to proceed?”

Martin Selbrede says, “Lev. 26:6 teaches that the sword shall not go through your land IF His commandments are kept. Period. To expect peace while voiding His Law is suicidal insanity. To substitute state action for keeping His Law is to compound the problem with idolatry, insuring a worse disaster.”
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Bojidar says, “Martin beat me to it.

We preach the solutions of the Law of God in every area. We don’t advocate for state action in one area because we have abandoned the Law in another.”
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Bojidar says, “the other side is not emphasizing a Biblical principle, it is arguing from a strictly anti-Biblical perspective:

“The civil government needs to do its duty and protect its people by not letting wolves enter in uninhibited.”

There is no such thing as government-enforced preventive “protection” in the Bible. This would mean that a person is declared a criminal before he has committed a crime, based on certain government criteria. Or even worse, that a whole group is declared criminal based on their nationality, until individuals in it they prove otherwise.

Having proof for specific individuals that they are members of a crime syndicate is one thing. Treating a whole group as possible criminals without proof is another. We do that, and we are opening the door for concentration camps for our own children.”
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Bojidar says, “Vetting people is not the same as closing the borders to refugees; just as protecting your family is not the same as shooting everyone who enters your backyard.”
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Question/Comment 4: “It seems reasonable that a magistrate wouldn’t be involved unless accusations were made.”
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Bojidar says, Correct.

The Bible doesn’t exclude private investigations, though. These are outside the Biblically-mandated authority of the civil government, and therefore the Law of God doesn’t regulate those – as long as, of course, the private investigators stay within the Law in their ethical behavior. So while a government executive policy of curtailing people’s liberty is out of question (and besides, it never really works), private action is allowed, and I should say, necessary.

This is fully consistent with our theonomic views: Self-government is the most fundamental government, and we need to push every government action in this direction, and only accept solutions at a higher institutional level when they are permitted by the Law of God, and when there is no other solution currently available.

This is also the practical judicial difference between CR and the modern covenanters. Modern covenanters think in terms of natural law: if there’s some power in the society, it should be used to the fullest extent possible on every issue, regardless of whether the Law of God gives permission for such institutional action. We think in terms of spheres of authority: power should be used only where specifically allowed, and only when all other options have failed.
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Question/Comment 5: It does seem somewhat irresponsible to me that we wouldn’t have some kind of proactive measures in place. Yes, the private sector could (and likely should) handle that, but I don’t see any volunteers, either with time/expertise an/or money.
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Bojidar says, “So, how well did proactive measures work so far?

The only thing they can be vetted for directly at the border is diseases. If there is information about specific ones who are criminals, or have been part of a criminal/terrorist organization, they should be arrested and tried, not deported.

Back in the 1990s, many people in Easter Europe thought that the private sector wouldn’t be able to move in and replace the government in supplying the market. We couldn’t see any volunteers, either with time/expertise or with money. We all thought that we would starve until private owners learn how to produce and supply the market – and organize operations.

The day after the government monopoly and price controls were repealed, the stores were full, at prices at about the same level as before. Gradually, more and more goods appeared, and the prices were lower and lower.

Actually, there have always been people with expertise. And money shouldn’t be a problem.

Theonomy

Bo Knocks It Out of the Park

Here’s a quick answer from Bojidar Marinov to a question many Christians have asked in the last few days about the Syrian refugees.

Q

Why are we responsible to take Syrian refugees at all? Don’t the rich stable Muslim nations surrounding the area own this responsibility? Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations have not taken one single refugee! and yet they have offered to build 200 mosques in Germany, it’s pretty obvious what is going on here, their purpose is to invade and demographically conquer Europe.

A

I see that argument used by many Christians, and I wonder, since when do we Christians complain of being given the opportunity to show love to our enemies and evangelize them? Is this another example of the moral degradation of our American suburbian churchianity? Instead of actively working to save these people and help them in their distress so that we can evangelize them, we complain that we are forced to tolerate their presence? And then we are talking about missions and evangelism?

By the way, Arab nations took the heaviest responsibility. Lebanon has admitted close to 1.5 million refugees (more than 25% of its population) and Christians in Lebanon not only don’t whine about it but actively work to help them. Jordan accepted a huge number too.

Why didn’t Saudi Arabia take them? Because, Tim, these refugees don’t want to go to Saudi Arabia. They consider Saudi Arabia no different than ISIS. DO YOU SEE THE OPPORTUNITY IN THIS, TIM? THESE PEOPLE ARE RIPE FOR EVANGELISM! THEY ALREADY HATE ISLAM!

And we now as Christians are making sure that they start hating Christianity as well.

Ours is not Christianity. Ours is a worship of ourselves. We look at these people in the same way those murderous mothers in the abortion mills look at their babies: as a nuisance.