Paul's Passing Thoughts

Let’s talk about root causes. All political victories start with your base being united and activated. The Democrat party is girded by leftist ideology; without leftist support, the party will collapse. Now, what is the crux of leftism? It’s self-esteem built on being better than others. It’s self-esteem and self-worth based on how many people worship you because you have what they don’t. People in general don’t realize there is a minority of people in the world seeking to be gods in their own right. As much as I like movies, movie stars have a god complex. Obviously. As much as I like many musicians, most have a god complex. As much as I like sports, many have a god complex. Journalists think they are the gatekeepers of truth and justice; that is, according to their own version.

And politicians primarily protect their right to godhood. There is a reason most musicians are politically left. There is a reason most athletes are politically left. There is a reason why most movie stars are politically left. There is a reason why movie stars are called before congress as expert witnesses on a variety of social issues which on its face makes no sense at all. They can act, or sing, and that makes them an expert on climate change?

And regardless of what seems to be the case, you never criticize God because any criticism of God must be based on a misunderstanding because our universal presupposition is that God is love and perfection. I agree with that; but such is hardly true of the press. We must ask ourselves why Trump’s “fake news” mantra is deemed sacrilegious by journalist icons like Chris Wallace despite overt and incessant misrepresentations of truth by the press. Obviously, the press deems itself above being questioned; to do so is a violation of the First Amendment via debate and contrary ideas which has never had anything to do with free speech. The opposite is true.

The essense of sin is a desire to control others. Sin is the basis for caste systems that dominate the world. Another angle on this is self-worth based on comparing yourself to others rather than being the best YOU that you can be.

Please note: leftist ideolgy is predicated on others being less. Self-worth is predicated on where you are located on the caste social ladder. Individualism makes all of that irrelevant. Individualism seeks its purpose in self-assessment that is true, earned, honorable, and pleasing to God; leftist ideology is predicated on being worshiped. It is predicated on being a legend in your own mind. The shortcut to all of that is being a victim; self-pity is not only self-worship, but a way to get worship from others on the cheap.

Trump, as an individualist, has committed the unpardonable sin. He is actually working to enable the little people to be the best they can be. In contrast, according to leftist ideology, the little people are preordained to worship the elite. And the best way to injure an individualist is to destroy his or hers legacy. “You didn’t build that.” Individualists want to be remembered by their truthful accomplishments and the example they set for others after them. They are purpose-driven.

The Democrats must satisfy their base, and we now know why their base was rabid over Trump being impeached. Rather than stating numerous examples such as what the actor Rob Reiner tweeted, I will give the thumbnail:

“Donald Trump will forever be known as the only third President in American history to be impeached.”

Bingo. That’s it; the goal was to inflict the ultimate injury. A political cartoon also shows Trump at the cleaners with mud on his suit labeled, “impeachment” and the clerk telling him, “that isn’t going to come out.” Again, bingo. My reply to the cartoon which appeared on Twitter follows:

“And that was the whole point of why they did it knowing that the stigma of impeachment is WHAT [impeachment, period, the big “P”] and not WHY especially in a low information society. They were going to find a reason to impeach him and when you have the majority it can be for eating a ham sandwich. Sad. Petty. Evil.”

The tweet was pulled down shortly thereafter and I am unable to find the cartoon.

This isn’t about Trump at all: he’s just the lightening rod for the whole issue; the collective rise of individuals leads to elitism and their lust for godhood being diminished. Individualism is the primary nemesis of caste.

And caste must confiscate every pursuit of individual liberty and happiness and demand that it be burned on its alter as a living sacrifice. And at some point, we the people must question our funding of these religions for our own entertainment.

While we celebrate their gifts, what they really want is the surrender of our right to exist other than what our existence contributes to their worship…which is our reasonable service in their eyes.

paul

I was again struck by a quotation from the late RC Sproul that I observed on the internet: “The only way sinners can get past the gates of heaven is by wearing the robes of somebody else’s righteousness…the righteousness of Jesus Christ.” Not only is Sproul a Protestant icon, but this is a mantra we hear often in church circles.

And the statement is a false gospel on its face because it denies a biblical new birth. When Jesus said we must be born again, He was talking about a literal rebirth that makes us literal children of God. Consequently, we are not merely declared righteous; we ARE righteous because of our new state of being.

The true gospel is not a coverup; in fact, Jesus criticized doctrines that He likened to whitewashed tombs full of dead people’s bones. We are not tombs whitewashed by the righteousness of Christ, we are the temples of God in which the fullness of the Trinity dwells. God’s righteousness is not outside of us; it is infused within us by the new birth. And please note, this is not a righteous state of being that enables us to finish our salvation; justification is a one-time and for all time finished work within the believer. So, no, we are not Catholic either; you can save that accusatory drivel. Once you are born again of God you cannot be unborn. And to Catholic and Protestant alike, salvation is NOT a process as both teach. And yes, the born again do move on from the finished work of the gospel. And yes, we build on our faith which is the foundation; we don’t make every day the sabbath and slumber on the foundation.  Faith works through love.

“So, Paul, are you saying that the whole Protestant tradition is a lie?” Yes, that’s exactly what I am saying.

“But Paul, we still sin!” Sigh, please, let’s start using our Bible words. Sinning because we are weak is not the same as sinning because we are enslaved to sin. And by the way, weakness is not sin. Christ was weaker when He was on earth as a man, but He was 100% holy. The “holy angels” are weaker than God, but also 100% righteous. If you are not enslaved to sin, you are holy as your Father in heaven is holy. When you were enslaved to sin you were a “sinner.” As an unbeliever you didn’t sin perfectly, and as a born again believer you don’t obey perfectly. Obviously, someone enslaved to righteousness “purifies himself even as he is pure.” You are pure; you are washed; you are holy; you are to be holy as your Father in heaven is holy.

You are either under grace or under law; under grace is not a covering for remaining under law. Under grace is not a “legal declaration.” How is a legal declaration a “righteousness manifested APART from the law”? As we continue to say, who keeps the law is not the issue; the issue is the law…period. We ARE righteous because we have God’s seed within us, not because someone kept the law perfectly that came 400 years after “The Promise.” If that’s the case, righteousness is of the law and not promise, and the law gives life, not God’s seed. If the law justifies and perfect law-keeping is the standard for justification there is more than one seed. This is Paul’s cardinal point in Galatians chapter 3.

And again, being under grace doesn’t mean we are not obligated to obey the law out of love for God and others. But it’s love that fulfills the law, not participation in church ritual so Jesus’ perfect law-keeping will be imputed to our lives. You cannot dichotomize good works and love; if all of your works are as filthy rags, so is your love.

Nor can you dichotomize righteousness and salvation. If you are saved you ARE righteous, and salvation is either a gift or a loan with salvation doled out on a church installment plan.

Trust me, it’s a gift.

paul

As a lifelong Republican and a Berry Goldwater conservative when I was nine years old, I have always been politically frustrated. I grew up watching the Vietnam fiasco unfold on the evening news and knew it was a humanitarian travesty that utterly rejected life value. No American politician has sought forgiveness for throwing away 50,000 American lives for a war with no clear objective except lame attempts to reason with Communists. Even at my young age, I knew Communism couldn’t be reasoned with.

I watched Jimmy Carter get elected. I couldn’t believe it. I remember a week before an election a good friend sensing my angst put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Paul, Paul, Paul, relax, the American people may be a little stupid, but they aren’t stupid enough to elect Bill Clinton.” I didn’t believe him one bit; I knew better. Then came Barak Obama; twice. I am still amazed at how the framers of the American Constitution had it all figured out; despite Obama’s overt attempt to destroy our Republic, we were spared due to the system the framers put in place.

Now we have Donald Trump, and an election coming in about ten months, but this time, my gut tells me this will be different. Would the American people, regardless of the economic statistics etc., elect an Elizabeth Warren over Donald Trump? In the past, before Trump, I wouldn’t hesitate to say, “Absolutely, yes.” Not this time, again, my gut tells me this will be different, but why?

Looking back, if you think about it, at least in my lifetime, no Democrat has beat a Republican in a landslide. Whenever a Democrat wins, it is either by a slim or moderate victory. This, along with what Trump has exposed, has me pondering.

Trump, regardless of whether or not you would like to have a beer with him, knew something a lot of Americans knew deep down but didn’t want to admit: nether party has been representing the American people for a long time. As an international business person, he knew politicians, for the most part, are elitists who believe they are entitled to unlimited wealth coming from the labor of the little people. When he saw crony capitalism on the precipice of destroying America he intervened.

Different healthcare systems for politicians and the little people; a two-tier justice system; and guns for protecting politicians, but not for the little people. The list goes on and on. And both parties are guilty and have been guilty for a long time; the Republicans are only a little less guilty where complicit.

Two things, primarily, have made the Trump phenomenon possible: the information age and Trump’s genius. The information age has made it possible for Trump to take his message directly to the American people. Elitism’s control of information has been totally decimated.  Trump is also smart enough to play politics by a totally different set of rules.

In considering all of this, I am not so sure Americans are totally stupid, but rather stayed home at election time because they sensed no real difference between Republicans and Democrats. In other words, they lost hope in the American political system. Trump, though genius, has a funny way of stating things: he said the political system is rigged; that means Republicans and Democrats have had the same basic status qua agenda for a long time, but the people understood what he was saying. At his inaugural speech, with the brunt of all American political representation sitting behind him, Trump accused all of forgetting the American people in exchange for their own interests and promised to be different. And he kept those promises.

American politicians don’t keep promises. That’s why, until now, election turnout was people wanting free stuff being led by idealists who have never worked for anything in their lives on one side, and eternal optimists on the other, and inactive political pessimism in-between.

Trump is the political savior that no one thought would ever come. The politically disenfranchised initially popped corn and watched the Republican debates purely for entertainment. At least we could watch the politicians get a few pies in their faces for all the misery they have caused us. At least we had someone we could vote for to flip the other politicians the bird. Trump was catharsis—little more. No one really thought a political messiah would come.

Then, as we all know, strange things started happening and hope temtped us. Taking back the Republican party rather then running as a third party candidate was part of Trump’s strategy. Everything was against him, yet, he has prevailed. Indeed, he is a strange character, but it is a ridiculous notion to think any normal person could pull this off.

So, are Americans basically stupid, or basically smart enough to know when voting is a waste of time? In the process of catharsis, was political hope accidently discovered? Are we dumbfounded to discover the process actually still works if we have someone crazy enough to make it work?

This time around, my gut tells me it’s the latter. Trump has exposed the whole rotten  bastardizing of the intended system. I believe a vast number of people who previously lost hope and interest in the system are energized. Hope in the American political system has returned.

They were never stupid, but rather smart enough to know that voting was a waste of time. I think that is what Trump has taught me; at least I hope so.

paul

We are warned about it constantly by church leaders: having a “righteousness of our own.” If you do, apparently, as John Piper often barks, “your soul is in peril.” Oh my, we don’t want that.

Of course, many assume that the following idea is being confronted by Piper et al: righteousness originated within us. That’s not what is being confronted at all; what is being confronted is the idea that a like righteousness of God is infused into our being through the new birth. That’s supposedly a “righteousness of our own,” so the concept of a free gift that we take ownership of and something that originates within us is conflated to make the former synonymous with the latter. It also rejects the idea that a newborn possesses the same nature and characteristics of one’s biological father.

The central soteriological doctrine of Protestant orthodoxy is Double Imputation. What’s that? Answer: Christ not only came to die as a substitute for the penalty of sin, but he also came to live a perfect life of law-keeping so that can be imputed to our lives as well. Protestantism insists that all righteousness must remain outside of the believer. Any righteousness attributed to us must be a substitution by Christ. Hence, our justification is a “legal declaration,” not our actual state of being via the new birth.

Well, that raises some questions doesn’t it? How then does the Christian life work? How does one live by faith alone in the works of Christ and not anything we do?  However, note that the very idea conflates justification and sanctification and makes sanctification the progression of justification (salvation). The answer is what Protestant scholars call “objective justification experienced subjectively.”

There is actually something Christians can DO which is considered living by faith alone and not good works that we do (faith alone works). Yes, if one works hard at the “ordinary means of grace,” viz, tithing, submitting to the elders, the Lord’s Table, preaching the gospel to ourselves every day, sitting under “gospel preaching,” attending church “whenever the doors are open,” etc., etc., etc., the perfect law-keeping of Christ will be imputed to your life.

According to Martin Luther who articulates this doctrine in his Heidelberg Disputation of 1518, we must assume that all works we do are evil (even those that appear good), but in our Christian experience of subjectivity, some of the works we experience are actually the actions of Christ imputed to our lives but we have no way of knowing which are from us or manifested by Christ. Before you think this is kinda weird (“golly gee, I have been a Christian for years and never heard that before”) I must ask you: how many times have you heard another Christian say, “I didn’t do it—it was Christ (or the Spirit).” Right, because if you actually did it—it is a “righteousness of your own.” Luther stated that our lives are therefore subjective; we don’t have any way of knowing which works we are actually performing or those done by Christ that we are only experiencing as if we are doing them. We must only assume that every work we do is evil lest we believe in a “righteousness of our own.”

But wait a minute: wouldn’t Jesus’ suffering also be a substitution? Would we then not be leary of a “suffering of our own”? Wouldn’t suffering for Jesus be a rightous act of our own and therefore a rightousness of our own? After all, doesn’t the Bible say that we are “healed by his stripes”?

I find it odd that mainline evangelicals whine and moan about the so-called “prosperity gospel.” If everything about the gospel is a substitution, and Christ’s suffering is part of the gospel, why would that not include suffering? In fact, would’nt a focus on health and wealth demonstrate our unworthiness to suffer as Jesus did?

And yet still, even if we concede that we should suffer as Christians, would we not have to proclaim that we are only experienceing the suffering and it’s not really us suffering? “I’m not suffering; it’s Jesus” lest we have a “rightousness of our own”?

If suffering for Jesus is a good work that shows us to be worthy, according to Protestant orthodoxy, we must deny that we are doing that work. At the very least, we must confess that we are only experincing the suffering subjectively.

Hence, the propserity gospel is wholly consistent with orthodoxy.

paul

LIVE LINK: Sunday 12/15/2019 @ 11:30 am