We Should Know Family Is The Gospel, Not Church, and Continue to Learn More About Love
I am not much for coming-to-Jesus drama and drama-confessions in general. I pretty much stay away from drawing attention to myself with escapades of “humbleness” and “transparency.” Truly, I had all of that I can bear with 30-plus years of church and its “confessional” roots that Al Mohler et al are so proud of. Look, if life has taught you something about life, just shut up and apply it. Talk with your life. Stop living life like Sunday at church where people do the alter-drama-walk and nothing changes. Children will continue to be raped in the church venue and the church will continue to cover it up because “we are all just totally depraved sinners declared righteous by grace.” Church will continue to pose itself as humanity’s moral compass to draw you in until you are indoctrinated in the ways of nihilism and all that’s left is to invest everything in church as your only shot at heaven.
So, with all of that said, suffice to say writing an article today was not even on my radar screen but something happened. What happened made me come to grips with some truth I have to build into my life. But I don’t confess like church hypocrites, I build. When I stand before God, I think He will say, “Well done faithful servant, you stopped going to church and started building.” Folks, did you ever think we would see the day when church openly admits that practicing what you preach is “moralism” and “Phariseeism”? Well, those days are here and the only possible logical result of its founding ideology that has come home to roost.
The problem with the Bible isn’t its complexity (though it can be complex), it’s the simplicity of it. The gospel, the good news, is about a family, not an institution. Church, is by definition an institution. An institution CANNOT love you. If you think you have found love in church; you are delusional. And that’s ok because I was delusional for 30-plus years. Church by definition is an institution, and an institution by definition functions by authority. And when you function by authority, why would you need leadership or love? You don’t because in the end the real functionality is described best by former pastor Mark Driscoll: “Keep your damn mouth shut and obey!” But bless his heart, in his zeal he forgot the second part; “and put your money in the plate.”
Though our family has been given authority by its firstborn brother and Prince to proclaim the gospel in this foreign kingdom as ambassodors, our family does not function by authority. The Bible states that we are a “body” with ONE head. And that’s not “head” as in “boss,” that’s “head” as in head of a body. A human body. First, the gospel is about being literally reborn into the family of God. Let’s pause here to talk about God’s mode of operation. He created Adam and Eve as living creatures who had freewill. God is not threatened by unlimited possibilities; He is not primarily sovereign, He is primarily all-powerful. And, love is not love without freewill. Love doesn’t please you because it has to, it pleases you because it wants to. It pleases love to please you; love needs self-fulfillment as well. Self-fulfillment is inevitable when someone wants to do something. Adam and Eve’s freewill didn’t go well, but here is what God did and continues to do: He turns evil acts into good. When Adam and Eve were deceived, God provided a way to make living creatures His very family. Evil is in a catch 22; it can perform its acts, but it also knows God will bring good out of it for those who love Him. Because I now understand this, I am far less exercised emotionally when someone does evil against me; I know God is going to bring something good out of it. I can point to many explicit examples in my life.
Look, I am not one to debate the Trinity or try to explain it, but I do know the Trinity is efficacious to the new birth. God is the Father because life comes from Him. Christ is the Firstborn of God’s family because His death and resurrection was ALL about establishing the gateway to new birth into God’s literal family which functions as a body. A literal family functioning as a body; “You must be born again.” That’s the gospel; that’s the good news. Justification by new birth, NOT justification by a mere legal declaration. That is ALL wrong for countless reasons, but primarily, how is a “legal declaration” a “righteousness apart from the law”? Duh. Hence, the reason many will not repent of church; it is an admission that we fell for a ruse based on the crudest of elementary error. While reading Paul in the Bible flogging a dead camel about righteousness being apart from the law, we all went to church every week and presided over our “legal declaration” like Tim the Tool Man groveling over the latest 20 amp power drill.
And because of church, there is a famine of love in the land. The way of the world is law, condemnation, control, and authority. It’s a worldview, it’s the waters of reality that we swim in. Church is just another version of that and merely added to the condemnation free-for-all. Knowledge of how to build a life of love is lacking, but I think I am learning a little about it. As we teach here at TANC Ministries, you drive a stake on what you know objectively, and you use those things as a foundation to build more truth on. In a way, it’s like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. The corner pieces are the foundation and lend understanding to fitting the other pieces in, making the big picture. When you study anything, don’t worry about what you don’t understand and focus on what you do understand; the rest will fit into what you understand later. Learning starts with the basics that are easier to grasp first. So, here is what I have learned about love, and I hope it is beneficial.
Love and law, biblically, are two different states of being. That doesn’t mean there isn’t any law in love, it means that you no longer function by a law without love. In the realm of law, love is mostly pretense. But, in regard to love, it is only found in family and not institutions. Families function as a body, institutions function by authority. And here is something to remember: you can’t really make anyone do anything. The only exception is God, and He doesn’t want to. Why? Because when somebody is compelled to do something by force, that’s not love. Example. I am a nurse aide. Most residents would rather suffer in pain and lay in their own mess than be helped by a nurse aide who doesn’t want to be there and is only there for a check. Got it? There are laws regulating aides, but regarding aides, adherence of the laws are merely a natural result of their love. Aides that function by love and not law see the regulations as a manual for love, not laws to be obeyed. One mindset is merely looking for the avoidance of consequences while the other mindset looks to the law to find better ways to love. Same law used two different ways. Same law applying to two different worldviews: law or love.
The law realm is controlled by sin which seeks primarily to control others. The world is dominated by control-lust. Excuses to control others are measured by any difference between people resulting in caste systems and prejudice. I recently saw an add for an online dating site for “Elite Educated Singles.” Wow, really? Now, go find a couple of those elitist singles out on a date and ask them the following: “For the betterment of the world, should the educated singles rule over the “Country Singles.” But of course it goes without saying that the world would be a better place if the educated singles ruled over the stupid hillbillies. And so it goes at virtually EVERY level of humanity. That’s the law realm of condemnation. While the church claims to be of the different realm, that is, the realm of love, that is a lie. Church is merely part and parcel with the world’s condemnation fray.
James stated (in the book of James) that conflict arises from desires that battle within people, viz, desires to control. In home settings, family members have their own laws, referred to as “preferences” and punishments deemed sufficient when other family members break those laws. That’s law and condemnation (sin’s primary weapon), not love functioning as a body. Think about how a body works; there is NO authority. You can’t tell the members of your body to do squat. The body is a cooperative effort among healthy members, but you have NO control over those members. Sure, you can tell a voluntary muscle to do something and it will do it, if it is healthy. But, most of our body systems are involuntary and work apart from anything we know or do. The only control we have over our body is the choice to edify it and thereby love it so each member can fulfill its role and be there when we need said member. This is exactly how the body of Christ functions. There is no authority; the body functions by being nourished and edified.
So, I conclude with a few applications thereof. Wellbeing is found in the self-satisfaction of building life-things. Help others do that, and be sure to do it for yourself. Be sure to dwell on what is right with people rather than what is wrong with them. And, if something about them is annoying, is it because they are breaking a law, or your law? Watch out for any kind of criticism that condemns you; 99% of the time this is an effort to control you in some way. Therfore, don’t be a sinner yourself and condemn people; the desire to control or rule over others by tearing down their self-esteem is sin and the essence of sin. If they didn’t rob a bank, you will nevertheless find something to condemn them for. Just stop it. Leave judgement to God. Seriously, I have a message for many who I do not think are orchestrating their lives in a way that is healthy for them or others: it’s between you and God, but if you think you can dismiss me as just another Quaker in a can, you are barking up the wrong tree. I do not seek my own wellbeing by making others lower than me by using the condemnation shortcut; I find my wellbeing in building with my own hands and mind. If you want to engage in a crappy building project it’s your problem, not mine. Don’t make me the issue, your issue is with God.
All of this to share what I have learned this week. Second to the mostly untapped power of God’s family in this Church Dark Age is our earthly family. It is of paramount importance because it is second only to God’s family. But in both cases, and well into the realm of love being administered, and especially in this Church Dark Age, some just need to be separated for a season from associating with each other. Do I believe this is necessary because they just don’t get the basics mentioned in the prior paragraph? Probably. Church people don’t have a monopoly on loving families that function well and the reason for that has been stated in this post: they are of the same law realm/ideology/state of being. Church has done absolutely NOTHING in propagating knowledge about love. In fact, orthodoxy calls for the realization that no one can truly love—love has been redefined as obeying the church, or in other words, law for salvation. No, law and justification are mutually exclusive. Don’t miss this, due to church orthodoxy, secular families are probably better at loving because intuitive knowledge about love has not been circumvented by law.
A church background in our family is presently making relationships and love more difficult. Separation between a couple of family members has returned peace to our family and eliminated drama. Listen, the idea that we must suffer each other because we are family is a law idea. Though an example separate from this discussion, the idea that two people who hate each other have to stay married because “God hates divorce” is VERY much an under-law idea; law doesn’t make a marriage—love makes a marriage. law doesn’t save anyone, only love does. However, love is not absent from the separation process. “We all love each other, but they just can’t get along.” Until they figure it out, keep them separate and let peace prevail. The Bible states that Christians are “called to peace.” Not that long ago, I went to a funeral where two family members were present who had a strained relationship. But of course, one or both of them could not be kept from the funeral because we are all family, right? The result? A physical confrontation literally ten feet from the casket. As Christians, we are called to peace first and foremost. Family events that can occur serve to shine a light on the folly that makes such a separation necessary for the sake of family peace. This principle is a biblical principle of love that has been bastardized by church and turned into, of course, a law principle. This is known as so-called, “church discipline,” an ordinance clearly based on authority that supposedly removes a person from the “body of Christ.”
Once a person is born into a family, they cannot be unborn out of the family. They, whether our earthly family or heavenly family, will always be family. But sometimes a season of separation is necessary until the two family members figure things out.
paul
Heidelberg Disputation Archives Page
Blogtalk Radio Series
The Magnum Opus of the Reformation: Martin Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation
Audio Transcripts
Part 1 – Theses 1-2
Part 2 – Theses 3-6
Part 3 – Thesis 7
Part 4 – Theses 8-10
Part 5 – Tullian Tchividjian and Luther’s Theologian of the Cross
Part 7- Theses 11-14
Part 9 – Truth about Galatians 2:20
Part 10 – Theses 15-18
Part 11 – Theses 19-22
Part 12 – Theses 22-23
Part 13 – Theses 24-25
Calvinism “Leans” Left – guest writer, John Immel
The following question was posted in a Facebook group that I follow:
This is a great question. Here is my answer. Calvinism isn’t a leftward LEAN. It IS at the core Leftist ideology.
Here is what I mean. In modern parlance being politically LEFT means being statist/collectivist or totalitarian/tribalist or Man is morally subordinate to the state for the benefit of the body politic.
Being politically right means governing in accord with the American constitution- that Man is a free moral agent who can pursue his life, liberty and happiness; and the government’s singular function is to protect the individual. The American constitution sets up a secular state independent of any religious orthodoxy- men are free to believe what they want without a political theological litmus test.
Statist/Collectivism has been the dominant philosophical framework in recorded history. Without going into a lengthy discussion of the evolution of western political thought (e.g. the Pythagorean Soul/Body dichotomy. You can read the extended discussions here), the culmination of Statist doctrine is Plato’s Republic. He set up a clear delineation between the fleshly, morally depraved masses and the soul-enlightened Philosopher Kings, men who were not subject to the depravity of fleshly existence and (somehow) uniquely qualified to rule over all men. Plato pontificated that the Philosopher Kings would be benevolent dictators, but the reality is Plato’s kings have always been despots.
Fast forwarding a few hundred years, and Augustine grafts three centuries of disorganized, vague intellectual Christian traditions into Plato’s despotic framework. It proved a powerful combination- this statist framework dominates the whole of the Dark and Middle Ages with only a couple deviations where Aristotle was rediscovered and rational independence was the leading political principle.
Enter the Enlightenment and the Reformation. Saint Thomas Aquinas rediscovers Aristotle (circa 1250) and does an exceptional job revisioning Christianity in Aristotelian terms which lead to the very rational independence and political freedom mentioned above. And this freedom is what Martin Luther found so unacceptable.
Let’s back up a tick. The modern legend is that Luther sought to champion intellectual freedom against an entrenched, immoral Papacy that was advancing an erroneous doctrinal definition of grace. The Reformation battle cry becomes the “5 Solas.” And the leading “Sola” is “Scripture Alone” which people are led to believe means individuals are empowered to read the bible for themselves, and this self directed bible reading is the foundation of correct Bible interpretation. Alakazam! Poof! No more Popes telling us what to think.
This is total fiction.
Luther was fully antagonistic of independent reason and political freedom. He NEVER believed the “laity” and the right of interpretation. Unfortunately Protestant history is a revisionist history that has erroneously taught that the Reformation was an individualist/independent thinking movement. The truth is Luther’s “reforming” effort was to unseat Aristotle’s influence on what he saw as a wayward Catholic “free thinking” leadership and a demand to return it to the “orthodoxy” of Augustine.
Forget reading Luther’s 95 theses. That is merely window dressing to his real dispute. I highly recommend reading the Heidelberg Disputation, particularly the later parts that typically don’t get published. If memory serves, points 16 through 25 are all about Plato vs Aristotle; the superiority of Plato and the evil of Aristotle.
You have to work to find it because revisionist historians don’t like the details available for public consumption, but the pro Plato/anti Aristotle is at the core of Luther’s “reformation.”
And so it goes to Calvin and his Institutes of Christian Religion. Do a fast review of how many times he references and applauds Plato and condemns all free thinking Aristotealian ideas. Make no mistake, Calvin’s ICR was a formal effort to close all of Augustine’s theological loopholes that implied independence and freedom and set up the justification for a totalitarian Christian state. Even a casual review of Protestant history illustrates that the totalitarian theory and the mystic depot practice lined up . . .
Until the Enlightenment and post-constitutional America. There are many steps to synthesize here, but for brevity, Thomas Jefferson successfully distills John Lock’s Enlightenment political theory into the greatest political achievement in human history- a document that totally liberated man from the crushing power of Government in general and theocratic tyranny in particular.
The effort to separate church and state was specifically designed to prevent the Massachusetts Theocracy (aka Puritan theocracy aka Calvinist theocracy) from ever rising anywhere in the colonies.
And by doing this, the American constitution severed the cords that had forever bound Calvinism with government force.
But the theocratic/Statist aspirations are at the root of Protestant Orthodoxy. And this is why, generations later you see contemporary Calvinist true believers advocating unapologetic statist public policy. This is why the “LEAN” left. But as I said it isn’t a lean. They are men who take Calvins synthesis seriously and seek to enact the political vision that subordinates all men to church authority. And the only way they can ever achieve that is to set up a totalitarian state that compels compliance; modern “leftist” ideology. Socialism, Communism, and Fascism are merely the secularized version of the same philosophical premise- individuals must be subordinate to the collective. It is the flip 
side of the same coin. They advocate the same political outcomes because they share the same premise.
Make no mistake, the current leftist political trend in the Calvinist movements is not an aberration or the error of a few stray thinkers. On the contrary it is the effort to be consistent with Calvin’s synthesis.
~ John Immel
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