Paul's Passing Thoughts

Whatever you think of Donald Trump, he is the face of a revolution. And unless you have been vacationing on the moon, you know he has coined the term, “fake news.” Journalism that distorts truth seeks to persuade the populous at large to think a certain way about those of contrary persuasion. Journalism that propagates false news is not objective and sides with those who have a particular social agenda.

The Trump revolution is a return to a purist form of government by the people and for the people. It is a return to Americanism and its foundational roots. Americanism was the first political ideology that said “no” to what had dominated all human history from the beginning: the elitist pagan-state caste system followed by the church-state. Americanism destroyed the church-state which led to Communism filling the void because humanity tends to gravitate, due to fear and propaganda, towards the idea that individualism leads to chaos. However, we are created as free individuals and eventually enough suffering will drive us to the purpose we are wired for.

When the serpent presented himself as a mediator other than God between Adam and Eve, they bought into it and this opened the door to myriads of other self-proclaimed mediators between God and man. Hence, human history. Read the Genesis account carefully with independent eyes; the pretense was a lack of full revelation that the serpent was there to satisfy, and the serpent is not necessary accusing God of hiding truth from Adam and Eve, but could have been presenting himself as a God appointed mediator. The text does not exclude such a notion. In addition, the foundations of all religion and politics was introduced: the material realm is evil (unknowing of reality), and beyond the material realm is knowledge of true reality. Hence, “the knowledge of good and evil.” As an aside, it is interesting to note that the Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion flows from this one basic idea and introduces such in the first sentence of the same.

The point? Since the masses are unable to know reality, the realm beyond the material as defined by the philosophy or religion of your choice appoints mediators to rule over the great unwashed for their own good and the preservation of humanity. Do politicians think you are stupid? Well, yes, but it really goes beyond that; they don’t think you can know reality. Why else would Barack Obama et al state things that are obviously not true as if it were fact? This necessarily introduces authority as truth. Why do Catholics believe everything the Pope says regardless of how ridiculous it is? That’s why. “Yes, it sounds stupid, but his understanding is so far beyond what we can comprehend.” There is a reason why 900 people drank poison and perished in one day just because Jim Jones told them to do it. Authority as truth is a very powerful reality.

Be sure of this: everything seen in the political and religious realm flows from this basic construct.

In circa 400 BC, the big three, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, articulated the knowledge of good and evil into a scientific and sociological construct. Almost every thought in Western culture bears the DNA of these thinkers. For all practical purposes, Plato’s “The Republic” is the bible of socialism and always has been. Read this spot-on description of their contribution to historical ideology:

 Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the very foundations of Western philosophy and science. Alfred North Whitehead once noted: “the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” In addition to being a foundational figure for Western science, philosophy, and mathematics, Plato has also often been cited as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality. Friedrich Nietzsche, amongst other scholars, called Christianity, “Platonism for the people.” Plato’s influence on Christian thought is often thought to be mediated by his major influence on Saint Augustine of Hippo, one of the most important philosophers and theologians in the history of Christianity.

Please note: Catholics and Protestants, regardless of their animosity towards each other, both claim Augustine as their founder. John Calvin and Martin Luther were rabid followers of Augustine. So, what is the source of their contention? Answer: Aristotle.

Simply stated, perhaps crassly so, Aristotle did not draw the same strict dichotomy between reality and the common man. This made him more along the lines of Socrates rather than Plato. For purposes of this post, I want to keep it simple and say that Aristotle believed that the common man can know stuff. That muddies the waters between individualism and strict collectivism. That tips the balance of rightful power (and freedom) towards the people. Aristotelianism also promotes elitism, but in this case, it can be earned by anybody who brings the right stuff to the table. In other words, Aristotle promoted individual upward mobility and rejected predetermined caste. That grated against historical ideology…

…and incited the Protestant Reformation. Catholicism had long been predicated on Platonist ideology. Starting in the 12^th century, the integration of Aristotelianism and the Bible began creeping into the Catholic church and replacing the integration of Platonism with the Bible. This was a threatening prerequisite to a shift in power and influence. The Protestant Reformation sought to return the Catholic Church to Platonist Christianity. Any other stated cause is grossly misinformed.

While the Protestant Reformation set Europe on fire fueled by religious bloodletting of biblical proportions, Aristotelianism also ignited the Enlightenment Era which eventually gave birth to Americanism and the American Revolution. America was originally settled by Protestant political refugees of the Platonist sort who were sent packing after the Revolution, but this left a confused Protestantism which arose from the ashes of the colonial Puritan theocracy. American Protestantism became a confused hybrid of individualism and the religious socialism of the past.

With this all considered, we now come to the subject of fake news. Church history is fake news. “Church,” however, is a very important word because it represents the institutional church, its attempt to be a mediation in addition to Christ while claiming to represent Christ, and indicative of the power-hungry political entity that it is. Church is a whore seeking intercourse with any government that will enforce its orthodoxy. For humanity’s own good of course. Protestantism has never been predicated on the separation of itself from the state and anyone who thinks so is egregiously misled and misinformed.

The framers of Protestant orthodoxy never experienced the separation of church and state, and never imaged church apart from the state. Protestant orthodoxy is a church-state doctrine that assumes the government’s responsibility to enforce its orthodoxy. Most Protestants think it would be wonderful if the clear majority of government officials were “Christians.” For all practical purposes, this would be a representative republic functioning as a theocracy. Unwittingly, Protestant minds fail to connect the dots accordingly. Supposedly, God would bless America if the likes of Jerry Falwell became president. No, the Catholics would then vie for power, and we would have a return to the bloodletting that plagued Europe for hundreds of years.

The church-state rejects any notion of a good conscience among common people. Mankind is totally depraved and must be ruled over. Listen to the jingle heard in every Protestant church: “God will judge America if we don’t elect Christians.” Any churchian that would even hire a secular plumber is deemed a traitor to the cause.

And the much bigger problem follows: Protestantism needed a doctrine of salvation that matched its church-state mentality. It shouldn’t surprise us: a righteousness defined by perfect law-keeping which Jesus will supply for us if we are “members of the church in good standing.” By partaking in the “means of grace” only found in the church (of course, where else?), Jesus will fulfill the law for us.

Yes, you can know what the historical results of a church-state political party predicated on a false gospel will yield: look at church history; it is a history awash in blood and shocking brutality.

The gathering of God’s children for purposes of edification and fellowship was never found in the institution of the Church political party. For 300 years, the followers of Christ functioned as a family organization because that’s what it is. “Church,” as we know it today, was established in the fourth century after effectively seducing Rome and replacing the pagan-state as Rome’s mistress. God’s family has never gone away, it simply doesn’t make the news and never has. The fake news of church has always been presented as the only reality, and for the most part, its heroes are antibiblical murderers. Events like the Salem Witch trials are not obscure historical anomalies, they are the result of a false gospel and indicative of church history. Secular entities have never been apt at producing so-called martyrs while the church has always been marvelously effective at murdering heretics and accused witches by rack, the noose, and the burning stake. Even in modern times, the church’s collectivist ideology has driven mass murder to insoluble proportions.

We know this because the institutional church’s gospel is false per biblical facts that are embarrassingly simple. With all the intellectual bravado portended by Protestant folklore and myth, it makes justification by faith alone apart from the law justification by the law apart from us because Jesus keeps/kept the law for us. But the Bible never limits justification apart from the law to us only, it is justification apart from the law period because there is no law that can give eternal life; only the new birth can give eternal life. Protestantism, with all its pomp and circumstance, falls on one simple word; “apart.” It is a haughty and steroidal arrogance that could not win a debate with a school child armed with this one good question. But yet, what other historical buffoonery has murdered so many over the misunderstanding on one word?

Be sure of this: the simplicity of the Protestant error has not escaped the minds of many throughout history; they have just been kept out of the news which was easy to do because historically, layman have had very limited access to the production of mass media. Of course, with the advent of the internet that is changing. Hence, those who see this simple error are not going to disappear from history any longer. What effect will this have on the Protestant false gospel and the institution in general? That remains to be seen.

paul

@JohnPiper Your antinomian false gospel that denies the new birth and makes the law a fourth member of the Trinity. Repent or perish.

— Paul M. Dohse (@PaulMDohse) February 27, 2017

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I was four different kinds of Baptist for about twenty years and I can tell you there isn’t a more contentious environment anywhere. In addition, a cursory perusal of history will reveal that the vast majority of wars are religious by nature.

In this ministry, which is a think tank and not a Christian organization though religion is part of what we study, we are constantly plagued by petty issues brought up by religionists. What’s going on?

Answer: under law.

In the New Testament, we find a dominant theme: those under condemnation condemn. Love isn’t the order of the day; it’s all about sin sniffing. This flavors all of reality. The worthiness of a person is judged by their lack of faults from the perspective of everyone who has their own mental court of law.

Think about how scary that is; everyone you come in contact with is going to judge you by their own perception of what is good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable. And think about gossip for a moment; it is the combined condemnation of multiple courts of law from different perspectives. Gossip condemns you from multiple angles while rarely missing any fault and even adding some that aren’t true. The endgame of condemnation is condemnation and slander is a handy shortcut for that purpose.

And don’t forget Bible verses. A single verse standing alone can be twisted to say anything about everything.

What is the biblical prescription? The law is to be used for love and not condemnation. When one is born again and no longer under condemnation, the preoccupation is love towards others and not fault finding; or at least it should be.

Another attribute of being under condemnation is the desire to control others and it shouldn’t be a surprise that condemnation is used to accomplish that by people who are under condemnation. It goes something like this: “Because you are unworthy, you need to obey me for your own good.”

Condemnation is also used by those under condemnation to uncondemn themselves and proclaim themselves innocent in their own personal court of law. “My wife is frigid; therefore, I had no choice but to commit adultery.” Examples along this line are inexhaustible.

Most marriage counseling is unsuccessful because it seeks to rectify two condemnation lists from two different courts of law; good luck with that. If the focus is love, sin will be displaced as a natural consequence. In contrast, condemnation is a bottomless pit that can never be sufficiently rectified.

No surprise then: God so loved the world that He gave His only Son who didn’t come into the world to condemn it, but to save it.  

You CANNOT fix anything predicated on condemnation and that includes church as the quintessential example. Where the Bible is used to condemn rather than to instruct in regard to love which does no wrong to its neighbor, only strife and misery remain.  

paul  

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Source: John Piper’s Law Problem