Greg Bahnsen on YouTube

I placed the link to Greg Bahnsen on YouTube permanently in the side bar (under the Theology, Worldview, and Action section).

A Response from a Theonomic Paedo-Baptist

I’m in the middle of reading Greg L. Bahnsen’s No Other Standard: Theonomy and Its Critics. What a dear Christian brother Dr. Bahnsen was! I look forward to seeing him in the resurrection.

And what a great and wonderful providence of God that I should read these words two days after hearing my pastor’s story.

An excerpt from No Other Standard:

“…to say that equal civil protection cannot and should not be afforded without qualification to any and all “religious” commitments is not at all to imply that the civil magistrate has the right to take unto himself ecclesiastical authority. Just as surely as the Old Testament forbade kings to arrogate priestly functions to themselves (e.g., the case of Uzziah in 2 Chron. 26), the New Testament separates “the keys” of the kingdom from the “sword” which the state bears (cf Matt. 16:19; Rom. 13:4; 2 Cor. 10:4). There is no Biblical warrant for thinking that the civil magistrate has either the competence or the divinely given authority to settle all religious matters of doctrine.

The law of God does not, contrary to popular misconception, allow the civil courts to judge heretics or resolve theological disputes between different schools of Christian thought. Thus theonomists readily and fervently insist upon the “pluralist” [GD: “pluralism” among Christian denominations] view of the state found in our best Reformed heritage and even the U.S. Constitution. Lutherans should not use civil power to persecute Presbyterians (and vice versa, etc.), and the federal government should not establish Presbyterianism (or Anglicanism, etc.) as the state church.

There is indeed a line to be drawn beyond which the civil magistrate is not to step in matters of faith and worship. But the theonomist would argue that this line is to be drawn by the exegesis of God’s written word—not by some authority higher than the Bible, nor by the equivocal slogan of “equal protection for all,” nor by some individual’s interpretation of the lowest common denominator in religion. Religious liberty is too precious a commodity to be grounded upon anything other than God’s authority, expressed in His infallible and unchanging, written word. It must be understood and applied in theonomic fashion.”

Bahnsen, No Other Standard, pdf version, Institute for Christian Economics, 1991, p. 188

An Open Letter to a Theonomist Paedo-Baptist

Dear Theonomist Paedo-Baptist:

I'm writing to you because I've read many of your books, ordered many CDs from you, and attended at least two conferences put on by you. I share a reformed viewpoint and a theonomic ethical viewpoint with you, and Theonomy in Christian Ethics by Greg Bahnsen is one of my favorite books after the Holy Bible.

I have looked for opportunities to support a variety of theonomic causes and organizations and speakers, and to speak a word about the authority of all of God's word and His righteous law as the standard for life and godliness first for Christians and then for all the world, as we believers, by God's grace, work out the Great Commission.

I belong to a reformed baptist church assembly.

Thinking highly of you and your ministry, I want to ask your opinion about something.

My pastor recently spoke against theonomy (and Christian reconstruction) to our congregation, and this talk is on our church's web site as well. In his teaching, he shared something that he said he knew for a fact actually happened (and I certainly believe him).

Apparently, a paedo-baptist theonomist brother told my pastor's baptist friend, that, although he loved him like a brother, if they (theonomists) ever gained power, he (the baptist brother) would have to be executed for heresy because he would not baptize his infant children. My pastor, thank God, did qualify his anecdote with the statement that it was only the "radical end of the theonomic movement spectrum" who believe this way, not all theonomists. Unfortunately, the damage is done.

Would you be willing to publicly take a stand against this kind of executing-brethren talk? I feel confident in stating that this kind of thinking and talk is most injurious to a theonomic revival ever taking place in American churches. Unfortunately, I do not know if this person was ever disciplined for his evil speech to his baptist brother, or what happened after this conversation took place.

What would you think if you heard that a reformed baptist theonomist told a paedo-baptist brother that if they ever gained power, the paedo-baptist brother would have to executed for heretically baptizing unbelievers because in the administration of the Old Covenant, Israelites were instructed to circumcise their (male) babies at 8 days of age?

Now, I don't think for a moment that God's law calls for executing baptist believers--no, not even of a dispensational stripe--or paedo-baptist believers, for that matter, of course. However, there are currently many who will never pick up any pro-theonomy book *ever,* and will shun theonomy as a grave error, and will teach others to do so, because there are people who claim to be theonomist who apparently actually believe that God's law calls for executing "heretical" baptist brothers (despite their oh-so-heartwarming regret at having to do so).

You may find this to be something worth addressing.

I do not run in paedo-baptist circles, and I have no idea how widespread this horrific misconception of God's law is among theonomic paedo-baptists. In your experience, do many theonomic paedo-baptists think this way?

Sincerely,
GentleDove

UPDATE: Please read A Response from a Theonomic Paedo-Baptist.

Debating Christianity

I thought it might be fun and interesting for my readers to read some of the threads I've posted in on the web site Debating Christianity. I've attempted in these threads to defend the faith and debate some people with anti-Christian philosophies and worldviews.

How do you respond when someone has an angry challenge or hostile response to your faith in Christ? Do you have a philosophy of apologetics or have an interest in apologetics? Or maybe it's "forced upon you" by unbelieving family? How do you handle it, if you're a believer and your family are all unbelievers?