Joy in Christendom

Westboro comes to East Lansing

Life often presents very "funny" (I don't mean "ha ha") and insane situations where the onlooker is often left wondering who's running the asylum.  The situation that is brewing here in East Lansing at the moment provides this sort of spectacle and it's coming to my back yard, literally.  The Westboro Baptist Church - WBC (a Christ-hating organization) decided to pay a visit and protest East Lansing High School (another Christ-hating organization) - the officials here in town are expecting a real brew-ha-ha. WBC is a cult uninterested in doing the work of the Lord or delivering the message of the Gospel.  This is also true of the East Lansing High School and most of those in the Community that oppose WBC; both ethical standards on which they judge each other is as arbitrary as the wind.

The following "letter" was given to me by one of our dear neighbors (of whom my family are very fond).  Even though they support this letter, and hate Westboro Baptist Church for their "hatemongering", I am driven to point out a few inconsistencies and fallacies that model a mindset and are exposed in this letter.  I'm only choosing this situation because I believe that it may draw out the Church's (Christ-honoring body at large) and Community's hidden idols and contradictions.

Here is the letter in full:

"The Greater Lansing Community stands unified in opposition to the message of hate brought to our community by the Westboro Church.  We know that as a community our strength lies in our diversity - religious, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, race, social, political and more.  This diversity is what creates a healthy thriving community.  And such communities foster and participate in a market place of ideas.

We understand that the diversity of our community also allows for a diversity of ideas and that is part of our strength.  This also means that we may not all agree on the best way to respond to WBC on Thursday.  We ask that each participant, in planning their role in the response to WBC, consider that Westboro is only able to fund these trips by sueing the people that respond to their provocations in confrontational or violent ways.  If you feel inspired to join our efforts please help the rest of us respond to their hate with more dignity than they are showing us and our youth.

We are appalled that Westboro Baptist Church has decided to direct its vitriol at the students of East Lansing High School.  Their hate stands in direct opposition to the values of our community and is an attempt to unfairly bully our students into silence.

It has been reported the WBC has targeted these youth because they have done that which we encourage as a community value - they've engaged in the civic dialog and expressed a view with which Westboror disagrees.  Instead of dialoging with the youth, and participating in the marketing place of ideas, Westboro has instead decided to attack, bully and harass our youth.  We stand with our youth and applaud this engagement by them.  We value participatory citizenship in which ideas are challenged through dialog over demagoguery and bullying.

Sadly, the WBC protest serves to remind us that bullying is not isolated to our school hallways, but permeates our culture.  We whole-hearted-ly reject bullying as the violence it is - to individuals, to groups and to community.

We believe the protest by WBC shows our elected officials in the legislature that is it past time for them to lead and take action against bullying.

The irony that WBC has come to divide us as a community, but has instead united us is not lost on this community.

Our faith leaders and community agree that the WBC does not reflect our understanding of a place of worship.  Houses of worship create, build, nurture and support community.  Despite our diverse views of God, we are united in our belief that God is a loving creator.

We stand in opposition to WBC's intrusion into our community.  At the same time, the tapestry of our community in all of its diversity are on full display, and demonstrates why the Greater Lansing Area in an amazing community in which to live, work and play."

It is astounding the number of logical fallacies, wrong-headed thinking and belligerence supported in this letter and I break out the letter, piece by piece to expose it.  Let's get started:

"The Greater Lansing Community stands unified in opposition to the message of hate brought to our community by the Westboro Church.  We know that as a community our strength lies in our diversity - religious, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, race, social, political and more.  This diversity is what creates a healthy thriving community.  And such communities foster and participate in a market place of ideas."

If we were totally diverse, and appreciated such diversity, then we would also appreciate any message of "hate".  However, this is not the case and an ethical standard based on mere human opinion and not on the Word of God is arbitrary.  Furthermore, I would need to see some proof that "diversity" creates a healthy, thriving community.  Ultimate diversity is an impossibility and as such is the very definition of chaos which seeks to destroy community.

"We understand that the diversity of our community also allows for a diversity of ideas and that is part of our strength.  This also means that we may not all agree on the best way to respond to WBC on Thursday.  We ask that each participant, in planning their role in the respond to WBC, consider that Westboro is only able to fund these trips by suing the people that respond to their provocations in confrontational or violent ways.  If you feel inspired to join our efforts please help the rest of us respond to their hate with more dignity than they are showing us and our youth."

Yes, the royal "we".  Since, I was not asked to participate in writing this letter, I am a bit confused as to the "we" here.  Self-anointed individuals should not presume to speak for the community, or so it would seem.  On the sheet of paper that contained this letter, there is no mention of the organization or group that put this letter together or passed it out.  It's funny how lock-step they assume the community to be and assume that everyone will be in an outrage over WBC.  That's very intolerant of them.  Also, it sounds like WBC funds their efforts in much the same way that the ACLU does, I wonder how many of my comrades in East Lansing are members of the ACLU.  Come to think of it, I wonder if the ACLU will come to aid the WBC in their efforts to protest - seems reasonable to me.

"We are appalled that Westboro Baptist Church has decided to direct its vitriol at the students of East Lansing High School.  Their hate stands in direct opposition to the values of our community and is an attempt to unfairly bully our your into silence."

Actually, I agree with most of this statement (as I would hate any outside organization doing this in my community), right up to the red-herring.  Don't see it?  We move from protesting to "bullying" almost effortlessly.  Then the rest of the letter falls downhill from here.

It has been reported the WBC has targeted these youth because they have done that which we encourage as a community value - they've engaged in the civic dialog and expressed a view with which WBC disagrees.  Instead of dialoging with the youth, and participating in the marketing place of ideas, Westboro has instead decided to attack, bully and harass our youth.  We stand with our youth and applaud this engagement by them.  We value participatory citizenship in which ideas are challenged through dialog over demagoguery and bullying.

Targeted by WBC?  Let's keep in mind that a student originally "targeted" the WBC.  The WBC is also engaging in "civic dialog", even though the anointed in community don't agree with the statements (I don't particularly agree with them either).  Attacking?  Protesting and picketing isn't attacking.  Unless a fist hits the cheek, no attack has been made; another red-herring.  So we have on the one side "engagement", the side with which the  "community" agrees, then you have the other side that "attacks, bullies and harasses".  I would expect this kind of tactic from Fox News, but not from my neighbors.

Sadly, the WBC protest serves to remind us that bulling is not isolated to our school hallways, but permeates our culture.  We whole-heartedly reject bullying as the violence it is - to individuals, to groups and to community.

We believe the protest by WBC shows our elected officials in the legislature that is it past time for them to lead and take action against bullying.

Ah, there it is.  The call for legislation.  Again a mindless attack on ethics and logic with so much apparent ease.  Just how would legislation to "ban" bullying actually be written?  Should it control the speech?  Yikes, that is scary.  Should it outlaw physical violence?  Well, it would seem that we already have laws on the books for that.  Apparently, these people are so angry at WBC, it has robbed them of their ability to think.  These are the kind of mindless thoughts that are all too typical of the output we've seen from the government school system.  Also, it really is in poor taste for these folks to use these children as mascots to further their political agenda.

How about bullying against the Christians, who if they don't pay for the schools' Christ-hating curriculum will have their property confiscated and persons thrown in jail.  If you want to talk about bullying, then let's start there.  I remember the bullying that occurred by the East Lansing High School when a tax-funded parade by the school that was so lewd as to be inappropriate for my children to watch.  But apparently, Christian parents aren't victims.  I don't state that to whine, but merely to point out, again, a very large contradiction - their ethical standard seems quite a bit arbitrary.

"Our faith leaders and community agree that the WBC does not reflect our understanding of a place of worship.  Houses of worship create, build, nurture and support community.  Despite our diverse views of God, we are united in our belief that God is a loving creator.

We stand in opposition to WBC's intrusion into our community.  At the same time, the tapestry of our community in all of its diversity are on full display, and demonstrates why the Greater Lansing Area in an amazing community in which to live, work and play"

It is true that the WBC is not a place of true Worship - only a Christ-honoring and exulting place of worship is a True place of worhsip.  But here we have the community telling the "church" what it should be, what it should look like, how it should act, what it should believe.  It would seem that the "separation of Church and State" is conveniently invoked when it serves certain purposes.  And then to claim that the Greater Lansing Area is an amazing community?  Folks, Lansing will be a great community when it bows the knee to the Risen King in all that it does, until then, keep the arbitrary ethical standards to yourself.

I'm all for protesting a pagan institution (I have many personal reasons in fact to do so), but any Christian doing such a protest needs to do so according to the Scriptures (as with everything else in life) and such an activity, especially to the World, has to be bathed in Grace and an appeal for them, in Love, to Repent and come and taste and see that the Lord is Good.  And I pray, that as Christians we begin to understand that any ethic not based on the Word of God is ultimately futile.

The Sinai Covenant and the Klinean Cancer

Meredith Kline's Covenantal Theology (a.k.a. Klineanism) teaches that the Mosaic Covenant and everything associated with it including the Law (10 commandments) was a covenant of works or an era of "intrusion".  The implications of this understanding of the Scriptures are huge and I won't even scratch the surface in this tiny article.  Furthermore, the author of this stupid little blog post is so inadequate for the task it almost makes a mockery of the entire debate - but I press on in need and interest.

So, in this line of thinking, because this was an era (or dispensation, if you will) of intrusion, the ethical stipulations given under the Mosaic Covenant were therefore temporary.   The only problem with such a theology is that there is absolutely no support for it in the Scriptures.  The mental and exegetical gymnastics that one has to attempt to make sense of this interpretation are astounding.  To summarize this position, I provide the following 4 points:

1. Because Christ fulfilled the Sinai Covenant, (using Matthew 5:17-20 as a proof-text), He also, therefore abolishes the Law.  Here, we have Covenant = Law. 
2. The duties or requirements of a covenant are only obligatory on those who are party to the covenant.  I deal with this in further detail below.
3. Klineanism wrongly asserts that the entirety of Israel is typological (pointing to Christ and therefore completely removed in Christ).  This is how the modern Reformed Church gets to the idea that "whatever is not re-affirmed in the New Testament is automatically denied from the Old Testament." 
4. There is a tendency to pick and choose the laws and examples set forth in Israel to follow by using a complicated system of gears and pulleys rather than the clear teaching of the Word.

Remember, the Character of God does not change.  And his holy character is reflected in the Law (Lev 20:7-8) and by implying such a dramatic change between Old and New necessitates a different character, a different "god".

The Biblical Antidote for the Klinean Cancer is a clear understanding of Scripture. The Bible states that:

1. God did not view Israel's unique holiness as somehow disqualifying the nations from coming to Israel to hear the declaration of the law from Zion (Isa. 2:2-4).
2. All the earth should worship the Lord (Ps. 96:9)
3. the Lord reigns over all nations (Isa. 42:4, Ps. 47:8)
4. The whole earth is in some sense holy unto the Lord, and it is a disgrace for any people to violate the standards of holiness and sin against God (Prov. 14:34)
5. Both Jew and Gentile are under the requirements of the Law (Rom. 1:32; 2:12, 14-15, 17-23; 3:9, 19-20, 23)
6. The Lord writes the Law on His peoples' hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-33).  We must see, therefore, that the Lord repeals this which we do not.  All other conclusions are arbitrary.
7. The Nation of Israel was typological in many ways, but it does not follow that it was typological in ALL ways.  The Bible teaches that the Law does in fact apply to those outside of Old Testament Israel.  For example "Sodom, Nineveh, the expulsion of the Canaanites, David's intentions, Ezra's praise of Artaxerxes, Daniel's experience in Babylon, the prophetic rebukes of the nations, the wisdom literature, the "man of lawlessness," the testimony of Paul in court, Romans 13...The Mosaic law (by which all men are condemned, says Romans 1-3) was a model for all nations to follow (Deut. 4:6,8)." - Greg Bahnsen
8. The Klinean position is arbitrary in nature, the adherents tend to pick and choose what they'd like to keep form the Old Testament.  For instance are we really to assume that being just and fair in legal situations is out-of-date concept?  The ethics of justice are now to be old-fashioned and out of scope for the new testament believer?  The very holiness of God's Law makes it applicable to all people everywhere and is a common standard of justice for all nations.

We must first assume Continuity between the testaments, until there isn't.  God has final say on all things and therefore, only God himself can repeal His Word.

Matthew 5:17-20:  17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The New Perspective on the Two Kingdoms

I saw this wonderful article on the "Two Kingdoms", so I thought I'd share by writing this simple and short synopsis along with why it is important for every Christian to understand.  Two Kingdoms doctrine is the study of the relationship between the earthly and spiritual kingdoms.  Along with just about every doctrine, this one brings all sorts of baggage with it (Church vs. State,  natural vs. biblical law, ethics, etc).  The article does a good job of drawing distinctions between the orthodox view and the new view (held by many in the "modern" reformed seminaries) of this doctrine.

Today's "two kingdom" theology finds itself at considerable distance from the basic social vision of earlier thinkers like Luther and Calvin.  These differences are apparent in the 3 following highlights, the New view:

1. identifies the two kingdoms with the modern institutions of “Church” and “State”;

2. sees only contrast between the two kingdoms as one between “redemptive” rule on the one hand and “creational” rule on the other; 

3. and finally, identifies the spiritual kingdom with the institution of the visible church.

Contrast the above 3 points with the following, orthodox understanding of the two kingdoms:

1. The Reformers insisted that the the "two kingdoms" were the dichotomies of "heaven and earth" or "spirit and body".

2. The role of the magistrates in the ordering of the church follows from the doctrines of the universal priesthood.  They were members of the church spiritually, even though their vocations were temporal. 

3. The two kingdoms, therefore, are the spiritual kingdom (the Church Invisible) and the temporal kingdom which encompass the visible church, civic area and the entire commonwealth, all governed and measured by biblical law.  When the Reformers identify with the kingdom of Christ, they were always speaking of the invisible church.

And of course, the trick is always in how this knowledge is to be applied to our lives.  I will write more of this in a later post, but for now, the article notes that the individual Christian always finds himself in BOTH kingdoms at the same time.  One last important note, and one that would be staunchly denied by the new perspective folks, is the fact that the visible church, as an institution, is in the temporal kingdom.  It is impossible that a Christian could live a divided self; one foot in "creation ethics" and one foot in redemptive ethics.  The cohesive, and biblical Christian understands no such division. 

The article ends with this:  

"It is unimaginable that he would be guided by his cultural spirit and imagination at certain moments of his life and by his religious spirit and imagination at others.  The neo-two kingdoms theory lacks a clear unifier in this respect, and such an absence has wide-ranging implications.  You see, natural law and the temporal kingdom of providence are never manifested without heart, and that is precisely what the spiritual kingdom of Christ is concerned with: the heart.  Kings, princes, presidents, mayors, and even community service groups are all made of temporal bodies which possess spiritual hearts.  A conversation between the two components of man will be had, one way or the other."

PS: Many thanks to Mark Van Der Molen for position this article on co-urc - Mark, I appreciate your posts on that list.