10.10.2021

more on Romans 13

 and political resistance

Here I am discussing with PresbyCast the historical Reformed view that we are not obligated to "submit to civil rulers unless they require sin."  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC95p88UzKg


     0:14 music intro
     1:30 Wresby's intro
     2:28 Chortles intros guest
     8:17 topic intro
   10:30 recent events
   12:40 clip from NY governor statement
   17:30 Rom13 often misunderstood
   25:28 why Reformed view not taught
   28:19 lesser magistrates
   30:28 Paul's example
   37:57 wrong view deeply ingrained
   39:30 helpful bibliography
   43:35 defining 'tyranny'
   55:14 affirmed in Reformed Confessions
1:02:29 Scotland's tyranny
1:11:55 confessional summary
1:15:06 what to do
1:22:52 the Boetie strategy
1:27:01 final remarks
1:35:38 Wresby's outro


0:14 music intro

1:30 Wresby's intro

2:28 Chortles intros guest
+ about Gregory: https://sites.google.com/site/ideolog/

+ Reformed 'mongrel': 1 Cor 3:21-23 "whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas... all are yours"

8:17 topic intro
+ any ostensibly confessional Reformed church that teaches "people are obligated to obey the (providential) de facto powers that claim civil authority, unless they require sin" are contradicting the historical Reformed teaching promulgated in the Reformed doctrinal standards (on the teaching of Scripture)

+central point is not political theory, but exegesis and the teaching of Scripture

10:30 recent events
+ regrettably, some Reformed churches have enacted policies with the rationale that in these things they must "obey govt requirements"

12:40 clip from NY governor statement
+ "I need you to be my apostles [to promote the vax]"
https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/tag/Kathy+Hochul

17:30 Why shouldn't NAPARC (or other orthodox Reformed) congregations do whatever a civil governor says? How has Rom 13 been misunderstood?
+ some indulge in false piety

+ important difference between policy based on church-determined prudential considerations vs. supposed obligation to civil edicts (even if 'constitutional')

+ historical Reformed teaching is that Scripture, in such passages as Rom 13, does not require anyone to acknowledge de facto (providential) powers/persons that claim civil authority as actually ordained by God

+ rather, we should know that what God actually ordains (prescriptively, not providentially) specified in verses 3-4 is the legitimate (office) use of responsive coercion (the sword) to punish wrongdoers (those who commit civil injustice)

+ any de facto power that oversteps this limited God-ordained jurisdiction is unlawful or exercising unlawful power (so, themselves wrongdoers), and no one's conscience should be bound to obey in such matters

25:28 Why hasn't this been taught in churches and seminaries in America?
+ influence of theological liberalism

+ particular influence of govt propaganda in recruiting churches to promote (unlawful) war efforts (at least since WWI)

+ heretical groups were more faithful in opposing unjust wars than otherwise true churches; this is a shame

28:19 What about doctrine of 'lesser magistrates' (eg, Magdeburg Confession)?
+ certainly, while all magistrates have obligation to oppose tyranny, in this case Reformers were addressing a particular civil constitutional arrangement, and resisting tyrants is not only for lesser magistrates

30:28 Scriptural example of disobeying civil rulers when not an issue of sin
+ 2 Cor 11:32-33; Acts 9:25

+ submitting to arrest is not a sin, but Paul evades arrest, and so he resists rulers when they weren't requiring him to sin, and Paul's actions are not condemned

+ this confirms that Paul isn't teaching in Rom 13 that we are obligated to submit to rulers only unless they require sin

37:57 this is important because the erroneous [edit] "providential" view is so ingrained in our minds and in the popular consciousness

39:30 Reformed Political Resistance Theology Annotated Bibliography
https://tinyurl.com/RefoPoliResistBib

+ a Scriptural teaching also found in Patristic era

+ explained in Francis Schaeffer's 1981 book A Christian Manifesto
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1581346921

43:35 How do we define 'tyranny'?
+ Reformed anarchism on this point: https://tinyurl.com/refoanarchism
(monopolization of civil governance functions, ie the 'state', is inherently, systemically unjust/tyrannical)

+ basic principle: what God prescriptively ordains as civil govt is limited to punishment of wrongdoers

+ Scripture teaches no political theory as such, and particulars of what is involved (and what is outside the God-ordained limit) must be discerned (from creation or general revelation) by believers

+ C.Hodge (1835) says "the right of deciding on all these points, and determining where the obligation to obedience ceases, and the duty of resistance begins, must, from the nature of the case, rest with the subject, and not with the ruler"

+ if taxes are properly due for limited function, it follows that taxes for other things are not due. Also, no Scripture teaches we owe taxes, but only that if we owe, we should pay what we owe

+ Reformers advised we should understand 'tyranny' generally as not simply a single act of civil injustice by a would-be ruler (tho that is tyrannous, may be resisted, and should be punished), but habitual or systemic civil injustice (including among other things, failure to punish wrongdoers and violations of the God-ordained limited 'jurisdiction')

55:14 A view taught by the Reformed Confessions
+ not invented by Rutherford

+ separable from 'establishmentarianism'
(credit due to Savoy congregationalists and London baptists for getting this correct before most Presbies)

+ WCF 20.4 "lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it"

1:02:29 clip from London Calling podcast. Why is Scotland presently so authoritarian/tyrannical?
+ while there are other sources of authoritarianism and its stockholm-ish internalization, certainly secularized "puritanism"/pietism and millennialism/millenarianism immanentizes zeal for God and the consummation into statist idolatry.
See "the secularization of postmillennialism": https://www.jstor.org/stable/2711630

+ one distortion of a "two kingdoms" view also erroneously tends to give civil government carte blanche

1:11:55 summary of Reformed Confessional statements
https://tinyurl.com/refoanarchism
(See 3.g.)

1:15:06 What can Reformed church officers and other members do?
+ many Reformed pastors and elders may have never learned or even heard about the historical "prescriptive" (non-providential) view

+ if you cannot bear the policies in your congregation, leave peaceably and find a congregation with better policies if possible

+ you can also have a peaceable and pragmatic discussion about policies without raising the exegetical issues

+ however, if you want to discuss with church officers about their view of whether they think Scripture obligates us "to submit to those who claim civil authority unless they require sin", then the bibliography is a great place to start

1:22:52 So then what, violent revolt?
+ 1553 work Discourse on Voluntary Servitude by Etienne de la Boetie (friend of Montaigne) presents our strategy, namely, ignore the tyrants.
a. https://mises.org/library/political-thought-etienne-de-la-boetie
b. https://mises.org/library/politics-obedience-discourse-voluntary-servitude

+ Ignoring them (also practiced in "nullification" and "secession") is our first line of defense, and it is in keeping with the Bible's exhortation to "live peaceably with all, so far as it depends on you"

1:27:01 final remarks
+ will address other objections in future blog post: https://honest2blog.blogspot.com/

+ key links
a. Reformed political resistance theology bibliography: https://tinyurl.com/RefoPoliResistBib
b. Baus article on Romans 13: https://tinyurl.com/r13civgov
c. audio (on which the article is based): https://tinyurl.com/r13anarchism
d. What is Reformed anarchism? : https://tinyurl.com/refoanarchism
e. further resources: https://mereliberty.com/romans13

+ no one minds extra hand sanitizer

+ 'zero C19' will never be

+ build back better theology (with the historical Reformed view of Rom 13)

1:35:38 Wresby's outro
+ don't be an Erdman

 

10.05.2021

more on sphere sovereignty

Here I am discussing societal sphere sovereignty with Jacob Winograd of the Daniel 3: Biblical Anarchy podcast.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCDyfRIH-_c


     1:05 beginning
     3:10 about Gregory
     6:40 becoming anarchist
   13:36 helpful arguments
   17:03 sphere sovereignty intro
   18:44 historical background
   30:45 sphere sovereignty explained
   55:31 Summary
1:03:44 What is civil governance?
1:32:12 sphere sovereignty related to 'spontaneous order'
1:44:03 Can we know God is real?

1:05 beginning
https://daniel318.com/

3:10 about Gregory
        profile: https://sites.google.com/site/ideolog/
        previous appearance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm_wh1ndsxw

6:40 becoming anarchist
        Foundations of Libertarian Ethics: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZo7TOFxgEMP4iRDHidY_PR7AKwwfQO4g
        and https://mises.org/library/foundations-libertarian-ethics

13:36 helpful arguments
https://mereliberty.com/romans13
https://libertarianchristians.com/2018/02/21/anarchism-minarchism-legitimacy-civil-governance/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemo_iudex_in_causa_sua

17:03 sphere sovereignty intro
        + Christian theory, not exegesis

18:44 historical background
        + basic definition: a view of the normative arrangement among and relations between different kinds of societal communities

        + Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer (1801 - 1876) introduced the phrase 'sovereignty within one's own sphere/circle'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Groen_van_Prinsterer
        part of the European Calvinist revival (Réveil) of 1820s

        + Abraham Kuyper (1837 - 1920) developed the idea further
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Kuyper
        1880 lecture on Sphere Sovereignty: https://sources.neocalvinism.org/kuyper/?ka_num=1993.02

        + Herman Dooyeweerd (1894 - 1977) refined it philosophically
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Dooyeweerd
        More on Dooyeweerd and his philosophy: https://thelaymenslounge.com/you-should-know-dooyeweerd/

        other predecessors
        + Althusius (1557 - 1638)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Althusius
        + Alsted (1588 - 1638)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Heinrich_Alsted

        + arose in terms of the questions of the relation between church and state (and properly defining and limiting their respective powers) after the medieval period

        + Reformed political resistance theology
https://tinyurl.com/RefoPoliResistBib

        + like a kind of 'division of labor' among communities

30:45 sphere sovereignty explained
        + What Is Reformed Anarchism statement: https://tinyurl.com/refoanarchism
        See especially part 2 on What is society?

        + Scriptural teaching about basic diversity of created reality ('each according to its own kind')

        + Kuyper's 1869 article "Uniformity: the curse of modern life"; about the dreary artificial sameness imposed on things in the statist/collectivistic mindset: https://sources.neocalvinism.org/kuyper/?ka_num=1869.14

        + Scriptural 'organic' metaphor about differentiated functions coordinated variously

        + society is not a single whole, rather it is several different kinds of relations involving both individuals and groups; neither is more basic or has their origin in the other

        + community is not just individuals (or inter-individual relation), rather it is relatively more enduring and involves authority arrangements

        + individuals are not mere parts of communities, but wholes in themselves

        + each kind of community is distinguished from other kinds by its own intrinsic nature, differently characterized in its organization and purpose, governed by its own God-given norms

        + no single kind of community properly encompasses or regulates all the others. Nor does any particular community of a given kind properly encompass or regulate all the others of that same kind

        + not a collectivistic view of so-called ‘subsidiarity,’ which, while seeking to be bottom-up, affirming that the lowest level of organization has original jurisdiction, nevertheless subsumes all societal communities (as so-called ‘mediating institutions’) under an all-encompassing state

55:31 Summary:
        1. real communities; distinct kinds
        2. each kind of community (sphere) has its own directly God-normed intrinsic nature, scope of activity, competence, and limited authority
        3. society not a single whole merely decentralized or bottom-up (not hierarchically arranged 'subsidiarity')
        4. within a given sphere, no particular community encompasses or regulates others of the same kind

        + a state’s monopoly is in principle totalitarian, and always increasingly tends toward totalitarianism in practice

1:03:44 What is civil governance?
        
(see part 3 of What is Reformed Anarchism statement)

        + Only God in Christ is absolutely sovereign; this biblical teaching entails that no mere human authority is properly total (and so the monopoly state is inherently antinormative)

        + Gregory's paper on sphere sovereignty: https://www.academia.edu/32356017
        2008 conference presentation: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL083BD24DE7A4559E

        + even Christians are sinners who might sinfully seek to justify abuse by appeal to authority; total depravity is REAL
https://libertarianchristians.com/2018/03/28/sinful-nature-question-states-necessity/
        Sproul on 'total depravity':
        a. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvUpyxnqAow
        b. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPVkhssUv5I

        + response to theonomy
        Kline's article on theocracy: https://meredithkline.com/klines-works/articles-and-essays/the-relevance-of-the-theocracy/
        Lee Irons' article: https://www.the-highway.com/theonomy-hermeneutic_Irons.html
        Lane Tipton's article: https://www.kerux.com/doc/1501A1.asp
        T. David Gordon's article: https://web.archive.org/web/20200718055717/http://tdgordon.net/theology/theonomy.pdf

        + Upper Register podcast
https://www.youtube.com/user/IronsLee
https://upperregister.podbean.com/
        Lee Irons' website: https://upper-register.com
        series on covenantal history: https://upper-register.com/mp3s.html#unfolding

        + seeking to coercively enforce moral law (beyond proper civil-justicial rights) outside the old covenant is a usurping of God's sole prerogative, and amounts to statist pagan idolatry

1:32:12 sphere sovereignty related to 'spontaneous order'
        See Reformed Anarchism statement, especially 2.c (and following) on Polycentric and Emergent Order
https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/liggio-literature-of-liberty-summer-1982-vol-5-no-2/

        + the broader 'polycentric societal complex' is coordinated emergently, through the self-governance of each instance of the varieties of relations and each particular community of the several distinct kinds

        +by God’s creational design, a dynamic societal harmonization comes about cumulatively through the varieties of normative human action, but apart from any human individual’s or community’s specific intention or attempt at comprehensive coercive regulation

        + Also see a summary of spontaneous order in this 9th vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQhkrYqA7S4&list=PLwrDNUO5MDu95jfsFdfN2oe8vXQ6Cma-h&index=9

        + particular endeavors require planning, but society overall, and any sphere, is far too complex to be planned or coercively regulated; any attempt at such coercive regulation is inherently antinormative resulting in severe distortion

1:44:03 Can we know God is real?
https://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/Clouser/CanWeKnow.pdf
        See also "Knowing With The Heart": https://www.amazon.com/dp/1556354320
        and "The Myth Of Religious Neutrality" (which also deals with sphere sovereignty): https://www.amazon.com/dp/0268023662

        + teaser: "proof" (inference) is not the only means of rationally justifying a belief