I
grew up as a Southern Baptist and fell out as a teenager over the same issue
that I see as the primary failure of most Christians – they do not follow the
most simple advice of Jesus as found in the Sermon on the Mount. To me then and
now, Jesus was advocating a humble, loving, merciful message. Jesus was a
Pacifist. Jesus said to “resist not evil.” I can’t accept the current
messengers who overlook the simple message of Jesus and replace it with
complexity. I am still enough of a Christian to believe that the New Testament
replaced the Old in matters of behavior. You can’t take and “eye for an eye”
and claim to follow Jesus.
This
essay assumes some familiarity with the Bible. I won’t quote chapter and verse
as if I were preaching. I want to share with you, or those of you not familiar
with the subject, an introduction to Dominion Theology or Christian
Reconstructionism. I’ll even point you right now to a Youtube video that can
save you the reading of this blog. Here it is. This is only one of many videos
on the subject on good old Youtube.
If
you don’t mind reading a highly intellectual article on the subject go here toSalon.com’s article on the subject. I had to take notes from that article to
prepare myself to write this essay. Unfortunately, the Salon article as it
exists this moment is poorly edited, but you can still get the facts from it.
The article is based upon an interview with Julie Ingersoll and her book
Building God’s Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstructionism.
Essentially,
Christian Reconstructionism seeks to establish a society based upon Biblical
Law with a huge emphasis upon the Old Testament dictates - even the most
outrageous dictates such as stoning to death homosexuals and adulterers. They
seek dominion over all of society, exactly as a fundamentalist Muslim would.
Different Bible, same radical control. Rational Age-of-Enlightenment thinking,
upon which US founding documents are based, is to be superseded by God’s Law as
revealed in the Bible. Not however, the teachings of Jesus which touch upon
mercy and empathy. I don’t know how these people dance around that, but believe
me even Baptists do that kind of dance! The job of humans is to enact God’s
will through the family, the church, and the government in order to establish
the Kingdom of God on Earth. The husband rules the family, the church rules all humans, and the government should do not much more than maintain a powerful military.
These
people believe that all knowledge arises from presuppositions. There is no such
thing as fair, reasoned, scientific, humanistic thought. Reason is the enemy.
The will of God as revealed in an inerrantly true Bible is the only true
starting point for truth. You can’t arrive at truth any other way. Once again,
I cannot tell how they dance around the Sermon on the Mount. I imagine they
simply ignore it. Oklahoma’s famous Ten Commandment statue is right up the
Dominion Theologian’s alley. Who needs all these laws based upon the
Constitution and Democracy? We have God’s laws and lots of stones!
The
famous Left Behind series of books is right up the Christian Reconstructionist
alley, too. They are post-millennialists – they believe that there will be an
end of history, that the book of Revelations is among the biblical predictors
of how it will end, and that it will end with the dominion of Jesus Christ and
his believers over all else. It is the job of these believers to build that Kingdom of God.
They can’t wait for God Himself to do the job. The Christian’s job is to bring
about the prophesies of the Bible – including Armageddon. Speaking of
Armageddon, the above Youtube link will explain to you how George W. Bush is
linked to these people. In recent years there has been an interesting link
between Christians and Jews. Why? Because Reconstructionist Christians believe
Israel will play a major role in bringing about the End Times.
These
people are against the Constitutional precept of separation of church and
state. They believe everything is religious – and not just to them.
Non-believers must submit to their view of right and wrong. They are against
birth control so you can’t have it.
Understanding
this stuff at it’s philosophical level is tedious, but essential because it
seeps into our culture in dribbles and drabs. The recent reworking of the
Advanced Placement History exam is an example of society caving in to these
people. The idea of “a thousand points of light” replacing the social safety
net is an example of their influence. Christian home schooling is a tool, but
they want to destroy public education.
Ultimately,
I see no difference between ISIS or the Taliban and Christian
Reconstructionists. They both favor barbaric punishments, the rule of preachers
(Imams), male dominance, and the use of violence to achieve their ends. They
are the greatest danger in the world today. They will devil us to Armageddon.
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