02 June 2022
One of the biggest lies Satan has told is that all humans should be regarded as essentially equal. His line is that whatever differences there might be arise more from nurture than from nature. He sold this lie through his Jewish servants in American academia, particularly by their dominance in social sciences. Yet they certainly believe that they evolved to be superior to Gentiles. They insist on an ethnic superiority that must be denied all others.
As believers, we say that evolution won't tell you how humans came into existence, but it will tell you a great deal about what they have made of themselves since Eden. In other words, eternal spirits do not evolve, but mortal flesh does. We can easily see long term changes via adaptation throughout the natural world. Yes, the environment has a lot do with our adaptation as races of humans. Some behavioral tendencies are wired into our DNA. This much is obvious to anyone.
Nor should we pretend that how animals behave in nature has anything to do with moral right or wrong. Their behavior simply is. How they behave is no model for humans at all. Our behavior is accountable to God based on His revelation; not so with animals. Nor should we imagine that primitive humans are somehow unstained by improper moral questions. If they are without revelation, they are wrong about everything. The model is revelation written in the human heart, and Scripture affirms that even the most isolated and uncivilized tribes are held accountable for what God wrote in their hearts. His truth is there.
But nobody who has studied evolution can successfully explain the mechanism. That's because it's not random; it's the hand of God at work. He shapes all things according to His whims, adjusting DNA for the sake of His glory. Here's the whole point: Regardless of the variations, we are still going to find the Elect in every nation and race. And to live in faith and conviction is the divine birthright of the Elect. No matter how our fleshly bodies are formed or deformed, some of us will always turn to Him. We are still going to find people receptive to the Covenant gospel no matter where we turn.
When you come to that place where your convictions awaken and your divine election becomes obvious to you, it is your duty to find your personal Covenant boundaries. Do you understand just how intentionally vague the task is? Do you realize that there absolutely must be variations between us on the particulars? The Covenant of Moses was the Covenant for that people, that place, and that time. We could not possibly seize upon every detail of Moses for ourselves today. Besides, it was built on priorities to handle inevitable conflicts between the rules. And it's just one model from one context. God Himself warned that it wasn't the fullness of His divine will, just a limited manifestation of it. He flatly told Israel that His truth was already in their hearts (Deuteronomy 30:11-14). If we turn to Him in faith, He will ensure we can obey His will. We must find for ourselves individually what our faith and convictions look like in our own context.
And that same faith demands that we make allowances for others, and try to find a place in our convictions for variations that don't hinder our Kingdom service. By the same token, we cannot possibly come up with an understanding that is universal to all believers. Rather, we seek to find those close enough, folks who share enough with us in our moral identity, that we can fellowship and work alongside each other in covenant communities.
And to complicate matters more, it's often a moving target. Today's good brother is tomorrow's remote ancestor in the faith. Not an enemy, just that your convictions have forced you two to part ways for your own good. You don't get to decide who is in God's household, but you do get to decide who gets the family treatment in the domain God has delivered to you.
So, it's quite natural that what I describe sounds more like white folks, and less like black or brown people. Many of them would have less trouble swallowing their differences and clinging to each other in community. God bless them; it's the way He made them. And He made us whites to be more bristly about it. Obviously it's not a question of right or wrong, but making the most of what God has given you.
And oddly enough, there are plenty of individuals of all flavors who defy the generalizations. We should know this instinctively. Lots of folks come equipped to drop into almost any situation, if that's where they find true covenant fellowship. Just because you know the odds doesn't mean you take no risks at all. The greatest treasure on this earth is the Elect and their fellowship in faith. The single most important task we have is building our faith together, however it is we can.
Thus, I'm not going to cite specifics in talking about Covenant boundaries. Some items are cited in Scripture as universal: sexual purity, idolatry, materialism, and certain mysteries that make sense only in the heart, not in the head (like blood-guilt, for example). And I consider it universal that we who walk by our hearts cannot avoid having a very strong connection to the natural world. We should be able to hear the music of praise from rocks and trees, for example. We should find our faith revived by going out in wild places for a season of prayer. But I didn't make up those things; I found them.
I contributed to and live by the Radix Fidem community covenant [PDF]. Nobody imagines it is the Covenant, just the one we use to manifest the Covenant in our lives. It's how we filter out those so foreign that fellowship would be fruitless. It would naturally be reflected in what I write here, but you don't have to buy into it to benefit from my encouragement. By all means, write your own. Give it some thought and prayer. Paint in words what folks need to accept about you in order to avoid hindering your service of the Master. If it ends up restricting your fellowship, maybe you can reconsider some elements of your covenant, but it's more likely you were appointed to work more in isolation. Trust your convictions.
The word "equal" has become meaningless in describing humans, serving only as something we should reject. Humans are not equal; most of us have some advantage in some contexts. Nobody is better, for sure; we are all doomed in the flesh. But each of us is better at something that God wants, and that's what matters. Find that and do it. Let Him deal with the issue of whether you discover any fellow travelers. Just do it.
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