11 December 2023
It's not hard to agree together that our government is evil. It would be evil no matter who took whatever office, because the system itself is a moral failure, a rejection of divine revelation. It is our mission to declare the gospel against the sins of the world, including the evil of our government. Because we say bad things about the government, we are lumped in with a lot of people who share almost nothing else with us.
Radix Fidem is associated in the minds of many with the alt-right and a general resistance to the government. Notice that we have consistently said resistance in itself is not of any significance to our message. Resistance to government is inevitable because the government is morally wrong, but we don't oppose the existence of such government. We take it for granted that every government that exists, and every future government likely to be formed, will continue finding new ways to resist the Word of God. We have no intention of trying to fix that; we are forbidden getting directly involved in the process of forming or fixing human governments.
While we might have some good ideas about what could be better, we have zero confidence that good intentions exist in human government. The people involved might label them as "good intentions", but the fact that they govern outside of biblical teaching is proof they don't understand the concept. We don't expect much, and we are seldom surprised. But our teaching is that the extent of our resistance is simply pointing out their sins as publicly as possible. Denunciation is the end of our resistance as a group. Any particular actions taken are a matter of individual convictions, not community teaching.
Yet, here we are, compared and contrasted with people who are very activist, seeking to organize a political presence and force that we denounce. We deny the utility of human talents and capabilities, except as they are handed back to the God who gave them. His Word says He will use human talent for His agenda, but that the such usage takes place through a veil of separation. Personal communion with Him does not lead directly to political action. He does not get personally involved in human politics; it's always through proxies. Heaven boasts a massive array of powers and principalities that rule human politics on His behalf, but His Spirit is not present in that activity.
We really do not have the words; no human language can express the real truth of things. The core of divine truth is divine Presence, not propositions that stand separate from Him. He simply does not spin off truth to exist in any form that man can refer to. Truth is a Person; any other concept of ultimate truth is a lie. Truth is not a thing; it is moral character.
Human capability, intelligence in particular, means nothing outside of His divine Presence. The most brilliant minds cannot interact with His divine truth any better than the grass on the ground. You can more quickly sense His Presence in the natural world than in the greatest human achievement.
Thus, the people we consider subpar, for whatever reason, are equally eligible to touch divine glory as anyone else. More to the point, God can use them for His glory equally to anyone else. Brilliance and talent are not the qualifying factor. God speaks most loudly to those who submit to Him with whatever they have. A child need not be precocious in any way we recognize in order to participate in "out of the mouths of babes".
Get this, folks: The human heart is not like the brain. The heart is far above, on a different plane entirely. It is not subject to vagaries of DNA. The heart is judged "good" simply on the basis of submission to the Creator. And God will use a good heart working through a very poor mind before He'll use a bright mind that does not fully belong to Him.
You can bet that anyone who wastes too much time talking about human intelligence is enamored with themselves. Sure, such things have a place in discussing the broad condition of humanity, but those considerations are confined to operations without submission to Christ. Human brilliance matters only if your hope is confined to what mere men can do without Christ.
Don't respect or fear human brilliance that does not echo His Word. The greatest weapon in this world is moral insight.
Comments
Jay DiNitto
"Thus, the people we consider subpar, for whatever reason, are equally eligible to touch divine glory as anyone else."
This is an interesting observation, and I have an additional observation that is parallel to this. Many times I come across folks, artists/preachers/writers, where the actual message and content are fine and godly, but some aspect of the packaging turns me off. I'd say most of the time it's the flesh talking and that whatever the artist/preacher/writer is doing is speaking to his audience in some way pointing to God, even if it's something I can't really absorb because of whatever admittedly petty reason. The guy next to me could say the same thing about something I can absorb but he can't.
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