Category Archives: Church and State

WCF Says No on Gay Marriage

To pull a trick from Zrim’s bag, I think it’s time for a re-post, revised and expanded for our current times (because if the Outhouse is about anything, it’s about Relevance!) The question came up what (R/W/Z)2K’ers think of the … Continue reading

Posted in American Conservative, Applied Christianity, Church and State, Civil religion, Confessionalism, Confessions, Conservatism, Culture War, Family, Liberty, Liberty of Conscience, Natural Law, News and culture, Reformed Confessionalism, Spirituality of the Church, Two-kingdoms | 200 Comments

Is He Talking to Us?

Amidst the screeching across the P&R internets in the wake of the nuclear bomb that was dropped yesterday, Carl Trueman stands out as a thoughtful, and even useful voice. Jason Stellman was a man with a high ecclesiology; and high … Continue reading

Posted in Applied Christianity, Calvinism, Carl Trueman, Church and State, Ecclesiology, Gospel, High church calvinism, Protestant preaching, Protestantism/Catholicism, Quotes, The gospel, The Protestant Reformation, Two-kingdoms, W2K, Westminster Seminary | 110 Comments

This Week in 2K History

For your consideration, here are a couple of interesting data points in 2K History from This Day in Presbyterian History over the last week. May 16, 1861: A Political Issue Divides the Old School General Assembly: Rev. Gardiner Spring, the … Continue reading

Posted in Church and State, Civil religion, History, Liberty, Liberty of Conscience, Links, Protestant preaching, Quotes, Spirituality of the Church, Two-kingdoms, W2K | Leave a comment

We Don’t Need the Enlightenment to Know the Government Shouldn’t Enforce True Religion

Anymore than we need the Bible to know stealing is wrong. But the Bible also seems to have something to say about physically enforcing the true religion and punishing everything else. Advocates of two kingdom theology are sometimes disparaged by … Continue reading

Posted in Calvin, Church and State, Matthew Tuininga, Theonomy, Two-kingdoms | 1 Comment

Two Kingdoms Illustrated

No, I’m not starting a magazine (can you imagine the swimsuit issue?), merely sharing a post from a blog I follow, Anonymous Doctor; in which a Doctor shares anecdotes from his work. Anonymously. In today’s episode, the good (but Anonymous) … Continue reading

Posted in Applied Christianity, Church and State, Culture, Humor, Outhouse Quick Hits, Quotes, Some fun, Spirituality of the Church, Theonomic insanity, Theonomic rantings, Transformationism, Two-kingdoms, W2K | Leave a comment

One Lord, One Baptism, One Sentiment

This is so DGH, it’s not worth trying to Guess Who: An implicit assumption of faith-based politics is that people who hold the same religious convictions will, or at least should, look at the political order in similar ways. Some invoke … Continue reading

Posted in American Conservative, Church and State, Civil religion, Compare and Confess, Conservatism, Culture War, Culture-of-life, DG Hart, evangelicals, History, Quotes, Transformationism, Two-kingdoms | 47 Comments

Water is Thicker than Blood

Heard an intriguing quote from an unlikely source during my commute .mp3 listening. The discussion started in relationship to how “Christmas” seems to get earlier and earlier every year, no longer held back by the buffer of Thanksgiving. I bet … Continue reading

Posted in Baptism, Christian life, Church and State, Church relations, Civil religion, Ecclesiology, Guess the Good Guy, Protestant slogans, Quotes, Spirituality of the Church, Two-kingdoms, Who Said That | 20 Comments

When Political Shunning Becomes Ecclesiastical Shunning

Conservatives have long complained about a liberal media bias and their point is probably well taken. That’s why I was surprised that a particular story didn’t pop up in my (non-exhaustive) search for articles on last Saturday’s Republican forum. Certainly … Continue reading

Posted in Church and State, Presidential campaigns, Spirituality of the Church, Two-kingdoms | 115 Comments

Heartland Evangelicals Enter the Political Octagon

The Family Leader’s mission is to be “a consistent, courageous voice in churches, in the legislature, in the media, in the courtroom, in the public square… always standing for God’s truth .”  Given that lofty description, eyebrows are being raised … Continue reading

Posted in Church and State, Conservatism, Constantinianism, evangelicals, Family, Michele Bachmann, Presidential campaigns | 2 Comments

Who’s Walking Whose Sawdust Trail?

This Saturday there were Bible verses, Contemporary Christian Music, professions, confessions, tears, and shouts of “amen!” from the pews.  A revival, you ask?  No, it was the Thanksgiving Family Forum in Des Moines, hosted by The Family Leader. If The … Continue reading

Posted in Church and State, evangelicals, News and culture, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

What Do Bill Maher and A Southern Baptist Pastor Have in Common?

They both think a religious set of beliefs not theirs is enough to disqualify someone for public office. During the 2008 Presidential campaign Bill Maher was interviewed on NPR about his film “Religulous.” Just before the ten minute mark, Teri … Continue reading

Posted in Church and State, Civil religion, Constantinianism, Culture, Mormonism, Presidential campaigns, Southern Baptists | 59 Comments

Guess Who

This name ["theocracy"] is not found in the Scriptures, although it admirably describes what the Biblical account represents Israel’s constitution to have been. Probably the term was coined by Josephus. He observes in regard to the governments of other nations, … Continue reading

Posted in Church and State, Quotes, Spirituality of the Church, Theocracy, Theonomy, Two-kingdoms, Uncategorized, W2K, Who Said That | 8 Comments

Guess Who

From a discussion of secular schooling: [Objection:] But participation in state schools is unwise for Christians. It aids and abets a movement toward greater state power, and hence toward a greater domination of unbelief in our society. I respect this … Continue reading

Posted in Authority, Christian life, Church and State, Church relations, Civil religion, Culture, Culture War, Education, Family, Legalism, Quotes, Reformed piety, Spirituality of the Church, Transformationism, Two-kingdoms, W2K, Who Said That | 39 Comments

Who wants to eat blood anyways?

OHS JJS’ most recent post touches on something I’ve been wondering about for quite a while: why are the Gentiles prohibited from ingesting blood? JJS is referring to Acts 15:29, but I’ve always been curious about Genesis 9:4. I mean, … Continue reading

Posted in Christian life, Church and State, Civil religion, Culture-of-life, Legalism, Two-kingdoms, W2K | 12 Comments

Guess the Good Guy

Does it follow, therefore, that the sooner we stop our observation of life the better, so that we can seek the rules of state polity outside life in Holy Scripture? This is how some mistakenly think that we reason…However, the … Continue reading

Posted in Calvinism, Church and State, Guess the Good Guy, Kuyper, Quotes, Reformed piety | 17 Comments