No Excuses and No "Rahab's Lie"

21MAR23 Update

Certain Theonomists teach that it is acceptable to lie under certain circumstances and deceive in order to accomplish the greater good, citing the story of Rahab as a proof text. I wholeheartedly disagree. Google “Rahab's Lie” sometime.

Links about Lying, Situational Ethics, and Interpretation:

• Doug Wilson
• “Lying, Warfare, and Peace”
• Truth About Moscow's Deceitful Theology, Part 1 and Part 2.
• There's also this.
• SBTS on Rahab's Lie

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"Guilt by Association" or "Behavior Unbecoming a Teacher of the Gospel"?

Kinism, an ideology associated with “neo-Confederate, Christian Reconstructionist Nationalists,” defines most simply as a love for one’s own race and ethnicity. 

The Kinism.net / Occidental Christianity website displays this title banner across every page: “Nurturing families and nourishing ethnic identity and biblical liberty. 

Kinism.net fosters cultural antithesis for White Christians.” In their online article entitled “What is Kinism and Why Does it Matter?”, the author makes the following statements:

In the attempt to create a one world, neo-Babylonian government, a loosely organized but relentless campaign is now underway throughout the world to eradicate racial and ethnic distinctions. White Christians are the foremost targets of this campaign….

We at Kinism.net believe that our White peoples have an inalienable, that is, God-given right and duty to seek their own prosperity and existence as distinct nations, apart from all other genetic and ethnic families….

Nevertheless, we stand or fall with no other but the White peoples of Europe, and their standards of beauty, their cultural achievements, the achievements of their civilization, established through the confluence of pagan and Christian traditions, are both irreplaceable and vital to our survival as a people.

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Perception: A Major Problem for Patriarchy

"Escaping Criticism" by Pere Borrell del Caso)

Patriarchy seems to be an outgrowth of Christian Reconstruction which is largely spearheaded by Calvinistic and Reformed groups. Patriarchy is not monolithic by any stretch of the imagination and crosses many denominational bounds however, patriarchy is not limited to Reformed Theology. Because so many different groups and ideologies have contributed to what is now understood to be so-called “Biblical patriarchy,” it can be difficult to sort through. The tension that exists as a consequence of religious freedom in the United States contributes to this problem. 

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Mind Wars and Ethics

Moreno, JD. From the dust jacket of Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense (a book investigating military applications of brain neural interface): Moreno takes us on an exciting journey exploring the fascinating, formidable and frightening questions for social ethics and public policy.

Page 176: 

[I]n dealing with emerging neuroethical dilemmas in the national security context we can learn from previous ethical quandaries, especially in terms of the conditions under which we have those discussions. I also agree that in many cases, the ethically acceptable course of action will be a matter of weighing and balancing rather than appeal to an overarching moral doctrine, although basic guidance from some principles is going to be needed. 

For instance, a number of the scientists, lawyers, ethicists, and advocates with whom I spoke in writing this book agreed that there had to be vigorous protection of at least one nonnegotiable premise when considering the appropriate security applications of neuroscience. In the law, this principle might be expressed in terms of the protection afforded in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution regarding self-incrimination: “to be a witness against himself.” Philosophically, this can be expressed as the proposition that no one else should be able to decide what goes into my brain or who “reads” it.

Those who exact milieu control within Christian groups by vilification of their critics and concealment of fact seem to believe that it is perfectly acceptable to decide what goes into the brains of their followers.

The secular world demands a high ethical standard in these matters.

How can such an ethical standard of accountability be expected from the secular world

if Christ’s Church cannot model it for secular society

within the context and realm of our own Christian subgroup?

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Prologue to a Farce

James Madison

Fourth President of the United States

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.

A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both.

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Christmas Monikers (and a cat in a box for your viewing enjoyment)

Something online reminded me of the story of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Oddly, that statement has vanished from the blog on which it originally appeared.

In a post about the evils of what she believes to be gossip, a Blog Host posted a response in the comments section of her article in reply to someone's inquisitive comment. Therein she stated things that she intimated but did not want to come out and state directly, possibly over the concern that people might identify her direct statements as gossip??? She then communicated her (?gossip?) by giving all the players the names of characters from Seuss's books.

I've really got to thank her. I so fondly remember absolutely loving "The Cat in the Hat" when I was little. I would have had my mother read to me from morning 'til night, constantly before I learned the skill myself. Aside from a little book called "The Wolf and the Seven Kids" which my mother could quote in her sleep, "The Cat in the Hat" was my favorite second, but I remember very little of the specifics of the story. I was so relentless, that my parents, on a very limited income, bought a cassette player for Mom to record the books for me (so that she could get back to being a passionate housewife). I remember not liking the tape recorder thing very much, but I was all the more motivated to learn to read for myself.

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Exposing Error Results in Virtual Assasination?

A few months ago, a para church organization called a few critics "internet assassins" and threw around all sorts of other connotative terms. (I'm assuming that the term "internet assassin" refers to one who makes unfavorable comments about another on the internet.)


Perhaps I'm naive, or getting old, but I remember a day when you could passionately debate with someone without the debate becoming personal in nature. I suppose this is more of the way Modernists confronted controversy, and now those rules don't work in our postmodern world.

James Sire in "The Universe Next Door" states that for the existentialist, because truth is grounded in one's experience, "knowledge becomes inextricably bound to the knower." Criticize my knowledge and you've criticized me. Push me towards the logical conclusion of my argument, and if I lose the argument, I've been mortally wounded somehow - literally. Because knowledge is based in my experience, then truth is based in my experience. If my experience is insufficient, then I lose worth and value on a very personal level. The inexperience of a novice becomes a personal flaw and a shameful thing rather than an opportunity to come into greater understanding of truth and maturity. Nihilism is the only logical and ultimate end.

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