Rushdoony – From the Horse’s Mouth!
- 7 September 2016
It’s several years since I located & listened to these lectures from Dr RJ Rushdoony. They represent just a selection of audio files from a vast collection of material hosted at Chalcedon.edu. [A Faith for ALL of Life]. What struck me, listening to these messages was the humble, gentle, erudition of the man. Not at all what I had imagined on account of the demonisation of the Reconstruction Movement I’d encountered from my reformed friends. I thank God for giving me the courage to press on, in spite of the vitriol & sneers of fellow believers, & listen for myself first-hand to Rushdoony himself testifying to the grace of God in his own life, the power & sovereignty of God in providence & history &, of course, the great prospect of victory & success of Christ in future days in establishing His kingdom here in this world.
Christian Reconstruction is about just that: reconstructing the world & whole civilisations according to the Creator’s blue-print for living, namely His Laws & His commandments. Simply put, true liberty consists of life lived according to God’s own instruction manual whence His rich blessing shall accompany His covenant-keeping people from every nation under heaven!
Tyranny results in any society that spurns His reign & rule & seeks to enthrone man as his own ‘lord & saviour’. Humanism is the result in all its many-faceted manifestations: communism, fascism, existentialism, nihilism, atheism, idolatry, pragmatism, multiculturalism, etc, etc.
An alternative designation then for Christian Reconstruction is ‘Theonomy’. This simply means God’s Law shall govern us; God’s Law shall be the universal absolute standard of right & wrong, the basis for equitable & ethical penal sanction within the civil realm and the basis for honourable human social institutions.
In simple, broad-brush terms, such authentic, FULL-ORBED Christianity, which duly respects the WHOLE counsel of God in Old Testament as well as New Testament….
- recognises that God is our Creator – we’re not bi-pedal organisms that have evolved by natural processes from primordial matter
- recognises the voice of God in conscience & His signature indelibly, yet invisibly, inscribed on every aspect of the created order
- comprehends the inherent glory & worth of human beings, made in the image of their Maker
- acknowledges the cultural mandate to build civilisation across the globe in obedience to the dominion mandate of Genesis 1:28
- recognises the historicity of the FALL in Eden & its significance TODAY for all of us as the offspring of Adam & Eve
- honours God as sovereign ruler & orderer of all of history
- acknowledges the terms of God’s gracious covenant in His dealings with His creatures with its two-fold outward signs: (i) circumcision in OT (ii) baptism in NT
- provided full atonement freely & electively in & through the death & resurrection of Jesus Christ
- supplies the necessary grace & power for fallen but redeemed saints to live according to God’s holy Law
- commands ALL men now to repent in anticipation of the world-wide conquest of Christ IN TIME before Christ returns in victory. (1Cor 15:25,26)
Note: such is the character of historic, orthodox biblical faith as preached & practiced by faithful saints down through 2 millennia & as summarised in most main-line creeds & confessions. See ‘Theonomy Blogspot’ here for a more far-reaching justification for this assertion!
