[CS-FSLUG] Theology: Laws or Not?

[Ed Hurst]

I won't pretend to characterize Doc's response, so much as use his last
comment about our discussion of patents and IP as a springboard for
something else.

A large segment of evangelical Christianity asserts God deals with all
mankind only through His Son. All other covenants and such are done.

It would seem the counter to this is mostly in the form of what is
academically termed "Holiness Theology" -- not Pentecostal Holiness per
se, but asserting that God's Laws do apply to Christian living.

It's not necessary to see the world so simply, and we can assert this is
a false dichotomy. Taking a page from Augustine's /Two Cities/, there
are some who maintain a theology of Two Realms, that of fallen flesh and
that of the Spirit.

Thus, we see all of the various Law Covenants (Noah, Moses, etc.) are
expressions of an underlying moral fabric in Creation. Jesus, for
example, taught that Moses was actually somewhat dumbed down from what
His Father would have preferred. A primary example was in the matter of
divorce. This implies for some of us there is a higher Law of God which
applies directly to the flesh, never mind matters of the Spirit.

There is overlap, of course, between matters of the Spirit and of the
Law of God. That is, what can be formulated in Laws is merely a
reflection of what cannot be put into human language on the level of the
Spirit. We who embrace His Spirit and His direct guidance and power
will inevitably satisfy God's interests in His Laws, but men who have no
living spirit have only His Laws.

>From this ground is where I assert God has a direct interest in what
secular governments do. I maintain all governments are accountable to
God for what was essentially stated in the Covenant of Noah, though I
would further say it requires reading between the lines. God has a
standard which applies regardless of spiritual state because the
penalties and rewards apply only here in the Fallen Realm.

This was not so much to stir debate, but to offer some explanation of
where I'm coming from on some things.

Ed Hurst
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