Would you consider yourself a Theonomist?

Me personally I'm leading in that direction.

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John
Member
Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Salt Lake City, Utah
www.christpres.net

Not quite, but I take the "general equity" very seriously.

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Evie B.
New Members Class, RPCNA, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. -- Isaiah 43:18-19 (ESV)

Agreed, Evie. Whether one considers himself or herself to be a Theonomist, one would do well to adhere to that portion of the WCF.

Personally, because of all the baggage over the term, I prefer to utilize the term "theonomian" instead of "theonomist." Theonomian, mind you, is the opposite of antinomian. I have reliquished copyright on the term and you are all free to us it at will.

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Tim Phillips
Pastor, Midlane Park Presbyterian Church (ARP)
Louisville, KY
Husband of Scottish Lass
My Blog: Gairney Bridge
My Facebook/My Avatar

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"Wherever the gospel is preached, it is as if God Himself came into the midst of us." ~ John Calvin

You are too kind, sir.

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soli Deo gloria!
~Nicholas~ Ordained Pastor
Member, Fulton PCA; GPTS Student
Christians are like snow covered dung; it is the purity of the covering which the Father sees. -Luther-
There is nothing more ugly than a Christian orthodoxy without understanding or without compassion.
-Francis Schaeffer-

Truly... madly... deeply.

I won't be offended if anyone here agrees with the "madly" part!

On a more serious note, personally, when it comes down to it, I don't think as Christians we have any choice

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Toni Cunningham, Wife of Bill (Theognome)
Parkwoods OPC, Overland Park KS

"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As, to be hated, needs but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace." ~ Alexander Pope

God is lawgiver for all men. If some reject that

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Rich Koster
1689'er
Browns Mills NJ USA
Often Goofy Reformed Eccentric
Romans 7:14-25

I classify myself as mildly Theonomic.

Though I wouldn't classify myself as a Reconstructionist, for one, I'm Realized Millenial not Post Mil.

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Donald Jacobs
Roanoke VA.
Covenant Reformed Episcopal Church.

Cum vero infirmor tunc potens sum.

I agree, and by the estimation of MOST Evangelicals, that makes you a Theonomist. Here in the very narrow slice of reality called 'PB', it is another story.

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http://www.villagecommunitychurch.org/


"Preparing a sermon is like cooking a meal. You need pots and pans and utensils, but you don't bring them out to the table where people are eating." Derek Thomas


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No, no, no, no, no, no...

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Bill Brown
Elder
Reformed Baptist
Maryland

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Visit my BLOG Theology for the Rest of Us

Aren't the categories "Bahnsen Rocks!" and "It seems logical not sure what the big fuss is…" essentially the same as saying "Yes"? If so, then does that mean that the number of people who voted for Theonomy would not only include those who chose "Yes" but also those who chose those two categories I just mentioned?

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Joel de Leon
Member (man under care)
Christ Presbyterian Church, OPC
Salt Lake City, UT

The Cleansed Leper

Not in a million years but not sure that surprised anyone.

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Wayne Whitmer
Member, Rio Rancho OPC
Albuquerque, NM

Yes and no. And by that I mean I certainly believe in the binding of God's Moral Law over all of society. I believe what the original WCF teaches concerning the duties of the Magistrate are, etc. I don't necessarily agree that the Judicial Laws given to the Old Testament Nation of Israel are required for today, albeit they are quite informative for instruction and use of the general equity would be wise. I am not a Reconstructionist and am probably Amillenial. So maybe that makes me a little 't'heonomist and not a big 'T'heonomist?

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Dad
Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCGA
Facebook - The Calvinist Vent
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It is God that multiplies our sorrows.... God, as a righteous Judge, does it, which ought to silence us under all our sorrows; as many as they are, we have deserved them all, and more: nay, God, as a tender Father, does it for our necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin, and weaned from the world by all our sorrows; and the good we get by them, with the comfort we have under them, will abundantly balance our sorrows, how greatly soever they are multiplied. - Matthew Henry

or an antiantinomian. a double negative=positive.

Yes, I'm sure everyone on the PB is an antiantinomian!

Regardless, Bahnsen still rocks!

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Donald P. Grubb
theol46@embarqmail.com

Berean Baptist Church, Mansfield, OH
Mansfield, OH

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.
The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Give that man a cigar!

I consider myself theonomic...but many theonomists would not since I don't walk lock-step with certain economic principles (i.e. Austrian school), I believe in the Lord's Day and that the 2nd commandment forbids images of Christ (for some reason, many theonomists reject these items).

I would be surprised if many who are saying they are not actually know what a "Theonomist" believes concerning the Law of God, especially given the fact that it is Righteous and Good.

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Benjamin P. Glaser, M. Div, Licentiate, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
Member Fairmount ARP Church
Pittsburgh, PA

Deo Vindice

theonomist, yes.

Theonomist, no.

I understand the view quite well.

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Fred Greco
Senior Pastor, Christ Church PCA (Katy, TX)
Christ Church Blog

"The heart is the main thing in true religion...It is the hinge and turning-point in the condition of man's soul. If the heart is alive to God and quickened by the Spirit, the man is a living Christian. If the heart is dead and has not the Spirit, the man is dead before God." (J.C. Ryle)

No I'm very well studied in Theonomy as a former Theonomist having read Rushdoony's Institutes, Bahnsen, and many other Theonomist writings. So I think I'm qualified to answer in the negative with a clear conscience and comprehension of what is being asked.

Something tells me the Law of God forum is going to go the way of the EP forum here pretty soon...

I'm sympathetic to Theonomy but not nearly as over-the-top as my Purdiestness is.

Theognome

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Bill Cunningham
Covenant Reformed Church, URC
Kansas City
There are three kinds of people- those who can count, and those who can't.

I keep coming back to this thread to see when the awkward smiling stops and the guns start a-blazin'!

*Note: I'm not interested in a fight beginning...nor am I encouraging it...it's just that's where most theonomy/EP threads end up.

ADMIN NOTICE:

Folks, this is not a knock-down-dragout-fight between Theonomists, Theodidacists, and others. Just answer the question. There are some statements that just aren't helpful. Please try to be as charitable as possible on the one hand, and as non-defensive as possible on the other.

Thank you.

A couple of non-relevant, misleading, and unhelpful posts have been deleted from this thread. Please take the advice given above.

UHmm, was that me? I thought that I was very helpful.

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Kevin Rogers
Sovereign Community Church, PCA
Moncton NB

I'll never tell!

This is where I stand as well.

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Patricia
Communicant Member
Westminster Presbyterian Church, PCA
College Station, TX

Give yourself to prayer, to reading and meditation on divine truths: strive to penetrate to the bottom of them and never be content with a superficial knowledge.
David Brainerd

Sinds my view has been changed towards the moral law as being the rule of life for the christian iam leading towards being a theonomist, with the exception that iam a convince non-sabbatherian (believe that the Lord's day is not the sabbath) and iam in line with Johannes Cocceius (1603–1669). John Gill (1697 –1771) and Jay E. Adams. I hold to a christian theocracy form goverment.

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* Ralph Wilms (7-10-1974)
* Church : Christengemeente Roermond (The Netherlands)
* 1729 Goat Yard Declaration of Faith & 1646 Baptist Confession of faith

"To our mind, either everything or nothing must be held in subjection to the will and providence of God. Even the wickedness of ungodly men is restricted by predestination, so that the wrath of man shall praise God, and the remainder of wrath He will restrain." - GILBERT BEEBE (1800-1881)

I selected "Bahnsen rocks" and "I'm working through the issue." Add me to those who take the General Equity seriously.

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T W Hopper
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church
Currently between churches since PRC closed here - attending Crossroads Christian Church.
Canberra, Australia.

I am a Theonomist who believes in natural law.

CT

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Hermonta Godwin
Christ The King PCA
Raleigh, NC

I agree with Fred Greco. God's law is for everyone. And I also take General Equity seriously. Therefore I am a little t theonomist, because there is no other standard.

However, we MUST understand general equity correctly, lest we merge the civil sword with ecclesiastical discipline, as did some of the Reformers.

Here is a good summary of the Apostle Paul's use of General Equity, which should guide how we interpret OT law verses:

John Frame has noted that the New Testament church "fulfills the Old Testament theocracy" (Barker 1990, 95). In applying the Old Testament laws to the church, Paul did not apply them exactly as they were applied in the Old Testament. For instance, In 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Paul addresses a situation where a man is living with his father's wife. According to Old Testament law, the man and the woman should receive capital punishment (Leviticus 20:10). However, this was not recommended by Paul. Rather, the proper punishment of this crime for Paul is excommunication (vv. 2, 13). Furthermore, Paul's statement in verse 13 is a quotation of a formula found in Mosaic penal sanctions (Deut. 17:7, 12; 12:19; 19:21, 21:21; 22:21, 24: 24:7).

Third*Millennium*Ministries


See also: Theonomy, A Reformed Baptist Assessment

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

No.

While I can see the idealism of it, I do not see the capabilities of the reality without major problems.

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JC - PCA - PA...homesick for SC
A we n' de Ya, ho; I mak sikker; Deus juvat

Indicabo tibi o homo quid sit bonum, et quid Dominus requirat a te: Utique facere iudicium, et diligere, misericordiam, et sollicitum ambulare cum Deo tuo. Michaeas 6:8

"Who says you can't go back, been all around the world and as a matter of fact. There's only one place left I want to go, who says you can't go home" Bon Jovi

I will be taking a class on ethics next and will be required to read Bahnsen's, "Theonomy in Christian Ethics," I will decide then. Right now all I have heard are really bad things but they are examples of extremism from the internet. (At least I hope it is extremism).

-----Added 5/8/2009 at 09:33:23 EST-----

Now I am kind of wondering if it isn't like spiritual gifts in the NT. It was appropriate for that time for the of building up the church but has since fallen out of use because they are no longer necessary. Likewise, these laws were necessary for the building upof a godly nation and are now no longer necessary because we have the church.
Now we are living in an age where the law is written on our hearts, whereas it was not then.

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Erick Bohndorf, Redeemer Presbyterian PCA
http://qayaqtraveler.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pr...90&ref=profile
Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward. Ecclesiastes

I love God and think that if He says His Law is perfect then it is incumbent for me to think they are perfect. That is why I am a Theonomist.

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Alan Hughes
PCA
Lake Zurich, Illinois

If you think I'm a Hyper-Calvinist, God planned that thought before the foundation of the Earth. If you try to tell me that God only planned some things and not all things, then your problem is with God not me.

Says it well.

Theonomy is to theonomy as Fundamentalism is to fundamentalism. I claim the little letters for both, but gladly take the Big R for Reformed.

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Timothy
Member, PCA
Kingsport, TN

It largely depends on how one defines "theonomist". My own views line up closely with George Gillespie.

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Rev. Adam King
Minister in the RPCNA
Pastor,Trinity Reformed Church
Wichita, KS

No, and I think Bahnsen is vastly overrated as a theologian. I am a recovering Theonomist so I think I understand the position.

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Jon Peters
Member, Reformation Fellowship (OPC) (Roseville, CA)
Folsom, CA

I thought Bahnsen was a great man of God, but do not agree with Theonomy.

The judicials should be studied for their general equity, which doesn't mean e.g. the death penalty for flagrant Sabbath breakers, etc. In Old Covenant Israel, those without an animal sacrifice for sin had to be executed. Hebrews 10:26-29 explains something of the antitypical fulfilment of that.

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Richard
communicant member, FCoS
Perth, Scotland UK

His Name forever shall endure;
last like the sun it shall:
Men shall be blessed in Him,
and blessed all nations shall Him call (Ps. 72:17)