By Quin Hillyer, published Jan 1 at PJ Media;
As we enter a new year today, beware the lure of people who promise that mankind can deliver a New Jerusalem.
Only God can do that….
….
In the 20th century, a school of Christian thought known as “Kingdom Theology” gained prominence, arguing that our job as believers is to do all we can to pave the way for the Kingdom of God to be made manifest here on Earth. The more aggressive of these Kingdom theologians argued, in effect, that the church(es) should provide the “organization” and openly support the civil authorities (read: those chosen politicians and policies) who will most energetically use governmental power to help bring about that “kingdom.”…
…. The problem is not with the goals, but the means. Actually, problems, plural. The first problem enters when the more aggressive/radical Kingdom adherents insist that government is the preferred vehicle for achieving the kingdom on Earth, which also logically includes the assumption that government’s compulsory powers are perfectly legitimate to use toward that end. (More on why that is a problem, momentarily.) The second problem is with the idea that mankind not only should prepare for the coming kingdom and welcome it, but actually create it on our own (or create all but a few, final flourishes from God)….
For the full column, read here.