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The Atheism of the Early Church

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The Atheism of the Early Church

By: R.J. Rushdoony
Narrated by: Nathan F. Conkey
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About this listen

Early Christians were called "heretics" and "atheists" when they denied the gods of Rome, in particular the divinity of the emperor and the statism he embodied in his personality cult. These Christians knew that Jesus Christ, not the state, was their Lord and that this faith required a different kind of relationship to the state than the state demanded. Because Jesus Christ was their acknowledged sovereign, they consciously denied such esteem to all other claimants. Today, the church must take a similar stand before the modern state.

©1983, 2009 Chalcedon (P)2020 Chalcedon Foundation Christianity History Early Church

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This book is fascinating, it's titled matter is very brief, and then it rapidly moves to unsubstantiated claims - pure story. One can't be certain but it would seem that lurking in the narrative is the delusion that Christianity has once been practiced sincerely and faithfully; this is based on his apparent acceptance of the notion that Mediaeval Christian knew his bible from cover to cover. As a consequence there is the notion that were Humanity to be thoroughly converted then the true Justice of God would flow down from Zion. Now the author, no doubt being a good Reformed Trinity Worshipper, would hold with equal fervour the notion of Total Depravity, the notion of the Law of Flesh warring against the Law of Spirit and yet - incredibly - would still wish his institutions of law to be governed by such a spirit this in a country where most Christian Pastors saw no conflict between biblical faith and kidnap and slavery. He then trots out the tired mantra that America suffers herself for the good of others this in 1983 when his Government was busy through the CIA disrupting the democratically elected Governments of many a Latin American country for having the temerity to wish to spend their national wealth on their own people rather than enrich American stockholders. 'The dirty Commie rats'. Probably the only real claim is that Religion (of any stripe in my view) is actually a means to legitimate power and thus closely aligned with Regal Rule - be it the Divine Right of Kings or the Islamic Caliphate it is promoted and seen as the expression of God's will and thus right. Thus Religion as a political tool is doomed and was from the moment Democracy was utilised as the justification for Power (not that any country as ever seen Democracy the closest probably being Switzerland which still as a form of direct democracy). That however is a whole other tale and one wishes that Audible would record Philip Goodchild's Capitalism and Religion. This book is still well worth hearing as there is a plea for a genuine commitment which no doubt in practice means contributing hugely to your local Church and its various ministries in contradistinction to the actual first Christians who became their own economic communities - always the real threat to State Power just ask any informed American black person. The end is pure comedy where it tells us the purpose of Chalcedon is the 'cogent communication of a distinctly Christian communication' which is the claim that Jesus Christ is 'truly God and truly Man' I had to check that cogent meant what I thought it meant 'clear logical and convincing' it does so one has to chuckle. Jesus did insist that he was going to his God and his disciple's God to their Father and his Father but hey never let the truth get in the way of a good story because after all it's inspired.

True Christian Delusion

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