1 Cor. 1:2 "To the Church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours".
Colossians 1:12-14 "Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share in the allotted portion of the saints in the light; Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His Love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins"
Galatians 6:15,16 "For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation is what matters And as many as walk by this rule, peace be upon them and mercy, even upon the Isreal of God"
I would have to say that this type of action, in the very least proceeds from lack of revelation in God's New Testament Economy.
God is not interested in reforming society, He is not even conserned with the behavoir of lost men. These things have been judged already and delt with on the cross.
God has no intent or purpose to reform society but rather to bring in His Kingdom which in in Life and the New Creation.
God wills that His rightousness and His Life be expressed in this world by those who are His and have His Life and are members of the body of Christ. But He has no interest in imposing behavioural standards upon the unregenerated but rather to deliver them from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love.
God's way is not to reform behavior in this world, but to redeem and impart His Life.
His life grows in those who are redeemed and in them His rightousness is manifested. And His life in His redeemed grows and manifests Christ as a testimony in this fallen and judged world.
Though every instutition of darkness be eliminated from the world, yet men are still fallen, still under the domain of darkness and in need of redemption and regeneration.
It was not to publicans and sinners that the Lord said, "you must be born again" but rather to Nicodemas, a rightouse man who was a teacher of Isreal. If He said this to a harlot or a drunkard, we might say, yes, these need a "new Life" but the Lord said this to Nicodemans, a good a rightouse man by human standards.
There is a distinct lack of perception of these things among those who seek to reform society by imposing the law and the Bible upon the unbelievers and try to eliminate "sin" by fleshly means. God's way is redemption and the dispensing of Christ as Life to those who believe and are regenerated to usher in His Kingdom and to conclude this age.
God is not after a "sinless society" God is after His Kingdom being established in the hearts of His redeemed, regenerated believers who have His Life and who manifest Him as the body of Christ as a testimony to Him in a dark and fallen world. This world and society has already been judged by God and is under condemnation. Cleaning it up will not make it any more acceptable to God. It is judged, it is condemend, it is under His wrath and will perish, God's call is to come out of it into Christ and be saved, regenerated, and partake of His Life and become a New Creation.
If Christ were preached, believed into, recieved and exprerienced, then the suppliers of smut and such things would have no customers. But to try to regulate behavier by manipulating the environment does not bring in the Kingdom of God.
The New Testament was not written to the world or to unbelievers at all. It was entirely written to the church which is the body of Christ and made up of all those who have believed into Christ and have His Life (1 cor 1:2)
There is not one word in the New Testament written to the world, to society, or to anyone who is not in Christ. The entire New Testament is written to believers who are "in Christ' who have His Life and who are called by Him to live by this Life and to manifest Christ in this world. But nothing is written to clean up the world, to whitewash it, to elimate sin.
to be sure God restrains evil by law and society, but this is only for the purpose of His economy which is not centered in this world but in Christ and for the purpose of bringing in His Kingdom which is in Life and will not be manifested till the Lord comes.
We are to pray for those in power that we might live a godly life in quietness... But the objective is not to reform society but rather that the church may exist in relative peace that God's interests may be pursued and His Kingdom grow in His redeemed and that the gospel of this Kingdom be preached in all the world. But God has no interest persay in America as a nation, but rather as a vehicile for His economy which is in faith. There are no Americans in Christ. No Jews, no Greeks, no sythians, slaves, free men, not even male nor female but rather there is the "One New Man" created in Christ.
God's interest in this world are soley for the purpose of fulfililling HIs eternal Purpose which is centered in Christ and will be manfested in the comming age and consumated in the eternal age in the New Earth under the New heavens (Revealtion 21-22)
"A new creation is what matters", not the reformation of the old creation.
Graftedbranch
