Jordan Eskovitz on Nostr: I won't elaborate for him but I will add that God created a cosmos in which there is ...
I won't elaborate for him but I will add that God created a cosmos in which there is hierarchical forms of rule and authority. Christ is king of all existence. He then deligates authority to lesser powers—to his heavenly host (like angels) as well as mankind.
Man as God's image bearer is to take dominion of the earth—to cultivate, subdue, and rule (as God's governors).
God also subdivided his deligated authority to man into four primary forms of government—the church, the magistrate (state), the family, and the individual. Each government has its own specific roles and boundaries—clergy do not declare war, the magistrate does not administer the sacraments, for example.
When man sinned and fell, and all creation was subject to sin, man's governing roles and duties did not change but are now plagued with corruption. Even in a sinful world God did not do away with government. Rather, we are told that God gave the magistrate the sword to reward the just and to punish the unjust.
In 2 Samuel God says "When one rules justly over man, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass sprout from the earth"
In proverbs 29:2, it says "When the rightelus increase, the people flourish, but when the wicked rule, the people groan."
Ultimately we are all under the authority and rule of Christ, whether we accept that reality or not, but not accepting it as a peoples results in evil rulers.
We individually, as households, even as towns and communities and states, can and should resist evil rulers. Part of that resistance is writing code and using open protocols (nostr) and better money (bitcoin). But the heart of that resistance needs to be repentance and a return to rightly ordered rule under the ultimate lordship of Christ.
Man as God's image bearer is to take dominion of the earth—to cultivate, subdue, and rule (as God's governors).
God also subdivided his deligated authority to man into four primary forms of government—the church, the magistrate (state), the family, and the individual. Each government has its own specific roles and boundaries—clergy do not declare war, the magistrate does not administer the sacraments, for example.
When man sinned and fell, and all creation was subject to sin, man's governing roles and duties did not change but are now plagued with corruption. Even in a sinful world God did not do away with government. Rather, we are told that God gave the magistrate the sword to reward the just and to punish the unjust.
In 2 Samuel God says "When one rules justly over man, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass sprout from the earth"
In proverbs 29:2, it says "When the rightelus increase, the people flourish, but when the wicked rule, the people groan."
Ultimately we are all under the authority and rule of Christ, whether we accept that reality or not, but not accepting it as a peoples results in evil rulers.
We individually, as households, even as towns and communities and states, can and should resist evil rulers. Part of that resistance is writing code and using open protocols (nostr) and better money (bitcoin). But the heart of that resistance needs to be repentance and a return to rightly ordered rule under the ultimate lordship of Christ.