Dominionist teachings have been in the news quite often lately. The Houston based meeting, The Response, brought quite a bit of attention to this issue. Various cable TV commentators such as Matthews and Maddow ran stories on the more extreme preachers that are proponents of dominionism. They also tried to tie Republican nomination candidate, Rick Perry, to these aggressive preachings (Maddow’s clip is even called, “Rick Perry, conduit to radical Christian overthrow of US government?”).
I have no idea if Rick Perry is a dominionist. I sincerely hope not since, as you will see in this article, this is a false teaching. If Mr. Perry’s goal is to govern the US as a theocracy where punishment is delivered due to lack of adherence to biblical teachings then he would be failing to follow the teachings of Jesus. I have tried to find evidence that Gov. Perry is dominionist by his actions as Governor or scripted speeches (I try to avoid non-scripted off comments in political analysis as these are frequently misspoken, mistakes of wording, or simply out of context comments). As of this writing, while I am not sure that Gov. Perry is qualified to be the President of the United States, I find no evidence of dominionism aside from some people that are dominionists were at a religious gathering that he helped kick-start.
First, what is dominionism? It isn’t the worship of dominion. Well, actually, it is kind of close to that. According to the best definition that I can find (Wikipedia) it is:
"the tendency among some politically active conservative Christians to seek influence or control over secular civil government through political action, especially in the United States. It is also known as subjectionism. The goal is either a nation governed by Christians, or a nation governed by a conservative Christian understanding of biblical law."
The key point of this definition is the concept of a nation governed by Christian understanding of Biblical Law.
I will dig into the concept of Biblical Law in a bit but first a bit of understanding to the viewpoint. In a world where several influential nations are governed by Islamic Law (or Sharia), it is not surprising that in a nation that has a large population of another religion (Christianity) for those people to feel threatened and therefore try to entrench. Also, in times of hardship, it is easy to think back on younger days when everything is remembered (or rumored) to be wonderful and blame the changes in religion for the hardship. I don’t want to dismiss the frustrations of many people that feel that our government could be more ethical or more fair and think that if there was more religious observation in the world, that could be a good thing. However, the ends doesn’t justify the means – a government or a empowered constituency cannot make others be Christians. It just doesn’t work that way.
Sympathies to the concerns aside, the major fallacy of dominionism is the lack of understanding that there is no such thing as Christian Biblical Law. Yes, Christians are required to keep the 10 Commandments but only because, as Jesus interpreted for us several times, they are all based on one simple commandment: love God above all else and love one another. This interpretation is most obvious in the book of Matthew in the verses 34-40 of the 22nd chapter:
"34 But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, gathered themselves together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, trying him: 36 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets."
So we see that the 10 Commandments and the laws of the Torah are subset to these two commands. Jesus is saying that if you keep these two commands then you will keep the rest of the commands of God and all of the laws. But He doesn’t say that punishment will be given to you if you fail. In fact, He says the opposite – He gives a carrot and not a stick in John 15:10 where he says that "…ye shall abide in my love…." if we love God and one another. This is different than a law. A law delivers punishment not reward.
Your local government may make a law that says you cannot drive your car faster than 20 mph in on a certain road at a certain time. You receive no reward for keeping this law. The police officer doesn’t stop you and give you a coupon for a free oil change if you don’t speed. Instead, if you drive the car over the speed limit and break the law then the police officer can give you a moving vehicle violation ticket that punishes you with a fine or worse. Laws deliver punishment for breaking them but Jesus speaks of reward for doing an action.
Soon before His death, Jesus gave a great deal of advice to His disciples. He knew that He would be dead in a very short time so it was His time to give the strongest and most urgent advice. He didn’t recite the 10 commandments or the many rules of the Old Testament but instead simply told them (us) to love one another.
John 13:34
"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."
And then in John 15:9-17
"9 Even as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you: abide ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. 12 This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known unto you. 16 Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that ye may love one another."
We can now make the conclusion that Biblical Law really doesn’t exist for Christians. Law implies punishment, for law breaking is punishable. In this case, Christian teaching is not about punishment but reward and being like Jesus. A Christian should love all others because Jesus loved us (an example not a law) so that the Christian can have joy and love as Jesus enjoyed love (an example not a law or punishment).
With this understanding, dominionism starts to fall apart but I doubt if I have you convinced yet so I will do a bit more. Let’s discuss why dominionism is not compatible with Christian teachings.
Read the rest of this entry »
Click here to read the rest of this article... (2236 words, 1 image, estimated 8:57 mins reading time)
If you pay attention to the news, you have heard Warren Buffet claim that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. This pronouncement has prompted President Barack Hussein Obama to propose new taxes, affectionately nicknamed “Buffet taxes” or the “Buffet Rule.”
At this writing, Mitt Romney is running for the Republican nomination and at some time he is probably going to have to divulge his finances more fully than he has already. Mr. Romney doesn’t appear to have a wage-earning job, therefore, his daily spending on clothes, food, mortgage, and hair-styling products comes from interest, capital gains, or dividend income from his earned fortune. It appears that Mr. Romney paid less than 15% on his income where a wage earner would pay a much higher rate. 
I want to be fair, it is okay to be a first follower. In fact, it is often a great strategy. They can take the great ideas from the computing world and improve them to offer to their consumers at a much lower cost. This has been the modus operandi of Microsoft for decades. This must be a particular trait of Bill Gates that 