The Christian Faith and the Manosphere : An Application of the Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms

The following was actually a comment I left on Sunshine Mary’s blog post with regards to whether a Christian should be concerned with sexual attracton. Since it has grown considerably in length, I thought that I would turn it into a post of my own.

If I might place this discussion within a broader theological context, it is traditional Protestant doctrine, having its roots in St Augustine’s “Two Cities”, that God rules the world via two “hands”: He rules the “external” or “this-worldly” realm via Reason or what Luther calls his “left-handed” rule, and he rules the internal or “spiritual” realm (namely, the heart, conscience, faith, etc) via his Word and the Holy Spirit or what Luther calls his “right-handed” rule. This is the doctrine of the “Two Kingdoms”.

Thus to give an analogy, St Paul teaches in the Scriptures that every man must provide for his own household on the pain of denying his faith and being worse than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8), thus this apostolic command is binding upon the Christian’s conscience (the “right hand” rule) by the Word which conviction is wrought by the Holy Ghost. However, how a man goes about doing this is dependent upon his Reason (broadly speaking, let’s assume that of course he is not doing anything illegal or contrary to the law of God). If he is a financier he must use his financial knowledge to trade, if he is an engineer his engineering knowledge, etc, the point being that while the Scriptures gives us laws binding upon our conscience, the Scriptures does not teach us how to repair a car, make a business deal, when to plant our crops, or in general, how to generate household income. To know how to deal with “this-world” governed by the laws of physics and human nature, we use our God-given reason and brains via science, observation, common sense, logic, etc, to know how precisely to generate this income in obedience to the command to provide for one’s household.

Thus in the context of this discussion, it is interesting to note that even within Protestantism there are two distinct traditions with regards to where is marriage located in the “Two Kingdoms”. Is it a special distinct Christian “spiritual” estate, a sacrament as Roman Catholicism has traditionally taught, or is it a “this-worldly” enterprise which Christians shares with non-Christians?

Luther himself believed that marriage is a wholly “this-worldly” thing and even argued that just as a Christian can do business and trade with non-Christians or work for non-Christians or hire non-Christians, etc, likewise can a Christian marry non-Christians since marriage is a worldly physical thing on par with business, trade and government, etc.

One does not need to accept Luther’s inference (that Christians can marry non-Christians), to accept his more general point that marriage is a “this-worldly” affair, a civic ordinance like government, contracts, property, the military, etc. Of course it is important to note at once that a Christian’s conscience, being bound by the Word of God, is required to engage in the civic order with honesty and integrity, thus in matters of trade the Christian should not use “false weights” and cheat our customers, etc, as the Augsburg Confession puts it,

Of Civil Affairs [we] teach that lawful civil ordinances are good works of God, and that it is right for Christians to bear civil office, to sit as judges, to judge matters by the Imperial and other existing laws, to award just punishments, to engage in just wars, to serve as soldiers, to make legal contracts, to hold property, to make oath when required by the magistrates, to marry a wife, to be given in marriage… the Gospel teaches an eternal righteousness of the heart. Meanwhile, it does not destroy the State or the family, but very much requires that they be preserved as ordinances of God, and that charity be practiced in such ordinances. Therefore, Christians are necessarily bound to obey their own magistrates and laws save only when commanded to sin; for then they ought to obey God rather than men.

Article XVI: Of Civil Affairs.

Likewise, marriage being a “this-worldly” thing does not entail that the Christian is free to follow whatever the Zeitgeist blows but instead obeys this civic ordinance also in accordance to the Word of God, e.g. no divorces, marital duties and ordering of the genders, etc.

Thus, although God does command in the Scriptures laws with regards to the marital life, but the Scriptures does not provide in detail how exactly the Christian is to go about doing this, just as St Paul commands in the Scriptures that Christians are to provide for their own household without telling them how they are going to do this. Thus, herein is where the insights of the manosphere, game, LAMPS, etc, comes in. These provides empirical facts and details about gender relation, biological functions, etc, which helps Christians couples to fulfil their marital obligations, etc, just as knowledge of science, engineering, economics, etc, helps the Christian farmer, engineer, stock broker, etc, earn his keep and provide for his household.

Thus in a sense, the distinction between “non-Scriptural” and “unscriptural” is entirely correct. Newton’s theory, the law of supply and demand, vector calculus are “non-Scriptural” in the sense that they aren’t found in the Scriptures, but they aren’t “unscriptural” because they do not contradict the Scriptures, they are simply part of the order of God’s world, etc.

It is understandable that there might be some apprehension with regards to the “Two Kingdoms” doctrine given how “over-spiritualised” many contemporary churches have made marriages, virtually denying its “this-worldly” features and entanglements, as if our bodies have already been raised with a “spiritual body” without involving any biology or the facts of anthropology, etc. And also a much deeper worry is that saying that marriage is “this-worldly” may give license to adultery and fornications and “tingles”, etc, on the basis that the laws of biology are supreme. But as already noted, although the Christian must use his reason to engage in business and trade, etc, but that does not me that he is free to rip people off, but is still bound to the laws of God in how he engages in those enterprise, likewise is the Word still supreme in the conscience with regards to the marital life.

Therefore, the Christian does ask of the Father for their “daily bread”, yet  he does not expect God to provide this daily bread directly from the heavens as it were, but distributes it down here on earth via our reason, knowledge, our talents, our resources, our civic institutions, or more generally, via His general Providence, likewise does the Christian ask of God for purity of heart and strength to keep their marriage vows, but knowing that God provide us with the means to keep it here on earth, that is, with our brains, our physical resources, etc.

Thus, just as it would be both irresponsible and tempting God to ask Him to “short-circuit” the process as it were, to ask him to turn stones to bread when he has already provided the seed and the land and the weather, likewise would it be tempting God to ask Him to short-circuit the process when he has already provided the means and knowledge for keeping one’s marriage vows, expecting him to magically “flick a switch” as it were to alter how we are wired, etc. But of course in times of extraordinary need, God may provide for extraordinary measures, but I trust that we aren’t talking about those exceptional cases but in the ordinary course of this world, etc.

As the late Iron Lady once said,

Pennies don’t fall from heaven, they have to be earned here on earth.

About these ads