You wrote:
“A GOAL is not a side-effect. The goal of a medicine is reduced blood pressure, and a side effect may be weight loss. The side effect in this case may be desirable, but it is not the reason for taking the medication.”
The goal of medicine use is to heal the body. The goal of man is to be saved. The goal of human institutions therefore must be to aid the salvation of man. We were created to glorify God. That’s why we exist. We do not glorify God by going to hell. Again, I can’t believe I have to explain this to someone claiming to be a Christian. You must have a Christian worldview. You don’t have one. Get one!
“Salvation has some good side effects for the public, but salvation is something for individuals.”
(sigh) Salvation has some good side effects for the public? Are there BAD SIDE EFFECTS to salvation?
The public is made up of individuals. Again, I can’t believe I have to point these things out.
“The more saved individuals there are, the freer a society can be - but salvation is for individuals, not society as a whole.”
Salvation if for everyone. But not everyone will be saved. We all live in a society. Society must be open to the gospel for men to be saved.
“No, Beckwith would be wrong if the goal of the church is something other than ‘common good’. Only a moron mistakes goal for side effect.”
No, only you would confuse one with the other. The common good allows the gospel to flourish in society. Since salvation is why we’re here, because we are here to glorify God and there’s no bigger way to glorify God then to be saved, then our common good is what allows the gospel to flourish.
“EVENTUALLY, Christ will establish his reign. State governments are not restored, but removed when He comes.”
And yet we are to turn them to Christ NOW. We do not just stand idly by and allow immorality to be the way of things if it can be changed.
“States and governments are not born again - only individuals.”
Agreed, but your point is meaningless. Individuals are saved, but they live in socities. More will be saved in a society in which the common good of all is maintained.
“Sounds like Aquinas needed to contemplate the fall of man, and ALL of man’s institutions.”
BWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA No one probably better understood the fall of man than Aquinas. That’s exactly the point!
“Nope. The nations rage against God.”
Again, you’re missing the point. Did God make us so we would rage against Him? No, but we sin. We choose to sin. Societies and states can choose to rage against God or serve Him.
“The goal of medicine use is to heal the body. The goal of man is to be saved. The goal of human institutions therefore must be to aid the salvation of man. We were created to glorify God. That’s why we exist. We do not glorify God by going to hell. Again, I can’t believe I have to explain this to someone claiming to be a Christian. You must have a Christian worldview. You don’t have one. Get one!”
First, the NEED of man is to be saved. It is not the goal of many men at all - for wide is the gate that leads to death. Just because we were created with God’s Glory in mind - and few will serve God’s purpose there - doesn’t mean human institutions comprised primarily of sinful humans exist to serve God.
You are the one who lacks a Christian worldview - for the Christian view is that the large majority of men are in rebellion against God, and their institutions with them.
“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” - James 4
“Are there BAD SIDE EFFECTS to salvation?”
From the perspective of the rebellious world? You bet. “13These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” - Heb 11
We are aliens in a foreign land. We don’t belong here. We answer a different king, and all kings are jealous. From the perspective of secular government, Christians are rebels and traitors. Government will never love Christians.
“The common good allows the gospel to flourish in society.”
No, the common good of rebels is unity with and control by the rebels...and man is a rebel against God. Only if Christians are a majority will the ‘common good’ allow the gospel to flourish.
“Societies and states can choose to rage against God or serve Him.”
No society or state chooses to serve God. In the end, all are rebels against Him. States have no soul. The reflect the souls of the majority, and the majority are in rebellion against God. That is why they rage.