People are desperate for hope, for practical solutions to real-world problems. Since faithful Christians are silent about such things, the voices of the left’s sock puppets seem louder.
The mainstream Evangelical press (a.k.a. “the Wheaton mafia”) was glad to channel HALF of R J Rushdoony’s scholarship, the religious nature of secular humanism, a term he coined. However, this “channeling” was through accomplished plagiarist Francis Schaeffer, who covered his tracks and stonewalled regarding the source of his most powerful insights. Schaeffer kowtowed to the demands of the Wheaton mafia, perhaps in order to get his books into print, and apparently denied knowing his classmate and friend.
The other half of Rushdoony’s message, the Biblical SOLUTIONS to the issues of the day, got suppressed, blacked out, embargoed. I think the ArmEnian Calvinist nailed the motive for this denial of so much of God’s Word:
[
The fear of victory is not unusual. Doctors are plagued with healthy people with imaginary ailments; ... They fear health, because it brings them face-to-face with their responsibilities as men and women. In one way or another, countless people cripple themselves either physically or spiritually to avoid meeting life victoriously. The responsibilities of success and victory are avoided by many.
] (Chariots of Prophetic Fire. p. 160. Ross House Books. 2003)
It’s a bit mendacious to whine about real-world problems while resolutely renouncing and rejecting God’s real-world solutions.
That is the first time I have seen a disparaging comment about Francis Schaeffer. However, in my reading of Schaeffer I have found him rather ... incomprehensible!!
Seriously!!
A lot of people seem to comment on how his writing is deep. I agree with them on the “dense” part (and not in a good way). But I honestly feel like he says many things in a confusing way, and so much so that it is not possible to pin down EXACTLY what he is saying.
I had been planning on going back to read his stuff again and make notes of what I see that is “difficult”, or even worse.