a Biblical Reconstructionist and a Philosopher

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Brother Yeaton:

Overall, I would have to say Sis. Rachel's summation of the structure of 
Inter-Varsity is correct. I was involved with them myself a number of years 
ago. However, officially they are opposed to Reconstructionism.

In a nutshell, Reconstructionism is an offshoot of one branch of Calvinism. 
They are Post-millenial (they believe the church rules for 1000 years the Jesus 
comes back) and they believe that this is accomplished through the turning of 
people's hearts toward God through the Calvinist doctrine of irresistable 
grace. The believe that the Old Testament law is God's ideal plan for civil 
government and the blessings of God will be made manifest in any nation which 
adopts it. This visible display of blessing will take the form of reduced crime 
and poverty, stronger families and the church playing a dominant role in the 
life of the society. A minority (less than 10%) of these people believe in a 
Universalistic version of this concept (the irresistable grace of God causes 
all to be saved). They are also strong on us being salt and light to the earth 
and therefore we must season and light every area including politics, 
education, finance, etc with a Christian view of these activities rather than 
 limiting ourselves to church related activities such as evangelism.

The teaching is similar to the "Kingdom Now" theology which is prevalent in 
some parts of the Charismatic movement. However, the refusal to accept 
spiritual gifts for today which marks Reformed theology has made it difficult 
for these two groups to work together.

As I said before I found it odd that someone holding such beliefs would be in a 
leadership position in IVCF, since while they come from a strong Reformed 
position, they do not see Reconstructionism as a valid interpretation of Jesus' 
role for the church.

I'll wrap up the as my nut is getting to big for the shell I tried to put it in 
:-)

I hope this helps. If you'd like some more help in your discussions with him 
feel free to contact me and I'll help however I can.

Blessings,

Frank Vandenburg


On Friday, October 23, 1998 7:23 PM, yhclifto [SMTP:yhclifto@Oakland.edu] 
wrote:
> Grace and Peace in Jesus Name,
>
> 	I was just wondering if any one out there had heard of a belife
> called 'Biblical Reconstuctionism.'
>