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From: Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (ReacTor) Defining Our Terms: What Do We Mean by "Hard SF"?
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2024 08:43:50 -0700
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On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 09:39:59 -0700, The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca>
wrote:

>On Fri, 16 Aug 2024 08:40:26 -0700, Paul S Person
><psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>
>>And who ever said Chrstian Nationalism had anything to do with Jesus
>>Christ, who clearly stated that his kingdom is /not/ of this world?
>
>All sorts of people since the Emperor Constantine in the early fourth
>century...

Well, they were wrong then, weren't they.

As to Constantine -- the Ancient World was very different from ours.
Every State had a religion which supported it. Constantine /changed/
the Roman Empire's religion from paganism to Christianity. He did not
change a secular state into a religiously-controlled one.

And the State the Apostle Paul required each man to be subject to was
/pagan/ Rome, long before Constantine. He asserted, then, that God
Himself instituted pagan Rome. Christians are to recognize any State
that punishes wrongdoers. And, since this is true of pagan Rome, it
follows that the State is not about enforcing any particular
religion's beliefs or religious laws. "Christian Nationalism" is,
then, at best a contradiction in terms -- and a worst an abomination
unto the Lord.

(The Lutheran viewpoint I was raised in was that God has two hands:
one hand is the Church, which wields a spiritual sword agains
spiritual forces; the other hand is the State, which wields a secular
sword against secular wrongdoing. The two are independent of each
other as both are doing God's will in different ways.)
--=20
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"