This is the RU-vid channel of the Reformed Church Tshwane. We are a Christian church in Pretoria (South Africa) seeking to hold fast to the teaching of the apostles as confessed in the Ecumenical Creeds and the Reformed Confessions. Made up of a wide range of people, we have in common the fact that we love, trust and serve Jesus Christ, and through him know God as our Father.
I agree that the Gospel must be advanced by the preaching of the Gospel. I also agree that we don't want to advance the Gospel by the point of the sword. It leaves one at a little of a quandary. And i wonder if this is not as a result of Christians dividing the powers of Church and State in ways they should not - please bare with me on this. As I am open to discuss this. Civil Government will only make laws based on the religion of the majority of persons that make up that Government. When Christian people or people that hold to Christian values (God's laws) are the majority as has been the case at times in history then laws against adultery, abortion, slavery, etc were legislated even blasphemy and honouring the Lord's Day were established. Why can this not be done? As Christians have retreated from Civil Government as we bought into the idea of separation of Church and State and others became taken up with "We are living in the last days" we as the Church as Christians have lost our influence on society. We have become tasteless salt. Why should humanistic religion get to enforce their religious values and Christians and specifically Christians in Civil Government not make and enforce laws that would be applied with or in true righteousness and justice result in Civil Government for the glory of God and the very best Government for the people of that nation?
Only two political parties made their support for capital punishment clear in the lead to May 2024 elections. Unfortunately the African Christian Democratic Party did not. Choosing rather to support the idea of no parole for serious offenses
So very grateful for your making the distinction between natural law and revealed law. Your prayer at the end of the talk encourages my support for the idea of Christian people working with or in the Government of National Unity
From this talk I would like to ask the following I agree that we should pray for Government as per Timothy 2:2 would be great to see the people sitting as politicians become Christians, Could we not also pray that God would help us equip Christians to be politicians? I mean it would be better to have mature Christians with a Christian Worldview take seats in Government at National, Provincial and Local levels. Instead of trusting new believers (politicians) to suddenly govern in accordance with the Scriptures. Also with regards resistance to tyranny what thoughts on the "The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates"?
Hi Judah You can check out our website or more details. We are not part of the NG Kerk but we are in the GKSA (Reformed Churches in South Africa) and we subscribe to the Three Forms of Unity (the same confessions which the NG Kerk officially holds).
@@rctshwane thank you for your reply. If it is not an inconvenience, may I ask how the GKSA is different in regards to the Dutch Reformed Churches (NG Kerk) ? I have tried to research, but I can't seem to find much of a difference. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
@@judah.miguel Hi Judah. One of the key differences is hermeneutics and the manner in which we view the confessions. In the GKSA we study the Bible as God's Word making use of the grammatical-historical hermeneutic. The Bible is truth from above (revelation) that is time directed and applicable also for us today, not human experience of God that is time bound and no longer relevant. In terms of the confessions, we subscribe to the Three Forms of Unity because (quia) they agree with Scripture and not as far as (quatenus) they agree with Scripture. Of course there is more to be said, you are welcome to contact us at refchurchtshwane@gmail.com if you want even more information on the differences. We can send you document that details the history of the DRC (NK Kerk) and when then GKSA separated from the DRC and why.
If you listen to the devotion, we affirm that civil government is subject to God's moral law (The Ten Commandments) and that the manner in which they are to apply the first and second table of the law is somewhat different. If you want to reflect further on how old covenant law is to be applied today, then see the series/playlist we did on 'Interpreting Old Covenant Law.' We don't want to pick and choose laws as we see fit, we want to be responsible in our interpretation and we believe that all of Scripture continues to be relevant even if application for us might be different from what it was for those who originally received it/lived in the time of the old covenant.
@@rctshwane So if all of Scripture is relevant where do we stand on buying and selling human beings as Slaves? Or illogical and fatuous prohibitions against same sex attraction?
@@StudentDad-mc3pu This is a link to the video/devotion which covers the prohibition from Leviticus: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4Hl0i5zCAhk.html On the topic of slavery, there are plans to do a series in the future that focuses in more detail on slavery in the Old Testament.
@@rctshwane There is simply no justifiable moral law that prohibits same sex relationships - such an arbitrary prohibition by any government would constitute an act of oppression that would be itself immoral. Neither do governments punish adultery. Using our minds we can determine that since same-sex attraction is not a choice, causes no harm and is a natural status of some humans, it can not be morally wrong.
@@StudentDad-mc3pu Morality is determined by God, not our idea of what is appropriate or not. Since we believe the Bible to be God's Word, we submit to what the Bible would teach us about right and wrong. In the 10th commandment, we are told that God's law impacts not only our actions but also our desires. Jesus himself affirms the same in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Matthew 6:27-28) and elsewhere (Matthew 15:18). Whenever our desires are out of sync with God's purposes for creation (e.g. Genesis 2:23-24), then those desires are contrary to God's will and not appropriate. We all have sinful desires as a result of the fall and the sinful nature we have inherited from Adam. Christians make it their aim to fight against sinful desires rather than to indulge them or justify them (cf. Romans 8:12-13).
