Kingdom Edited Out

Another telling sign of our current led-astray, dumbed-down, and off-target versions of the Christian faith is: the kingdom of God also has been edited out of most, if not all, of today’s biblical-worldview or Christian-worldview presentations.

Yet in 1890-1891 James Orr, a leading theologian of his day, presented a series of lectures in Edinburgh, Scotland entitled The Christian View of God and the World. Orr listed nine specific areas covered by “the Christian view of the world.” His eighth area was described thusly:

(8) the founding of the Kingdom of God on earth, which includes the spiritual salvation of individuals and a new order of society (“the result of the action of the spiritual forces set in motion through Christ”); . . .(James Orr, The Christian View of God and the World (Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot, 1897), 32-34.)

In contrast, and in the most widely acclaimed, modern-day book on this subject, Understanding the Times: The Religious Worldviews of Our Day and the Search for Truth, author David A. Noebel compares and contrasts his conception of a Christian worldview with those of secular humanism and Marxism/Leninism. Paradoxically, Noebel lists Orr’s nine specific areas including #8 about the “Kingdom of God on earth” and its purpose of establishing “a new order of society.” But without explanation, Noebel drops the kingdom from his own biblical worldview presentation. Most likely, the reason for this exclusion is his eschatological position, which has no present kingdom in the world today. In this book’s “Revised 2nd Edition” several years later (2006), Orr’s whole worldview and kingdom component was totally edited out (David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times (Eugene OR.: Harvest House Publishers, 1991, 1995), 11).

Below are some other prominent examples of Christian worldview books in which there is no kingdom addressed or mentioned. John Noe compiled this list in preparation for a theological paper presentation at the 49th Annual Meeting of the Midwest Region of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2004. It was titled, “Restoring the Kingdom-of-God Worldview to the Church and the World:”

David K. Naugle, Worldview: The History of a Concept (Grand Rapids, MI.: Eerdmans, 2002.
David S. Dockery & Gregory Alan Thornbury, eds. Shaping a Christian Worldview (Nashville, TN.: Broadman & Holman, 2002.
J. P. Moreland & William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (Downers Grove, IL.: InterVarsity Press, 2003.
N. Allan Moseley, Thinking against the Grain: Developing a Biblical Worldview in a Culture of Myths (Grand Rapids, MI.: Kregel, 2003.
Ronald H. Nash, Worldviews in Conflict (Grand Rapids, MI.: Zondervan, 1992.

Dr. Naugle (above) also spoke at this meeting. He and Noe met and talked. During their conversation Noe asked him why the kingdom, which was the central teaching of Jesus, at the heart of his ministry, and the very essence of his worldview was not included in his (Dr. Naugle’s) book’s worldview presentation. To his credit, Naugle admitted this omission was a major deficiency and promised he would correct this error in a future revision. We do not know if Naugle has followed up on that promise.

Lastly, as we saw in “The Gospel”, in 2003 Christian researcher George Barna in a poll about who does or doesn’t have a biblical worldview—had no kingdom in his definition of a biblical worldview. In other words, Barna edited out or simply failed to include the central teaching and worldview of our Lord Jesus Christ (Barna Research Online, “A Biblical Worldview Has a Radical Effect on a Person’s Life” (www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PagePressRelease.asp.,) December 2003), 1-2).

Is it any wonder why we are in such a led-astray, dumbed-down, off-target mess?

Sources:

1 The Perfect Ending for the World by John Noe

2 A Once-Mighty Faith (future book – est. 2014-15) by John Noe