{"id":35198,"date":"2018-06-28T06:00:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T10:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=35198"},"modified":"2018-06-27T13:17:30","modified_gmt":"2018-06-27T17:17:30","slug":"the-created-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2018\/06\/the-created-order\/","title":{"rendered":"The Created Order"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The doctrine of creation means more than opposing evolution.\u00a0 It teaches that there is a \u201ccreated order\u201d that we belong to.\u00a0 As Christians wrestle with the controversial issues of our day, we often forget this fact.<\/p>\n

So says Breakpoint writer and Patheos blogger G. Shane Morris in his post\u00a0Rules Without Reasons: Why the Culture Is Eating Evangelicals for Lunch<\/a>.\u00a0 He asks, \u201cIs there a discernible moral and social order built into creation, as the old Christian theologians thought\u2014an order which Christ came to this world to restore and glorify\u2014or do the graces of salvation and special revelation abolish the natural order in favor of something unprecedented?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The implications of how we answer this are far-reaching. For instance, do we need explicit statements from Scripture to reach certain moral conclusions, or are these conclusions evident in nature and accessible via reason? Do we need chapters and verses condemning women in military combat roles, LGBT \u201cspiritual friendships,\u201d masturbation, or surrogacy, or can we reach conclusions about these things by reasoning from the created order? Catholics have historically said \u201cyes,\u201d producing a rich body of natural theology that gives moral guidance (however imperfectly followed) to members of that communion. I suggest most evangelicals, by contrast, can\u2019t answer this question, or else they will answer it in the negative, believing that the doctrine of\u00a0Sola Scriptura\u00a0<\/em>requires them to \u201cremain silent where Scripture is silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

To offer a more controversial example, evangelicals who see my social media posts about intentionally childless couples often reply that not everyone is \u201ccalled to parenthood.\u201d There is a superstructure of philosophy and assumptions buried beneath that sentence. It implies a theology of marriage as an essentially companionate institution which is fulfilled without even the intention of being fruitful. It also implies that parenthood is a supernatural, rather than a natural calling. Instead of being a major part of the\u00a0telos<\/em>\u00a0or purpose of marriage, it is an optional side-quest to which God may summon a couple via new revelation. For many evangelicals today, there is no prior mandate evident in creation to reproduce, or for that matter, to do or refrain from doing much of anything. Roles, duties, and moral facts which generations of Christians before us would have seen as self-evident now puzzle evangelicals, who take the view that whatever the Bible doesn\u2019t forbid is allowed.<\/p>\n

This puts them in awkward postures when it comes to arguing against things like same-sex marriage. After all, if we have already embraced the companionate model of marriage, what is the difference between two intentionally childless heterosexuals and two necessarily childless homosexuals? It\u2019s hard to make the case that marriage, shorn of its procreative\u00a0telos<\/em>, is something of which complementary sexes are uniquely and exclusively capable. This is one of the main reasons we evangelicals have lost the cultural and legal wars on this issue. We already accept many of the culture\u2019s premises, and have little besides special revelatory fiat with which to answer the inexorable chant of \u201cmarriage equality!\u201d<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . . ]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note the confusion about the doctrine of vocation that Shane draws our attention to.\u00a0 \u201cCalling\u201d is not a feeling or inclination.\u00a0 It reflects reality in the here and now.\u00a0 If you want to be married, that is not in itself a vocation for marriage.\u00a0 If you get married, then you have the vocation of marriage.\u00a0 If you have children, then you have the vocation of father or mother.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m intrigued by the distinction he makes between the \u201ccompanionate model of marriage\u201d and, I suppose it would be called, the \u201cprocreative model of marriage.\u201d\u00a0 The vocation of marriage, of course, involves both finding a companion (a \u201chelpmeet\u201d) and establishing a family with the purpose of having children (being fruitful and multiplying).\u00a0 If the latter proves impossible, that does not negate the vocation of marriage.\u00a0 Nor does problems with being \u201ccompanionate\u201d negate the vocation, contrary to the divorces on the grounds of incompatibility.<\/p>\n

Shane goes on to apply the principle to other issues.\u00a0 Many Christians reason like this:\u00a0 \u201cThe Bible doesn\u2019t say anything about transgenderism, so there can\u2019t be anything really wrong with it.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThe Bible says that women shouldn\u2019t be pastors, but that means they can be anything else, including warriors in combat.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThe Bible forbids sex outside of heterosexual marriage, so as long as the couple is celibate, they can be part of the gay lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

As opposed to thinking about these issues in terms of what is natural<\/em>\u2013that is to say, not wildlife and wilderness, but what conforms to reality<\/em>, to the created order.<\/p>\n

Catholicism is all about the \u201cnatural law.\u201d\u00a0 Protestants have held various positions about the natural law, usually seeing it as no substitute for the revelation of Scripture, but applicable to this-worldly considerations.<\/p>\n

Lutherans, as I understand the issue (correct me if I\u2019m wrong), hold to natural law as applying to God\u2019s temporal kingdom, which includes His created order and civil righteousness.\u00a0 God\u2019s eternal kingdom is brought about not by Nature but by His Word, which conveys Christ\u2019s redemption.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is Shane\u2019s analysis too \u201cCatholic\u201d?\u00a0 Does he hold sufficiently to \u201csola Scriptura\u201d?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illustration by William Blake,\u00a0 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The doctrine of creation means more than opposing evolution.\u00a0 It teaches that there is a \u201ccreated order\u201d that we belong to.\u00a0 As Christians wrestle with the controversial issues of our day, we often forget this fact. So says Breakpoint writer and Patheos blogger G. Shane Morris in his post\u00a0Rules Without Reasons: Why the Culture Is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":35210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15,16,33,35,47],"tags":[7226,7220,7223,787,1542,1919],"class_list":["post-35198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-ethics","category-family","category-nature","category-philosophy-2","category-theology","tag-biblicism","tag-created-order","tag-doctrine-of-creation","tag-evangelicalism","tag-natural-law","tag-roman-catholicism"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Created Order<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Evangelicals often look for Bible verses in addressing controversial issues, rather than applying Biblical teachings about the created order. 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