THE CHRISTIAN AFRIKANERS - The Works of F. N. Lee

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good the flow of history through time."If we do not fulfil our vocation today, we in South Africa run the same risk of ending up wherethe European churches have ended up -- churches with a tremendous past, but churches with nofuture. The new times in which we live ask of the Church new forms and new answers. That is onlypossible if we are redeemed from our neuroses and anxieties, and if we fearlessly move forward inthe grip of the love of Christ."Says Heyns: "The kingdom of God is thus not of the world. But it is indeed in the world. Actually,the world is under God's dominion. And signs of this already-present but still-future kingdom, arebeing erected everywhere men bow before the authority of God and His Word and where powersare being subdued by God's dominion. The appealing order of the kingdom means this world isconcerned not only with man, but with men who obey God with the realisation of His plan and Hisgoal which He has set for all things -- and within that, with us, our happiness, our service, ourfuture. It thus concerns infinitely more than just the salvation of man's soul -- even more than justthe salvation of the whole man. It concerns the fulfilment of a destiny shared by the entire cosmos-- namely, the honour and majesty and glory of God. Thus, obedience to the Ten Commandmentsbecomes one of the scores of signs of the tentatively present kingdom of God erected by men --when by their faith in the atoning merit of Christ, they launch out above all things and lay hold ofGod's original plan and ultimate destiny for man."I must now pass on, briefly, to mention at least the name of H.J. Strauss -- the Professor of PoliticalScience at the Orange Free State University. He has written many fine brochures -- such as those onHistory and Civilisation and Political Development and the Limited Franchise.And I must especially refer to his "multi-genius" son, Danie Strauss. Danie Strauss is the Professorof Philosophy at the Orange Free State University who replaced my doctoral promoter ProfessorKock after he suddenly died. Danie Strauss, a young man, is I believe just about the most brilliantman I have ever met. He seems to know a good deal about almost everything. For he seems to be anauthority on mathematics and all of the schools of mathematics; aesthetics and all of the schools ofaesthetics; and linguistics and all of the schools of linguistics. He has knowledge of languages. Hehas studied Greek and Hebrew, as an amateur, in a way that would put many Preachers to shame.His book on the relationship between philosophy and the special sciences is one of the mosttremendous and complicated books that I have ever read.After that big get-together at Potchefstroom University in 1975 I referred to earlier, when ChristianCalvinistic academicians at university level from nineteen countries met at the world's firstInternational Conference of Calvinistic Academicians, some of the American delegates (particularlythose from Calvin College) went back and said some extremely critical things about South Africaand her race policy. One of them, Woltersdorf, who subsequently became the President of CalvinCollege, went so far as to say quite rightly that now the Free University of Amsterdam was sinking,in his opinion, the future torchbearer of international Calvinism would (because of racism) not beSouth Africa but the United States and specifically Calvin College.At this point, Danie Strauss took up the cudgel. He pointed out that South Africa has far moreCalvinistic academies than the United States has right now. Woltersdorf was wrong to say thatSouth Africa's race policies disqualify her from playing the role as a viable leader of worldCalvinism. Strauss humbly said that South Africa knows her place in the world; knows that she canonly make a partial contribution to the world development of Calvinism. Yet her contributionwould hardly be inferior to that of the United States in general and Calvin College in particular asregards things Calvinistic. For in Strauss's opinion, the United States in general and Calvin Collegein particular were riddled with a much more deadly heresy than racial discrimination. They were,
he declared, riddled with the ungodly philosophy of pragmatism. That should disqualify CalvinCollege, in the opinion of any Calvinist anywhere in the world, from picking up the torch andcarrying it further!Strauss has written many books. He also wrote a critique of Dr. D.J. Malan's doctoral dissertationon A Critical Study of the Philosophy of Stoker from the Point of View of Dooyeweerd. And Straussseems to agree with Van Til in his appreciation of this doctoral dissertation.Says Strauss: "He who wishes to bypass the human selfhood in his faithful acceptance of revelationis engaged in putting an end to man's subjective (but not his subjectivistic) faith. Only the completeself-surrender of man to the central Scriptural basic motive, effects a radical conversion in the rootof our existence by Christ's directedness towards the heart. It is not revelation which engages inphilosophy, but it is man, and from his full selfhood under the control of some or other religiousbasic motive."Christian philosophy and the special sciences would only be grounded in subjective religion if it orthey exalted the full selfhood of man (whence all acts of thought arise) to the Archimedes' point ofphilosophy. So therefore Dooyeweerd writes, 'the Archimedes' point of philosophy is chosen in thenew root of mankind in Christ -- in which, by regeneration, we participate in our reborn selfhood."Here, Strauss is siding with the Van Til of 1940 against Potgieter. But at this particular point, andwith much respect, I myself side with Potgieter and with the Van Til of 1980 -- against Strauss andagainst the Van Til of 1940.Another very famous figure in modern South Africa, is Professor Adrio König, Professor ofSystematic Theology at the University of South Africa. UNISA you probably know, is the biggestcorrespondence university in the whole world. Now Adrio Koenig has written a number of goodbooks: I Am That I Am; and Here Am I; and also a very powerful eschatological book called OneWho Is Stronger. The latter is a vindication of the strength of Christ in this world, here and now,over Satan and the demons.Writes König: "When Paul in Colossians 2:15 uses the word 'triumphing' for Christ, it means thatChrist has conquered and bound the evil powers and is now marching victoriously throughout theworld. The only other time Paul uses this word triumphing (in Second Corinthians 2:14) is in theexpression, 'Christ causeth us to triumph.' There too it means that the worldwide mission is Christ'sgreat triumphal procession throughout the world -- to give everyone everywhere the opportunity tosee that Christ has conquered the enemy so that they too can begin rejoicing and celebrating thevictory together."That is the deepest meaning of the Church's missions. This is the meaning of Paul's declaration inSecond Corinthians 2:14 -- 'Christ always causes us to triumph' (or, translated a little more clearly,'Christ always causes ourselves to participate in His own triumphal procession'). The devil and hishordes have been demoted. Humiliated, all they can do is to run along like little dogs -- behind themissionaries, in Christ's worldwide victory march!"König also tells us that another connection should be indicated -- the connection betweenRevelation twenty and John 12:31. "Now here too," he says, "there is first of all an agreement in thewords. Derivatives from the same Greek word are used. John 12:31 declares that the devil is castout; and in Revelation 20:3 it is declared that he is cast into. This similarity of the word 'cast,' inboth places, however, goes much further -- especially if one compares the context in which the twopassages occur."
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THE CHRISTIAN AFRIKANERSA Brief His
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God richly bless the following lect
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There have always been, and always
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But the only one they both appeal t
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Now Zuidema was a very great Dutch
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Dutch churches at the Synod of Dord
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station -- to help the Dutch ships
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It is a country dedicated to freedo
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1760 -- there was more and more dis
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with the Dutch. Many moved farther
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said: "The British have placed our
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financed by White money. It is buil
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Famous Boer Generals, left to right
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Three: Unannihilated: the Resurrect
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(who had arrived in the country onl
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of success.I may add that White Sou
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General Beyers felt that those text
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Balfour Declaration. The gist of it
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Page 39 and 40: Four: The Eschatology of Victory in
Page 41 and 42: ide -- to use the instrumentality o
Page 43 and 44: Christian National Calvinist Public
Page 45 and 46: through constitutional process it h
Page 47 and 48: I guess the best way to describe Sm
Page 49 and 50: He was followed after his assassina
Page 51 and 52: So the Scots came. I am going to sp
Page 53 and 54: the Reformed Church in South Africa
Page 55 and 56: ook on Hebrews. But his greatest wr
Page 57 and 58: At that point, Du Plessis enquired
Page 59 and 60: Yet quite apart from this high view
Page 61 and 62: One last point. There is a tremendo
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Page 65 and 66: One of the most important Calvinist
Page 67 and 68: Pellissier, who wrote on music and
Page 69 and 70: perspective -- even while he minist
Page 71 and 72: ever encountered by the Whites in S
Page 73 and 74: Now the United States does not need
Page 75 and 76: majority of the White citizens are
Page 77 and 78: Now you will not find in any of Sto
Page 79 and 80: Finally, Stoker argues that the so-
Page 81 and 82: This then brings Stoker to another
Page 83 and 84: This Brummer just referred to, is a
Page 85 and 86: Man was to rejoice in this nature (
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Page 91 and 92: Van der Waal is a very brilliant So
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Page 97 and 98: glory.There are also Christian psyc
Page 99 and 100: Then there are Christian criminolog
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Page 105 and 106: people in South Africa. The South A
Page 107 and 108: nature and of human culture (Prover
Page 109 and 110: The parousia of Jesus Christ will i
Page 111 and 112: more and more christianised. Later
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THE CHRISTIAN AFRIKANERS - The Works of F. N. Lee

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