For the last number of weeks I have been sharpening the kingdom edge of the sword of the Word of God in these blog postings. My intention has been to focus on what the Bible says about civil government, and what we have discovered has been shocking to many of us. However, I can always tell by the restlessness in my heart when it becomes time to switch our focus to the other edge of the sword—the gospel of the unconditional grace of God—and…
As we conclude our discussions on attempting to envision our country as officially a Christian one, you may have had one of the two following reactions to the changes I suggested: “This won’t work. It isn’t practical. To think that this is a workable plan is ridiculous. You could never get even a small percentage of the population to agree to such a scheme.” This is probably the reaction most of you had, and, of course, it is undeniably true. However, our task is…
As we continue to look at this question, we must keep in mind that this is not a call to set out on a project to achieve, a goal to reach, or an esoteric idea that only the enlightened have “seen.” No! This is nothing but a call for us to learn to think biblically about civil government (to “think like God thinks”). and to look again at presuppositions that have limited our vision of God’s plan. We discussed last week a few of…
Who would be a citizen if the United States of America were a de jure Christian nation? Currently, based on the 14th Amendment passed in 1868, all those who are born on United States soil, irrespective who their parents are, are citizens. Or, if they are born to at least one parent who is an American citizen, living outside the U.S., they are citizens. Citizenship is based on either the location of birth or the citizenship of parents. In the biblical pattern of the…
A nagging question continues to lie in the recesses of my mind and bug me: Why don’t I hear or read Christian leaders talk about the single basic issue in all of life—”Why are we all here on the earth?” Those of you who are regular attendees at my little weekly meetings at this blog know that the answer is unequivocally stated in Genesis 1:26-28, at the conclusion of the creation story: “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to…
In our investigation of a biblical civil government, I have tried to distinguish between the church and the state as two clearly distinct institutions, with two clearly different tasks, both separately accountable to God. The church’s job is to equip the saints to spread the gospel—the full-on, “nothing-left-to-do” grace of God in our relationship with Him, WHO IS ABOVE US. In that mission, the institution of the civil government is not involved in any way. The civil government, on the other hand, is to…
If you have read the past two postings on this blog, what do you think? Are there other possibilities for governing our biblical constitutional republic besides theocracy and pluralism? I can’t see any. If you have any ideas, let us know in the Comment section. It seems to me we are stuck with one of these two options for how we lay the foundation for that republic. We have seen the historical record of both political theocracy and religious pluralism, and its not a…
Let’s wander into the theological weeds just a little deeper today and look at the second option for the nature of civil government, other than political theocracy. It has been called “political polytheism,” or religious pluralism. A religiously pluralistic government is officially religiously neutral; no religion is favored over any other religion. All religions are officially given equal standing with the government, including no religion at all. This has been the lawful position of the United States since the Constitution was ratified in 1788,…
It is important that we don’t get lost in the theological weeds in these latest blog postings, and I have a feeling that may be the case. So, I want to take a brief moment to restate the big-picture into which our constitutional republic fits and why it is so important to always remember and live in light of this fact. Our 3-fold eternal purpose (Genesis 1:26-28 – to bear God’s image, rule over the earth, and be fruitful and multiply), influences everything we…
The biblical model for civil government, as pictured by the Hebrew Republic, looks strikingly like our constitutional republic. I posed the question at the end of last week’s posting—”What do these principles tell us about the kind of people who will be citizens in this nation?” How do they relate politically to King Jesus? Historically, there have been two possibilities, the first being a THEOCRACY. Since God created us to worship, we will worship! Even though we initially rejected the Triune God, who created…