As a Christian in the United States, I have enjoyed the religious freedom afforded me by the law of the land. For centuries, that law has been essentially governed by men and women following the idea of Christendom: a nation established in large part by professing Christians motivated by Christian values to accomplish Christian Purposes (Driscoll, 2013). I have been very fortunate to live in such a society with leadership submissive to and respectful of the one, true God. It would be myopic to say that the government will continue to support those ideals based on the intent of this country’s founders. In fact, recent events indicate the opposite. Despite these recent events, the following truths remain for all of the Christian Faith.
Man is sinful. In recently moving to a new home, Harmony and I have been battling the vines that apparently hold Florida together. In my toil to remove the vines, I remember the fall of man.
“…cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground…”
-- Genesis 3:17-19
God, therefore, set out from the beginning showing us how we quite literally reap what we sow. He defines right and wrong. While the government is critical to shaping a civilized society. The government in no way has the authority to define what is right and what is wrong. For example, in Romans, Paul elaborates on right and wrong.
“They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.”
-- Romans 1:29-31
While some of those things are illegal, a vast majority are quite frankly human nature. Therefore, Christian life supersedes the law of the land. We have brothers and sisters persecuted for their faith in this world today. Our laws have been fortunate to reflect the ideologies of the Christian faith, and as that is under attack, we must not waiver.
“If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, […] But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” -- Joshua 24:15
The trivial and temporary things of this life are exactly that. Those that seek freedom in sin need the freedom from sin that Jesus affords.
Jesus conquered sin. God is in control, and despite man’s sin, we follow Jesus who conquered sin. No matter our circumstances, no matter the cost, no matter the culture, our job does not change: Love God, Love others.
Despite what the law says, we love. Despite what the sin is, we love. We are in this world and not of this world.
Our society is no longer governed by Judeo-Christian ideals.
Christendom is dead.
HOWEVER!!
God is almighty. No government, no legislation, no court decision, no group given power by man can conquer the authority and power of the almighty God.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” -- Revelation 1:8
Christ is not defeated, God is not vanquished, and our job is still the same.
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”
-- Hebrews 13:6
No comments:
Post a Comment