Dedicated to Miss Chrissy Harbin, whose views diverge with my own in so many ways but who continues to be a person with opinions I value and trust.
This morning, there was a Bible Study between services on Christian Public Policy: Does Such a Thing Exist? The startling answer: probably, but we can't agree on too many specifics.
The discussion first looked at defining the separation between church and state, namely that there should be one.
Relevant Passages (Since we're Lutheran, we consider God's Word a pretty good source on this):
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Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"
"Caesar's," they replied.
Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
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Romans 13:1-7
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
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Paul's letter to the Romans and Jesus' words here say that there should be a distinction between church and state. St. Augustine called these two cities.
The church is its own organization with its own rules and regulations, established to serve its own purposes (e.g., preaching Christ and him crucified), and the government is its own organization with its own rules, regulations, and purposes (e.g., provide for public welfare, common defense, secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity).
Put another way: Christianity isn't all that concerned with the speed limit on I-94, or CAFTA, or Card Check. It's concerned with sin, prophesy, redemption, evangelism, atonement, sacrifice, sanctification, grace, love, miracles, and salvation. Similarly, Congress does a good job creating the EPA, but can't do anything to protect your soul.
So, different roles, then. But what if those roles intersect? What if the government wants you to do something that God does not?
Relevant Passages:
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Acts 5:17-29
Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life."
At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.
When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, "We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside." On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.
Then someone came and said, "Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people." At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."
Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!
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Daniel 2:48-49, 3:1,4-6,8-12,16-18
Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel's request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court...
King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon...Then the herald loudly proclaimed, "This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language: As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."....
At this time some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, "O king, live forever! You have issued a decree, O king, that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold, and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, O king. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up."...
...Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
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Daniel also gets in trouble and is thrown into the lion's den for not toeing the religious company line. But he is one of the most powerful men in the government, as are his friends. So the principle here is clear: if the civil law of a government forces you to sin, you still shouldn't do it.
In the passage from Acts, a similar message. Even if the government prohibits righteous action, you still should do it.
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Veggie Tales Tangent
I watch a lot of Saturday morning cartoons. One of those was the ostensibly Christian-ish 'Veggie Tales', which (kind of) retells Bible stories using anthropomorphic vegetables. They even do a show about the Hebrews in the fiery furnace that I quoted above.
Except they change the story importantly enough that it loses all (Christian) meaning. Instead of forsaking the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, these talking tomatoes are required (against their will) to sing a song to a giant chocolate bunny about how eating candy is awesome. So, instead of being a story about incredible faith in God and His deliverance, it becomes a story about standing up to peer pressure. And eating less candy.
While technically a virtue, eating less candy is pretty far down on the ladder.
Does this watered-down-to-the-point-of-meaninglessness cartoon reflect an alarming trend among modern Christianity today to spout uncontentious platitudes that is poisoning our children?
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
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You may have noticed that we are still a long, long, long way away from anything resembling Christian Public Policy. So far we have just two boundaries: different roles, and obeying God rather than Jim Doyle.
Here's a third we discussed this morning: be adamant about following the civil portions of the ten commandments. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not give false testimony. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Of course, I felt this third boundary begged the question a bit. Would Moses have made the same distinction between civil and religious law that we do? Surely the question now becomes, "which of the ten commandments counts as civil law?". Until recently, it was illegal to do many things on Sundays. Adultery isn't a crime, either, though governments often use it as a grounds for granting divorces, so it is recognized.
Not only are these commandments important for us to follow, but we have some kind of duty and obligation to get other people to follow them, too.
Relevant Passage:
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Ezekiel 3:18-19
When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
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Now, that's an exhortation to the prophet Ezekiel to tell people what God told him. He's in trouble either way, so he might as well have the people of Israel be mad at him rather than God. Its application to government and Christian public policy is a little more tenuous, though.
The passage (and others) suggests that if I see people around me sinning, I am required to do something about it. This isn't incredibly controversial: if one person sees a murder in progress, most people would think it would be bad to not testify in court.
But this still isn't all that helpful. Take abortion as an example. Christians are required to do something about abortion, but what that something is isn't exactly clear. Ezekiel isn't supposed to go around with a glock and demand that the Israelites of his day shape up- he's just supposed to announce how angry God is. And whatever you think about abortion, it's very clear that Christians have announced how angry God is about it. But do we codify that into the civil laws of the United States of America? We still haven't had a whole lot of direction there, yet.
So that was about as far as the discussion this morning got. The last part we talked about was investigating John 18. Just a reminder of the important parts:
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Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"
"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"
Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
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The discussion said that Christians too often hide behind this passage to not get involved in politics. The passage establishes Jesus as a religious leader, not a political one (at least, not yet). It doesn't say that Christians shouldn't be politicians.
Overall, I felt that the discussion lacked a little rigor and clarity. Saying that Christians should speak out against murder doesn't logically entail that abortion is to be punishable by death. Jesus and St. Paul seem to have a dim view of government: compared to eternal salvation, it's small potatoes. But Christians are also supposed to "take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ".
So don't pay too much attention to government. Except when you should. Codify the Ten Commandments. Except for some of them. Don't speak for God through government. But do follow Christian principles even when you're not at church. Color me confused.
Barack Obama tried to lay out his governing philosophy as to where to draw the line in his book, "The Audacity of Bill Ayres". I don't feel like quoting it, but the basic premise was that Christians should not use religious arguments to write civil laws. The definition of human rights should be based on argumentation like whether a fetus has consciousness, or whether it can feel pain, or whether it will have a non-suffering-filled life, or whether it has 'agency'. It cannot be about a soul.
The governmental principles surrounding environmentalism should not be about stewardship or creation. They should be about sustainability, balancing industry and nature, or that the natural world has intrinsic value (provided that that value isn't put there by God).
Frankly, I find this disingenuous and, ultimately, ineffective. If my purpose is to enact environmental legislation, and my motivation is that God says we should be good stewards of the Earth, why should I translate that motivation into something more palatable for the general populace? Isn't that just, you know, lying? I don't really think that the aesthetic beauty of a tree is worth 20 utils, while the paper from that tree only provides 15. It's just a cloak.
Further, I just don't think that non-religious justifications for human rights are strong enough. Andrew Hanson and David Hume may think otherwise, but even non-Christian Thomas Jefferson wrote of a Creator giving people inalienable rights. If you have to invent a crypto-religious proxy-belief to convince other people, don't be surprised when that proxy-belief isn't as robust or convincing as the real thing.
Kind of like how Intelligent Design people are fence-sitters.
Why not mean what you say and say what you mean? If people don't like your environmental laws, they don't have to vote for you. If the court thinks you've violated the First Amendment, so be it.
I wish I could pack these ideas into Sunday morning only, Chrissy, but God's grace has few boundaries. So either kick the religious wackos out of your party, or come over to the Democrats with me. Don't you want to vote for a winner?
