Just Eat It!
Faith and Politics: Debunking the Lie – Part II
We Do Declare
The Declaration of Independence at its outset has two appeals that mention God. One is in the first paragraph to which it states:
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
In this they appeal to the right they have for the separation, namely that which is seen in nature and set about by God who is the power behind that nature.
The second mention comes very close thereafter:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Again, God is in
voked, this time as the Creator. God alone is presented as the progenitor of inalienable rights, not man or governments. When looking at this, we immediately see the presuppositions that were brought to the table:
1. There was a God.
2. There was one God.
3. That man was created by God.
4. God was the source of liberty, the ability to pursue happiness, and life.
So, from the beginning, God was the one these men appealed to form their political system. Furthermore, in the writing of the First Amendment, one of the rights that are protect
ed is that of religion:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exerc
ise thereof…
It is therefore apparen
t that God and religion is a part of the political system in as much that the nation was founded on the appeal to God and that person cannot be compelled by the government or law to go against their conscience which is based on their faith.
Conscience and the Law
True faith is one that permeates the life and conscience of an individual. As it says in the Bible in the book of James 2:17:
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Faith, when it’s genuine, shapes the conscience of a person. Not only this but it shapes their whole worldview. So, when a law, policy, or edict is passed in the political realm that is anathema to their faith, it’s also anathema to their conscience. This will force them to take an opposite view or different take based on their conscience which is shaped by their faith.
False converts and secularist perpetuate the lie that the two can be separated because they don’t have true faith. Faith is not only a belief in God or whatever you believe in. True faith translates into living in accordance with that faith, not just saying you have it but living in the exact opposite way your faith espouses.
In addition, the Moral Law (which God created), put within everyone, is a law that innately tells us what’s right and wrong. Though some may not have faith in God, they may form their beliefs in accordance with the Moral Law. This is then assimilated into their conscience as well. This explains how atheists can still do and believe things that are right.
So, any man or woman who is put in a political office will make, create, and support laws based on their conscience (or lack thereof) which is shaped by their faith whether that faith involves God or not. As such, politically, it’s impossible to abandon and separate your faith from your politics. They are inextricably tied together.
Faith and Politics: Debunking the Lie – Part 1
Faith and Politics: Debunking the Lie – Part 1
Here in the United States, there has been a big lie perpetrated throughout the country’s history that faith is to be separate from the public square and politics in general. We are now at a point where the faith of Christians is shunned, downplayed, and vilified by efforts of Godless people who hate not just Christians but faith in anything people call God. Yet, the founders of this nation didn’t believe that whatsoever.
On the other extreme, you have people who call themselves Christian who have given in to this lie and feel that the church of Christ shouldn’t have anything to do with politics and are even uncomfortable talking about such things with other Christians. Such an attitude is wholeheartedly unbiblical and quite frankly, selfish.
The Founders’ Beliefs
I’ve had videos of David Barton of Wallbuilders on here on the Truth Manifesto. He’s a historian who gives history as it was, not how secularist would like it to be. It is evident by far that most of the men who were signers of the Declaration of Independence were Christians (click here to watch the video). They placed a premium on freedom because God Almighty places a premium on freedom. That is why man has free will. God doesn’t force anyone to follow or believe on His Son Jesus Christ. He implores man to to turn to righteousness and He warns man that there are consequences for his decisions. But He doesn’t force man to choose anything.
William Penn wrote to the czar of Russia:
“If thou wouldst rule well, thou must rule for God, and to do that, thou must be ruled by him….Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.”
What we’re seeing today is what happens when a man’s freedom is threatened. Innately, man rebels against that which threatens a God given attribute whether they realize it or not. Though man’s reactions can be good or evil, his response is nevertheless the same.
Rodney King Syndrome
There are Christians who believe that the church being involved in politics is not right and we shouldn’t have any place there. We should simply preach the gospel. They suffer from the Rodney King Syndrome, a malady that is always crying, “Can’t we all just get along?” Any friction with others over political laws and policies is considered un-Christian or useless.
In the book Faith and Freedom, Mathew Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel, sums up the Christian attitude when it comes to faith, politics, and religious liberty:
I frequently encounter a great deal of apathy among Christians…Most would rather run than fight and lose their rights than struggle for them¹.
This attitude is not only utterly wrong in the sense that it’s unbiblical on all kinds of levels as I’ll outline soon, but the Founders themselves didn’t believe that by the sheer number of them that held seminary degrees and who were theologians. They understood as Staver commented:
The issue of religious liberty is not simply a legal right-it is the ability to continue to spread the gospel in a free nation¹.
Faith In Politics: A Primer
Because this subject is extensive, I’d like to just give a primer before we go further.
Understand that as Christians, our faith is what defines us if it’s true faith. Read that sentence over again because it’s pivotal in understanding the rest of what will be presented. It is the depth or lack thereof of our theology which will manifest through how we think and who we are. This is why God tells us:
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
¹ Faith and Freedom; Mathew D. Staver; 1995; Foreward, page XI
Hard Truth Podcast – Episode IV
In this episode, P.R.E.Z. takes a look at what’s going on in Arizona as well as discrimination at Eastern Michigan University against a Christian student.
The Truth Manifesto proudly presents a new podcast series dubbed The Hard Truth. It is a fifteen minute reflection on the news of the day from a conservative, Christian, and ultimately, biblical perspective. From politics to religion and culture, The Hard Truth presents all of these things in lay men’s terms, rooted in the Truth.
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