Sunday, February 22, 2009

Ideas Have Consequences

By Rev. Paul Michael Raymond
The Covenant News ~ February 12, 2009

Ideas Have Consequences. Every human decision, every individual action and every political, economic or social policy is generated by a predetermined idea, or presupposition. Philosophically speaking this may be called ‘presuppositional analysis’. Every living human being analyzes the world around him or her from an already existing preconceived conception. The most common label for this approach to understanding the world around us is called “a Worldview.” Everyone, without exception, has a world view based upon what they believe. While ideas in general have consequences, and therefore become the determining factor of individual and social life, theological ideas have tremendous consequences.

In the life and structure of our nation, and even in the life of our local community, theology is the foundation of law and public policy. It is now, it always was, and will forever be, the determining factor of every decision, both public and private. Every human being holds to some theological form or structure. From the atheist to the orthodox Christian, including every belief-system in between, mankind is bound by his religious presuppositions and thus acts accordingly. It is man’s religious presupposition which determines his ideas. In turn, those ideas result in his actions. This is also a basic fact in the realm of the national and political realm. Politicians and legislators will always vote according to their theological presupposition and particular worldview. All positive, man-made law and public policy is, therefore, a direct reflection of man’s theological belief. A culture’s law is the public testimony of that culture’s god. To know a nation’s laws, is to know that nation’s god.

To serve any god is to obey his laws. Since every religion holds to a god, or a variety of gods, it follows that every religion holds to the laws of its particular god or gods. In the ancient world of paganism these gods would not only dictate laws, but also the society’s governmental and political structure. These gods would also furnish all commercial codes, loyalties, sexual practices and family laws. To accept a god was to follow that god’s set of laws. If a nation were conquered by another nation the subjugated nation would be forced to accept the gods of the stronger nation. Thus, when a nation was conquered, the gods of that nation were also conquered. If there were alliances forged between two nations the gods and the laws of those god’s would be merged to form a new “cultural blend”. There has never been, nor will there ever be a separation between religion and state since every law structure is a testimony of the establishment of religion. At issue is not whether religion or God should be factored into legislative policy but rather which religion or god should be factored in as valid in the affairs of societal life and governmental structure.

The question then must be asked. “Which god does our nation actually serve?” “Which god does America seek to set upon the throne of Sovereign Authority so as to obey his laws and bow to his jurisdiction?” It was the original intent of the colonist, our true Forefathers, the Puritans, to establish a God fearing, Christ honoring society which would not only regard the Holy Scripture as true, inerrant, infallible and finally authoritative in matters of life and public policy, but to establish Him as the only legitimate, universal Sovereign in all matters of life and faith. The God of early America was the God of the Holy Scriptures, the Christian God of History. It was this God Who’s Law was supreme in the spheres of economics, politics, social action, family and individual life, science, faith, domestic and international affairs, and especially education. And it was upon the Laws of this God, and this God alone, that our nation became a nation of Godly Liberty and prosperity.

So again it must be asked, “Which god does our federal, state and local government serve?” While the overall population of America claims allegiance to some form of Christianity, and while the majority of this group claims some affiliation with a local church, it is the application of Biblical jurisprudence which is rarely sought in matters of public policy. Christian orthodoxy as well as Christian ethics is now being overtly, even violently suppressed in the realm of society, and a modernistic, postmodernism is replacing it. It is time to understand why, and to embark upon the means to remedy this malady if America is to be assured of God’s blessing and her freedom from tyranny.

Throughout every age, the church had to confront its culture. Any and all tensions brought by the culture, when a departure from orthodoxy evidenced itself, had to be swiftly and Biblically addressed. The church could not ignore its culture, for to do so, would mean its certain doom to Ecclesiastic irrelevancy. Moreover, the church had been called by God to co-exist with the state in matters of sovereignty. It was not to rule over the state, neither was the sate to rule over the church, but they were to rule together with various spheres of jurisdiction that would not conflict, but rather harmonize with one another. This sphere authority jurisdiction is what is actually meant by the idea of “separation of church and state”. Historically, the church either advanced the cause of righteousness and equity in the Name of the Crown Right of the Lord Christ, or it succumbed to the cultural shift, only adding in the culture’s demise and disintegration. What America must understand is that once the church either apostasies from the Truth of God’s Word, or retreats from her juridical role of theological and ethical oversight; the culture begins its swift decay.

According to G. Edward Veith, “Every age has had its eager-to-please liberal theologians who have tried to re-interpret Christianity according to the latest intellectual and cultural fashion. Enlightenment liberals had their rational religion and the higher criticism of the Bible; romantic liberals had their warm feelings; existentialist liberals had their crises of meaning and leaps of faith; there is now a postmodern liberalism.”

And yet throughout every age, historic Christianity, (the Christianity we now call Protestantism, Calvinism and Puritanism), countered their erring culture by clearly and boldly proclaiming the Righteous Truth of God’s absolute Law and Gospel to society’s inadequacies and rebellion.

It is time for every Christian layman and every church leader to Biblically, and honestly analyze the day in which they live; firstly, by calling the liberal church into account; secondly, by Biblically assessing the cultural data; and finally by refusing to accept this culture uncritically. To accept an anti-Biblical culture, and the policies and practices of its elected leaders without critique, is to fall headlong into . . .

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