Legislating
For God?
Is
it possible to have a truly
Christian society? Can Christians
impose their religious standards
onto a society which is fundamentally
irreligious? Should they
seek to do so? Can we reasonably
expect a government to legislate
in our favour at the expense
of oft downtrodden minority
groups?
Among
Christians there are different
worldviews regarding the
place of religion in society.
Evangelicals often tend
to be altruistic about
how to change a society
appealing almost exclusively
to the Gospel's power to
change hearts one by one.
Liberals tend to see the
role of Christianity as "Christianising" a
society through social
rather than moral reform.
Pentecostals have up until
recently ignored any reforming
role in society preferring
rather to be satisfied
with simply growing their
churches.
I
propose that each of these
views is inadequate.
WHAT
SHAPES OUR MICRO-WORLDVIEWS?
All
Christians share core elements
to our worldview. We interpret
life through a Biblical
perspective of Christ's
Lordship. For the Christian,
life is from Christ, with
Christ and for Christ.
We do not regard Christianity
as a religion as if it
were one of many available
in the spiritual shopping
mall for the enquirer to
choose from. We are convinced
that the Bible is God's
Word, Christ is His Son,
and that there is no other
name under Heaven whereby
any can be saved.
But
within this "macro" worldview
there are several Christian "micro" worldviews.
Some Christians have a
micro-worldview which regards
Christianity's influence
as merely spiritual and
that the best we can do
is convert a few in the
midst of a world becoming
increasingly wicked. There
is another Christian view
which is sometimes called triumphalism where
the end objective is world
of Christians, governed
by Christians, administering
Christians laws.
Both
micro-worldviews find their
basis in Scripture but
there is clearly a tension
between them. In the United
States of America the former
group are generally Dispensational
(although not all are),
and the latter group are
sometimes known as Reconstructionists.
I
am not proposing either
of these two views. Neither
am I proposing a syncretism
of them, as some have done.
But I am proposing a view
which some Christians may
confuse with either of
these two views.
CAN
LAWS MAKE BAD PEOPLE GOOD?
The
argument used against attempting
to "Christianise" a
society's laws is that
it is a futile attempt
at truly changing individual
hearts. After all, it is
argued, it is better to
have people wanting to
live right, rather than
being compelled to live
right. But this is a misunderstanding
of what Laws do.
Christians
should care deeply about
the kind of laws their
legislators enact. Laws
not only compel people
to live right, they set
the standard for what is
right and thereby serve
an educative role. Too
often Christians forsake
our macro worldview in
favour for the secular
worldview which says that
laws should reflect society
standards rather than set
them.
Can
Christians reasonably expect
that non-Christians should
live by laws which are
Christian? The answer is
twofold. Firstly, all Western
cultures have the Law of
God as the basis for their
Government's laws anyway.
Secondly, God's Laws are
the best laws and have
the added benefit of being
in our best interests both
individually and collectively.
Therefore
when a secular government
wants to overturn God's
Laws as the basis for its
laws in say for example
by allowing murder rather
than forbidding it, Christians
are literally honour-bound
to oppose such moves. Naturally
Governments don't call
it murder, they use smoke
and mirror language like abortion and euthanasia.
CAN
GOOD CHRISTIANS BE BAD
PEOPLE?
Before
Christians get carried
away with a notion that
we should strive to punish
our opponents through legislation,
or enforce Church attendance,
or ban other religions,
we need to acknowledge
that when Christians have
held legislative power
they have often does so
scurrilously. As a result
we have often forfeited
the moral authority to
govern. Equally as wrong
is when Christians have
attempted to rule rather
than govern. The former
tends to dictate while
the latter tends to administer.
Christians are not called
to replace God, but to
represent Him!
The
basis of our appeal for
God honouring legislation
must be restricted to the
Moral Law as defined in
the Decalogue (The Ten
Commandments) because even
good Christians can be
bad people if given half
the chance! These Laws
include prohibiting:
- compulsory
idolatry,
- the
inventing of false and
dangerous cultish groups,
- the
use of offensive language,
- the
hindering of reasonable
worship,
- disrespect
for parental authority,
- murder,
- sexual
abuse and deviancy,
- theft,
- misrepresentation
and fraud,
- the
viloation of human and
property rights.
The
above list is an adaptation
of the Decalogue. Attempts
to enshrine one religion
or particular denomination
as the "State" Church
have always proven futile.
The Church is not designed
to "rule" but to
help "govern" a
society. This demands prophetic
courage on the part of the
Church and a willingness
to engage legislators and
societies "apo-evangelisticalogetically".
We should by all reasonable
and God honouring means endeavour
to make a case for legislators
to honour God with all legislation.
Would
we then be legislating for
God? I hope so. Would this
make our societies Christian?
I hope so.
Dr.
Andrew Corbett, July 10th
2004
© Dr
Andrew Corbett, Legana,
Tasmania, Australia, www.andrewcorbett.net
