Should Christians seek a Theocracy?

In June of 2008, Dr. Del Tackett was confronted with the accusation that Christians are guilty of seeking a theocratic government in the United States. Dr. Tackett is the founder of the Focus on the Family Truth Project and maintains a blog at http://DelTackett.com. His blog is dedicated to learning to better articulate the Christian biblical worldview, just as mine does.

Does a biblical Christian worldview call us to seek for, or work toward, a “theocracy?” The word theocracy denotes the rule of God. I remember seeing another definition, however, which was better and stated that it is a form of government where the rulers claim to be ruling on behalf of a set of religious ideas, or as direct agents of a deity.

This last definition helps us to better understand the potential abuses of seeking a theocratic form of government. Those claiming to be acting as God’s agents could be, themselves deceived, while they deceive and rule as an oligarchy. Two thousand years ago, Christ criticized the elitist attitudes of the religious leaders calling them hypocrites and blind guides (Matt 23). The Pharisees claimed that they were shepherds of the flock, but only took care of themselves (Ez 34). So, it is understandable that some may be concerned. Is there any modern example of a theocratic government? How about Iran? Based on this modern example, we can further understand the apprehension of those who fear that the U.S. could become a theocracy.

In reading the documents and letters of our Founders, however, we find that they were generally influenced by a biblical Christian worldview when they developed our republican form of government rather than a theocracy. In addition, a historical study of America’s Christian ethics reveals that the country has been generous, even to its enemies, and generally tolerant to other cultures and religions. So, to claim that a biblical worldview in our government is damaging in some way is to misrepresent the truth.

We are in little danger of becoming a theocracy, but that does not mean that religious notions have no place in defining our politics. Right now, it seems that the reigning religious bent of our government is based on the religion of humanism. (Yes. Humanism is a religion!) And those who do not want Christians to have a voice are those of the religion of humanism, which makes their complaint disingenuous.

I, therefore, propose that the biblical Christian worldview does not call for us to seek for a theocracy as a method of public government. Dr. Tackett and Scripture teaches us that God has given us the sphere of the State for that purpose. For Scripture states:

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 (Rom 13:1).

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account (Heb 13:17).

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right 1 Pet 2:13-14).

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me (Mat 28:18).

Blessings.
Al

Charles Finney on Voting

"The Church must take right ground in regard to politics. . . . [T]he time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics. . . . Christians have been exceedingly guilty in this matter. But the time has come when they must act differently. . . . God cannot sustain this free and blessed country which we love and pray for unless the Church will take right ground. . . . It seems sometimes as if the foundations of the nation are becoming rotten, and Christians seem to act as if they think God does not see what they do in politics. But I tell you He does see it, and He will bless or curse this nation according to the course [Christians] take [in politics]." [1]

One hundred Forty years later, Finney's words still apply. If you are a Christian, vote like you are a God-fearing, Bible-believing Christian. If you are a Christian, you should not be voting with Satan. As the Word of God states:

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners

or sit in the seat of mockers. (Ps 1:1)

Between now and the November elections, I'll occasionally be commenting on the importance of voting for Biblical righteousness. This does not mean that I am promoting a theocratic government. (If you have questions about theocracy, go to Del Tackett's Truth Project blog.)

I'd like to hear your reasonable thoughts on this topic of voting like a Christian.

AL

1 Charles G. Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1868, first published in 1835), Lecture XV, pp. 281-282.

What is a Worldview?

What is a worldview? Some of you may not know of this important modern philosophical term. It is an accumulation of knowledge and beliefs by an individual or group which is used to determine the decisions that we make.

Why use the term "worldview"? Other terms have been used in the past, terms like "faith" and "religion." But these terms were too broad and often subject to misapplication and misinterpretation because of their connotive nature. A worldview, then, is the lens or filter through which we interpret the world and every principle of what is right or wrong with all individuals, families, cultures, and nations. For a study of various general worldviews, I recommend that you read The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog by James W. Sire. I'll present some key notions from the book in this article.

Sire states that a worldview can be expressed as answers to the following series of seven questions:
1 What is prime reality? (natural or supernatural)
2 What is the nature of the world around us? (determined (closed system) or free (open system))
3 What is a human being? (made in the image of God or a naked ape or
a machine)
4 What happens to a person at death? (extinction, transformation, or
reincarnation)
5 Why is it possible to know anything at all? (the Bible or social
evolution)
6 How do we know what is right and wrong? (God or human choice)
7 What is the meaning of human history? (finding purpose, making a paradise on earth, preparing for heaven)

Sire first suggests that the place to start in determining our own worldview is from an attitude of humility, by examining how we now live (p245). Socrates also suggested that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Sire, then, postulates that we can know something. The next step is to answer the seven worldview questions mentioned above with as much detail as possible. How can this data be judged? The answers can be logically analyzed using the three laws of thought, which are used to test worldviews for truthfulness. The first test is succinctly stated “identity,” and checks for inner intellectual coherence. That is, the worldview must not conflict with itself.

The second test of a worldview is that it must “comprehend the data of reality.” This means that historical and scientific fact; as well as human experience, must fit consistently with one’s worldview or must match the reality of what is.

The third and last test of a worldview is that it “should explain what it claims to explain.” For example, in Philippians 3:16, Paul exhorts young Christians to “live up to what they had already attained.” So, for one to have a suitable worldview, one should be able to live with it. This last one is called a "test for tensions."

How do you measure what is true? Do you believe everything you hear on the TV? Strangely, many Americans who profess to be Christians appear to identify with the cynical misrepresentations of truth presented by comedians Letterman and Leno. Are their truth claims valid and verifiable? Perhaps you are willing to compromise the truth for a laugh at someone else's expense.

Some claim that truth is relative. They believe that each person "has a right" to their own concept of reality. If this is so, however, release everyone that has been committed to an asylum or sentenced to prison, because they have only acted upon their own concept of reality. One man in my adult Sunday School class blurted out his agreement with the relativity of truth by saying, "I believe what I believe!" And he was a deacon in the church!

What is the matter with this kind of rationalization? If people only had themselves to rely upon in regard to understanding truth, or acquiring true knowledge, they would never be able to verify the credibility of their beliefs. If one begins and ends in his intellect, he would have to know everything to be certain and right about everything!

My career as a government consultant often led me to operate in the field of engineering, which requires work with scientific data (the seen or natural realm). I have often had to reference sources from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in order to have a reasonably calibrated starting place for measurment. Consider a race where there is no starting line, but the runners can position themselves anywhere along the track. How credible will the results of that race be?

The testing of ideas in the moral realm (unseen) is similar to that of the seen realm. There needs to be a foundation or an absolute from which to examine all thoughts. Absolutes are fixed, unchangeable, and uniform, and offer proper descriptions of reality. God has revealed these absolute moral truths in the Scripture from which we can judge the correctness of ideas and the validity of worldviews. In the final analysis, truth is always a proper description of reality, whether we are discussing moral truth or scientific truth.

Are you ready now to test the validity of your own worldview? And if you find there are parts of your worldview that are not valid, are you willing to repent?

Movie Review: WALL-E

My son, Jeremy, and I went to see the movie WALL-E on Saturday, June 28th. It was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with him and discuss how the events in the movie moved us. There were so many themes introduced that it will take some time to digest them all. I will, therefore, only touch on a few of themes here in this writing.

I have to mention my emotional reaction to the good character WALL-E exemplified. Like the advanced robot, Eve, I fell in love with WALL-E. How do you relate to a trash compactor? You make the machine an anthropomorphic underdog with a lot of personality and the capacity to show love. According to the story, this little robot had carried out his programmed duties for 700 years while others of his kind had long-since broken down. Oh, that we should be so faithful!

WALL-E resourcefully collected and stored away spare parts for himself - a practice of planning ahead for the future that helped him to “resurrect” at the end of the movie. S ee Matthew 6:20 about the importance of storing up treasure in heaven. In the end, WALL-E was a true hero, willing to sacrifice his own life for others. He, therefore, represents a type of Christ.

Finally, allow me to address how people were portrayed. In the story, they had abandoned earth, leaving because all of the natural resources had been used up and the planet was no longer capable of supporting life (with the exception of one lone cockroach). People on this giant spaceship sat in floating deck chairs, watched TV continuously, and were completely attended to by robots, who made sure that people always had a milkshake or soda in their hand. So, it should come as no surprise that the people all looked like fully inflated balloons and unable to stand or walk without great strain.

Reading other blog entries about the movie, I found that some people were insulted that people were represented as indulgent slobs. I think Pixar was actually being kind. Scripture teaches how people are. We all have sinned (Rom 6:23) and the devil has deceived those who are perishing (2 Thes 2:10). In the movie, it was revealed that all the people on the spaceship were deceived by the automatic pilot, who kept them in a type of bondage. It makes me wonder, "Are we in bondage? Have we been deceived?" Personal and patriotic pride leads me to deny these things. In John 8:33, we hear the same response of proud Pharisees who objected that Jesus implied that they were slaves. Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." Are we ready to hear the truth? Many Americans today have become apathetic by the media negativity, church-goers are intellectually lazy, and we are also guilty of calorie-rich overindulgence.

Over 2000 years ago, our Lord told parables to help make people think and repent. Today, he is using another parable about how a brave little robot named WALL-E shook people back to reality and gave them an example to embrace responsibility for our world. If you've seen the movie, maybe my perspective will help you see it with new eyes.

How many other biblical themes can you find in this story?

- Al -