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

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?