Through the years I often heard somewhat
naïve statements about how the world would only be a better place if it had a
Christian government. That is unrealistic. In time yes, not now.
It led me to a controversial question:
“Could our world or our society carry on indefinitely, if it functioned
righteously?”
No, I am not saying, “if it was
Christian”. Our lessons of Jewish and church history disqualify the viability
of a theocratic state, per se. Frankly the church needs to get its own house in
order.
Thus to argue that only a Christian
state is workable is as wrong as saying that any theocratic state would work
and endure, which history invalidates. Besides, theocratic states, as in say the Sharia model, tend to be intolerant and
repressive, rarely righteous. However, the secular state of Islamic Turkey has historically proven to a moral beacon in our world.
The Jewish categorization of morality in
Romans 5, sets “righteous” at quite a low level state of order, lower than the
“good” that describes those who far exceed moral expectations.
The first building block of a “righteous
state” is a sound constitution. That was the starting point for the Mosaic
dispensation and it arrived in the form of the ten commandments.
They were not regulations, but the
ground rules that provided the framework for all other laws.
The second great feature of the Mosaic
law, was that it applied to all universally. It showed no preference for nobles
or kings. The modern idea that the rule of the road only applies to those who
obey it or that politicians are above the law, will lead to ruin.
When leaders start to subvert a nation’s
constitution, as happened in Jewish history, corruption will ultimately lead a
nation to ruin and exile (alienation).
We inherited such models from ancient
times and saw them revived through protestant influences dating back to the
Magna Carta in 1215 or William Penn’s constitutional model for Pennsylvania,
but such models were only ever as good as the people they served.
The biblical church governance model
informed much of western social thought, specifically in the separation of
powers – as in an independent press and judiciary, divisions between the
executive and the legislature, and so on. In that context, separation of church and state should give the church a moral voice of suasion in a healthy society.
That to me is also critical to a
righteous state.
Beyond that, what so impresses me about
the Mosaic dispensation, was that it defined a common set of social values and
norms that applied to all, whilst allowing sub-cultures (tribes in their case),
to develop their own character.
I am all in favor of cultural
distinctions and respect for that, but a righteous state also maintains a
national ethos: a set of values that apply to all in the way we do life,
business, the traffic, respect for property, equity, justice, love of our fellow
man, and so on.
The highest order principles of the
Mosaic law were (a) to Love God, which can find sound social expression in
loving truth, (b) love your neighbor, without which our society will never be a
stable, sustainable thing and (c) honor family, which is one of the most
critical building blocks of any healthy society. Compromise of all three is at
the root of our decaying society.
The principles articulated above,
describe the basic minima that God implied, through scripture, as hallmarks of
a “righteous state”. Adam and Eve could have gone on indefinitely if they
obeyed one law, as could any society that sticks to the basic principles of a
righteous state.
How difficult is that? I long for a day
when brother will embrace brother under one flag and agree to embrace a shared
set of values that makes us one people, despite individual differences.
When a nation faces significant setbacks
like drought or economic challenges, should we then turn to God and pray about
that and use Him that selectively, or should we rather hear what He is shouting
at us and repent of our foolish ways to reclaim our heritage and fight for what
is right.
Those things are like "God's megaphone to arouse a deaf world" (C S Lewis), and we do well to humble ourselves when God wants our attention not our petitions.
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