Monday, November 23, 2009

The Separation Of Church And State - Call and Response

In response to this post from Midnight Rider, and in response to the following comment of "Church Defender" from this thread, I post the following:

Church Defender said...
When a Muslim rapes a Christian, we do not resort to barbaric form of justice. We listen, we weigh, then we uphold the rules of the law. We dhimmis are more civilized then.

As a Church Defender, I'm sure you are aware that God split the role of King and Priesthood. In other words, God Himself ordained the Separation of Church and State, which was later articulated in the very first Amendment of our Bill of Rights in the American Constitution;

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...

This is wisdom because MAN SHOULD NOT THINK HIMSELF WORTHY TO MAKE WAR IN THE NAME OF GOD.

We are told we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. This means we are to be cognizant of the fact that our decisions are not made in the name of God, but that they are our decisions, made by our own Free Will, with which He created us, and which he was willing to die for, rather than turn us into automatons, or wipe us out.

Our decisions are our decisions. They can be advised by the Word of God, Prayer and Meditation, but ultimately they are our decisions and our decisions only.

There is no blanket commandment to war in the Bible, as there is in the Koran. Our Word from our Creator is not a simplistic, childish, Satanic rant, as is the Koran.

Therefore, when we go to war it is not Holy. War. In fact, all war is the direct result of the state of sin born in man's mind. We are at war in our minds and, therefore, war is made manifest in the world.

We would be very wrong to think we could make war in God's name.

That does not, however, mean it is wrong to make war.

God wants us to make decisions, for Good or ill. He sent His only begotten Son to die for, not only our sins, but so that we could have a way of Salvation which allows for the mistakes we make with our Free Will. God loves those who choose. He loved David, as "a man after His own heart." God loved David, not because he was perfect - which he clearly was not - but because he believed in God so much that he was willing to make his own to decisions. David was manly enough to read, pray, argue with God, and then make his own decisions.

One day we, as a nation, will come to a place where we will have to make a decision about whether to succumb to this existential threat, or to, sadly, go to war against it, and kill many, many people; people who are also human beings created in God's image.

That is a fearful proposition, but I must say, I lean towards making the decision to go to war sooner than later.

UPDATE: I want to clarify this; I do think Christian leaders ought to be leading the fight for Western Civilization. (Read this: "Why The Christian Church Must Take On The Battle For Western Civilization" by Pastorius)

However, I don't think mere human beings ought to take it upon themselves to make war in the name of God.

Instead, Christian leaders should make it clear that it is in the name of fighting against Evil (such as the murdering of Christians and Jews, for the crime of being Christians and Jews) that we fight.

This may sound like a distinction without a difference, but once again, I point to the fact that we were created with Free Will. And, it is incumbent upon us to use that Free Will and accept responsibility for the things we do, not to take the coward's way out and blame our action, for good or ill, on God.

God gives us guidance. We make decisions. God provides us with what we need. We decide what to do with what He provides.

3 comments:

Epaminondas said...

Ironically the longer we take to go to war, the more people will die, and the less reason we will have to hesitate or feel remorse later on.

But we should not mistake what we are doing ... we are behind in the 7th and coming up against a weak bullpen are Jeter, Damon, Texeira, A Rod and Matsui. It means we SHOULD triumph, but sometimes you just strike out.

Anonymous said...

Christianity was BEFORE islam was 'born'....
Christians OWNED properties in the mid East BEFORE islam was ever 'born'....
Christians USED to fight....those usurpers of the FAITH ...
Christian leaders USED to do battle w/ islam-ie: Jefferson - Madison--w/ the barbary pirates....
thus the battle song w/ words :
"From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli" ...

It's time....
C-CS

Pastorius said...

CS,
That's a point I should have made in the above post.

I DO think Christian leaders ought to be leading the fight for Western Civilization.

However, I don't think they ought to take it upon themselves to do it in the name of God. They ought to make it clear that it is in the name of fighting against Evil (such as the murdering of Christians and Jews, for the crime of being Christians and Jews).