CAN WE LEGISLATE MORALITY?
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CAN WE LEGISLATE MORALITY?
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Read this thought-provoking excerpt from a message by Steven Cole given in 2013, “Christ: Lord of Our Politics.”
So while the gospel is our main focus, electing officials who will enact laws or appoint judges in line with Christian values is important. The gospel is essential for lasting change, but God has also ordained that righteous laws protect our society. Thus the relationship between church and state is not one of total separation nor one of total identification. Rather, it is education and confrontation. The Church must educate and confront the state on matters of morality and justice.
In the Old Testament the prophets called the kings to account on these matters. In the New Testament, John the Baptist and Jesus confronted the religious and political leaders. The Apostle Paul confronted Felix, the governor, concerning righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come (Acts 24:25).
This brings up the difficult question: How far can we push Christian morality (legislatively) in a secular society? During the colonial days, some states punished people who traveled on Sunday. I remember going into grocery stores in Texas in the late sixties where you could not purchase certain items on Sunday. Obviously, we don’t want to go that far (most of us would be guilty!). A few (thankfully, not many!) advocate imposing the Mosaic Law on our culture, including stoning adulterers, homosexuals, and rebellious children. But how far should we go?
I do not have all the answers on this! Wayne Grudem does an admirable job of addressing an extensive list of specific issues: protection of life (abortion; euthanasia; capital punishment; self-defense and gun ownership); marriage (including incest, adultery, homosexuality; polygamy; divorce; pornography); the family (including child-rearing and education); economics (including taxes; Social Security; health care); the environment (including global warming); national defense (including war; pacifism; homosexuals in the military); foreign policy (including immigration); freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and, a number of other special topics, such as affirmative action, farm subsidies, the National Education Association, Native Americans, and gambling.
Obviously, I can’t begin to deal with all of these specific issues here, but I want to lay out a few guidelines. (I’m relying on theologian John Warwick Montgomery, Christianity Today[1/23/81], pp. 60, 63; although I’ve modified his approach slightly.)
(1). WE MUST DISTINGUISH BETWEEN BIBLICAL MORAL ABSOLUTES AND GRAY AREAS.
Abortion is clear-cut. I do not see how any Bible-believing Christian can argue in favor of abortion, except to save the physical life of the mother. On other issues (economics, the environment, foreign policy, etc.), committed, godly believers differ. On such gray areas you may argue for your position as a Christian citizen but have the grace to acknowledge that other godly Christians disagree. Also, prioritize your issues. Some things, such as outlawing abortion, save human lives. Other issues, such as divorce laws or environmental issues or economic policy, may be important, but not as crucial as saving the lives of unborn babies.
(2). WE MUST NOT SEEK TO LEGISLATE EVEN BIBLICAL MORAL TEACHINGS WHERE THE VALUE OF THAT TEACHING WILL BE RECOGNIZED ONLY BY THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY ACCEPTED CHRIST AS LORD AND THE BIBLE AS GOD’S WORD.
We don’t want to prosecute blasphemers or adulterers, even though such things violate God’s law. To force unbelievers to abide by such laws would be counter-productive in the long run in that eventually people would rebel against Christianity and cast off all influence of the church. This happened with Prohibition.
(3). WE SHOULD STRIVE TO LEGISLATE ALL SOCIALLY VALUABLE MORAL TEACHINGS OF SCRIPTURE WHOSE VALUE CAN BE MEANINGFULLY ARGUED FOR IN A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY.
Laws against abortion; laws protecting women, the handicapped, and the elderly; laws against pornography and child abuse; can all be argued for on the grounds of broad social appeal, even for the non-Christian. Our reason for arguing for such laws is because God’s Word is clear on these matters. But these and many other values can be agreed upon by a broad coalition of people, many of whom would not accept Christ as Lord or the Bible as God’s Word. If we argue these issues on the basis of scientific, social, and ethical grounds (such as the Golden Rule) which even the non-believer can accept, then if the matter becomes the law of the land, the unbeliever who disagrees with it is less likely to feel that a particular religion has been forced upon him.
(4). IN THE POLITICAL ARENA, IF THE CHOICE IS BETWEEN A REASONABLE COMPROMISE THAT HAS A GOOD CHANCE OF PASSING VERSUS THE UNCOMPROMISED POSITION WHICH HAS A POOR CHANCE OF PASSING, GO FOR THE COMPROMISE.
I am not saying that we compromise our moral standards. I am saying that in a fallen world, where we’re dealing with unbelievers, we may have to settle for less than God’s best. In the area of abortion, for example, although I believe that it is immoral to kill a developing baby simply because it is the result of rape or incest or because it is deformed, I would be quick to settle for an amendment banning abortions except in those cases rather than in holding out for an amendment which bans all abortions. By accepting the compromise, we would end 95 percent or more of all current abortions. Then we can go to work on the other 5 percent. So, I’m not saying that we compromise our standards. I am saying that we need to be politically wise.
(What is) the relationship between individual Christians and the government? Here I’m not focusing on the church as a bloc, but on the individual Christian citizen.
REQUIRED OF EVERY CHRISTIAN:
(1). TO BE SUBJECT TO THE GOVERNMENT UNLESS IT ASKS US TO DISOBEY GOD (ROM. 13:1; 1 PET. 2:13-14; ACTS 4:19-20; 5:29; DANIEL 1, 3, 6).
(2). TO GRANT PROPER HONOR TO THOSE IN AUTHORITY (ROM. 13:7; 1 PET. 2:17).
(3). TO DO RIGHT AND COOPERATE WITH GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES WHENEVER POSSIBLE (TITUS 3:1-2; 1 PET. 2:15).
(4). TO PAY TAXES (ROM. 13:6, 7; MATT. 22:17-21).
(5). TO PRAY FOR GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES (1 TIM. 2:1-2).
(6). TO EVANGELIZE AND DISCIPLE GOVERNMENT LEADERS WHEN POSSIBLE (1 TIM. 2:3-4; MATT.28:19; PAUL’S EXAMPLE WITH FELIX, FESTUS, AGRIPPA, AND OTHERS).
(7). TO BE INFORMED AND VOTE FOR CANDIDATES AND ISSUES WHICH WILL, TO THE BEST DEGREE POSSIBLE, UPHOLD GOD’S PURPOSES FOR GOVERNMENT (MATT. 5:13-16; TITUS 3:1).
The Bible does not address voting directly because democracy was not practiced then. Some Christians argue that we are citizens of heaven and thus should not get involved at all in politics. But we are also citizens of this earth. Since we are given a say in who rules over us, not to vote is to allow the ungodly to win.
- To read the entire article by Pastor Cole, CLICK HERE.
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In response to Beverley,
Many people have either forgotten or never subscribed to in the first place whether birthed here or migrated, that the protection of life, and free will of liberty to pursue happiness, in America, is actually, and only relevant within the context of our mutual and corporate pledges to faithfulness and loyalty to the same self evident truths that form us into one Nation.
Generally our foundation of law is based in Judeo/Christian values from our inception, and has been an anchor in every generation to correct our inordinate practices. Like slavery, different forms of prejudices and obsessive or excessive bias in experimental inventions under guise of progressivism in supposition of superiority etc..and our activity of greater participation in continuation of Judeo/Christian values, both by solicitations of the heart, and restrainment by legislations, can deliver us from the terrible expansive practice of abortion,among other invented “rights”.
We base our union in equality of rights as given and afforded by recognition of One God as our mutual creator and benefactor of all that is good, to preclude our subjection to any number of inventions for domination by one member or groups of people, being imposed upon us against the liberty of our free will and moral conscience as God affords us, as we vote and approve what is excellent within the context of His sovereign legislation in our hearts as coming from heaven. ( as promised in Jeremiah 31:33), So that none of us have a right nor should we as a corporate people want to give one another even by exercise of free will, any permissions to harm the formation of persons in the environment of the womb created for that purpose. Whether anyone believes in God or not it is a common and ‘self evident truth’ that persons are formed in the mother’s womb from the point of conception.
If a person does not believe in God how can they derive any rights as we do in America in prescription from God? So of course for those who do not believe in God, they are very zealous to create legislations for invention of other “rights” that do not derive from God, but rather to affirm or satisfy their own particular demands rather than the common good.
We know that it is wrong to kill any person without judicial process, and that it is murder to do so. In this regard there should be no legislation that seems to give rights to one people or person to kill another person or group of people without due process of corporate decision. This is why there is a growing distaste for the legalization of abortion. We must legislate a better way to deal with unwanted pregnancies.
We pledge to one another first a protection of life for every individual from every threat whether foreign or domestic. The issue of abortion is primary to that mandate, the life of the person being formed in the womb should be a responsibility of corporate or public protection against all threat of disruption, even from the mother, and or any contracted agents with intention to harm the child.
We create and affirm legislation on earth, in tensions of moral context by solicitation of God’s sovereignty in partnership with us, to maintain our corporate identity as one Nation under God, in “more perfect union”.
If this is not the case and some of us don’t believe, then what can possibly be the nature of our “more perfect union” at all, since we do not share commonality in other regards, it should be obvious to us as it is to all other Nations, that it is in this one identity as pledged to one another under One God in sovereignty, that defines our commonality as American citizens and sustains us to thrive in “more perfect union”.
(Isaiah 33:22)
The numbers of us who believe and agree as one, are sustained in a political structure protecting LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT of happiness within the boundaries of our corporate legislations.
Adam and Eve discovered immediately, death is the result of breaking faith with the sovereignty of Godly legislation, so to preserve life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness in America, we should strive to maintain our legislations in accord with God’s legislations in “more perfect union”.
Protection of life, liberty, and happiness, proceeds from agreement with Godly legislation, and a mutual consent to that which is placed in the hearts of those who retain conscience towards God as especially exemplified by God’s promise fulfilled in pouring out His Spirit on all flesh in the new testament (as promised in Jer 31:33), as spoken of and projected from the beginning when Adam and Eve were saved from instant death in the moment of their sin, by the substitutional death of the first lamb that was slain.
In God’s sovereign expression of promise to salvation, right from the beginning only the lamb died in that initial instance of first occasion in sin, and they were clothed in the skin of the lamb God provided for clothing them with as a covering, to retain them alive bodily (Gen 3:21) in God’s witness and declaration of Christ who was preordained to come in His own skin to clothe us with His righteousness for a greater understanding and expression of peace with God, as ordained by Jesus Christ in legislation from heaven!
He was slain, but also resurrected, and He, Himself now represents the sovereignty of God bodily in Immortality.
Both Adam and Eve taught their children about God, and aspired to raise up Godly children in the nurture and admonition (Ephesians 6:4) (legislation) of the Lord, we can witness this, by their success in Abel, and Seth. (Gen 4:25)
It’s a Great article, I pray that God will bless this message going forward and glorify Jesus in strong persuasion throughout the Nation, by His Spirit of wisdom and revelation! Yes, Paul said, in a certain place, that while he was aware of specific commands by God’s sovereignty as relevant to all humanity, which God Himself makes freely known in a common expression of “self evident truths”, while at the same time, soliciting the Church and National leaders alike, to a greater understanding and expression from that common space and grace, to a “more perfect union” of voluntary acceptation of his opinion as being informed by the Spirit of the Lord writing legislation on the fleshy tables of the heart 2 Cor 3:3!
So that all of us who likewise believe in the eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ, are capable of creating legislation or policies which make for peace with God and with one another in our homes, families, and even in our Nation.
Great article, we should better understand how important it is to God that we partner up with Him in the maintenance and advancement of Godly legislations in America, as a foundation to solicitations of the heart to the greater revelation of salvation in Jesus Christ by the greater union of purpose in one voice by the Church!
Hebrews 11:6, John 14- 17, Ephesians 6:4
The legislations of Christ are written in the willing and believing fleshy or tender tables of the heart, so Christians should aspire to serve in civil government and be preferred in the vote, having a greater inform from heaven. Godly National legislation can provide a road map, for those who do not yet understand the wisdom of greater peace in the inspiration of Godly government.
For what other ideation of human invention could better serve as basis for our greater National union, than that which is already recorded in our constitution as being pledged in trust to One God who created us all?
We can confirm with a greater display of unified public consent in common sense and self evident truth, that wholesome legislation in America, preserves even them who do not believe, together with us who do believe, in appreciation for a greater National aspiration to hope as our framers did for the commanded blessing that comes in pursuit of “more perfect union” as one Nation and one corporate people under the same benevolent and good God. ~ Psalm 133
In the beginning God gave us free wills. No we can not Legislate Morality. We must accept HIM because we want to and see HIM for Who HE really is and that our own hearts want what is best for us. HIM! We will always have 2 sides. Gods and evil’s. Evil is in our flesh and it says. I want, I’ll have what i want, My money will get me all I want so I’ll cheat, steel and lie to get it. When we are doing this we are choosing Hell. God does not send us any where we choose where we will go. We can not blame this onto God ever. We are still doing what Adam and Eve did in the garden. Eve said it was the serpent who did it and Adam said it was the Women that you gave me. We are still doing it. We certainly can see the evil mess we have made. I am repenting.
We are all confronted with a lot of confusing noise and news – more than at any time in my over 8 decades of living in our USA and in my birth-country the Philippines. We usually find it conveniently easier to listen more than read carefully for meaning and purpose. We find it hard to focus and dwell on a topic thoroughly enough to be “free from” deceptions so we may be “free to” really understand and to express logically in responsive conversations. Vivid in mind is the “mirror” metaphor: Legalizing anything is like having a mirror – we see ourselves and perhaps whatever need to be changed without really knowing how and why. But the more crucial need is to discern “who we are” and thereby to know, believe, and trust our values based on timeless and universal principles.
Legislated laws are just like mirrors; we look and see what we want to see and leave without doing nor really appreciating anything. It is just a mirror! What else could challenge us? With all the major and minor mirrors around us (some or mostly distorted and blurred), how may we clarify and set our Priority (first things first) which is basic to our Motivation (doing what we know is right and not doing what we know is wrong)? By “legalizing” anything, we just look and sense without knowing meaning and purpose. What are the implications here and now?
So, without clear guidelines on how to set Priority to be Motivated or moved to action with some wisdom, how could we expect ourselves to even be able to think, act, or say what we and our families and communities need to think and talk about? For what? To encourage personal and interpersonal growth in humility and obedience to natural and spiritual laws that govern us whether or not we know them! To enable us to be productive and fruitful in order to benefit our persons and families with outgoing, unifying, and results that are good for short and long-term benefits … in order to glorify our God Who loves and desires our best … while always aware we are here on earth for a while, for purposes beyond this life while recognizing that eternity is really always in our hearts.