I find that people are afraid of the concept of getting our ideas from God’s Law in the Bible for use in our own Civil Government. Of course, the very same Biblical Law is one of the foundations of law in Western Civilization! In other words, we already did this as a society over hundreds of years.
I think the image of Puritans and the Salem Witch Trials come to mind when people hear Christians say “let’s base our laws on the Bible.”
So how are we as Christians going to present something different to the world? To be fair, people calling themselves “Christians” have done bizarre things throughout history in the name of Enforcing God.
God doesn’t need to be enforced, He can enforce Himself just fine!
We won’t succeed in implementing God’s ways unless there is a significant moral consensus. We will never be able to “implement” faith. We can “implement”, by free will choice, in agreement with the rest of society, the ways of God in civil government. Until their is a moral consensus, however, we have to present the ideas in the language of this world. We can’t try and force this thing! It will not work that way.
Amongst Christians who are convinced that God’s ways are the best ways we can talk about getting our laws from the Bible. Amongst the world we need to somehow come up with Reason that will appeal to the Law of God that is written on the hearts of all men! And I suppose, in some circumstances, it is ok for us to try and explain and clarify what we mean by “base our laws on Christianity.” I don’t think everyone knows what we mean. The scary thing is, I don’t think all Christians know what we mean. Perhaps the world is right to be afraid.
Here is a comment I made on Digg.com in response to “Ramble” who was displaying the very fears and concerns I am talking about:
Hello Ramble. I don’t think you understand the idea. I am not saying that we make the Bible the Civil Law. I am saying that we would be unwise to disregard the only time in History we have Authoritative Written Record of God creating a Civil Government. I am convinced that we are not “under the law” (New Testament Christianity), but the law is wisdom from God. We can study His Law, discern His Heart and Wisdom, and be inspired in our own Civil Lawmaking by the wisdom and ideas behind God’s Civil Laws for Israel. I have no problem with sorting out “religious” laws from “civil” laws because we are NOT ancient Israel. We are America (or wherever you are from).
So we don’t need to ban cutting the hair on the side of your head. But we can search for info on how God sorted out disputes, enforced Civil Peace, and provided a Healthy Society.
I want to know His thoughts on the matter and then humbly (I hope) present those thoughts to the world. The Bible talks about God’s laws being written on the hearts of the “gentiles.” People know God’s laws. They are “common sense” (although not so “common”). God reveled His Wisdom for us to discover and understand, just like we discover and understand the Created Natural Universe.
🙂
ThirstyJon