Two Views of the World
By Buddy Hanson The Covenant News ~ November 23, 2009
The Old Testament has no shortage of object lessons, and if we pay attention to them we won't have the misfortune of repeating the mistakes of the Jews and suffering similar punishments. In the center of Israel, culturally speaking, was the dwelling place of God's glory cloud. God was in the midst of this cloud, and it resided first in the Tabernacle (Exodus 40.34), and later in the Temple (1 Kings 8.1). Inside the Temple was the holy of holies, where once a year the high priest entered to offer a blood sacrifice for the nation. Inside the holy of holies was the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the two tablets of God's covenant law. All of this imagery and ceremony pointed to the importance of having God's law at the center of society. This is how God manifested Himself through the Bible and the sacraments of baptism, and the Lord's Supper.
The revealed law of God is the cornerstone of a culture and should be at the forefront of every legislator's and judge's decision-making.
Listen carefully to Isaiah's divinely inspired counsel to his wayward neighbors:
"Woe to them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed: To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!" Isaiah 10.1-2
Clearly, the Bible must be our "political textbook." We must replace the state's sovereignty with God's sovereignty. In doing this we must exhibit a charitable manner. Peter counsels, "For it is the will of God that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." (1 Peter 2.15) The issue is not which political party a candidate belongs to, but rather what is the source of the legislator's ultimate authority when it comes to supporting or opposing legislation.
Two Views of the World: God's View and Man's View
The reason America is experiencing so many cultural challenges is that Christians are living by man's rules and expecting God's results! Obviously, the only way to receive God's results is to do our best to live according to His rules. To be, in essence, "theo-logical," instead of "Creature-logical." Following are five examples that illustrate the distance difference between thinking as Christians, and thinking as though we are non-Christians.
1. Instead of thinking God's thoughts after Him by conforming our decisions to biblical ethics (theo-logical), we allow non-Christians to do our thinking for us, which means that we are, in effect, living as though we are gods! (creature logical)
2. Instead of focusing on the "root" cause of our cultural issues and living our way out of them (theo-logical), we're focused on the "fruit" of man's bad ideas by foolishly attempting to legislate our way out of them. (creature logical.) Legislation can be an effective short-term solution by buying us time to get our plans together, but the only way to achieve lasting long-term results is to change our lifestyle.
3. Instead of being ready "in season and out" (2 Timothy 4.2) to provide a reason for what we believe (theo-logical), we compromise our beliefs (and God's honor) by attempting to establish a middle ground with non-Christians in the hopes that our "niceness" will lead to their conversion. (creature logical) But in doing this we are suppressing the truth that God's Word is "sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit." (Hebrews 4.12) It's not relationships, but God's Word that converts people.
4. Instead of continuing to frustrate ourselves by attempting to "add"biblical ethics to some areas of our lifestyle, but not to others (theo-logical), we need to recognize that to approach life in this manner is to fall victim to Satan's strategy to separate "religion" from "real life." (creature logical)
5. By dismissing the possibility of a Christianized culture we leave ourselves with an insipid view of doing what we can to achieve a "less severe cultural defeat." (theo-logical) To conclude this is to admit that we have forsaken God's rules for living and are living by our rules. The result of this attempted lifestyle is to admit that Satan, not God, is in control of history. (creature logical) Such a degrading view of God's sovereignty has no biblical support and demonstrates a lack of thorough Bible study.
As the following quote from George Washington makes clear, there is no way for us to be effective servants of our God by relegating His instruction for living to the inside of our homes and churches.
If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disbelieve, how will we later defend it? We must raise the standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God!
Next week's topic is, "Biblical Solutions Need to be Proposed."
Buddy Hanson is President of the Christian Policy Network and Director of the Christian Worldview Resources Center and has written several books on the necessity of applying one's faith to everyday situations, circumstances and decision-making.