Church and State

Church and State, what a lovely concept of having a nation so deeply rooted in faith that it is directly tied together with the government. Imagine the possibilities of such a union. Full support from the government for missions and evangelism; prayer and scripture involved in every facet of government; what could be better? There was a shout of joy at the conversion of Constantine; a rejoice as Christianity was made the religion of the nation. Finally after years of persecution the government has seen the light! Finally the sufferings endured by centuries of brothers and sisters paid off. If ever there was a perfect time for spreading the good news, it is now. The weight of the pagan gods has been thrown off and the truth has been brought to the head of the government. Imagine the days to come. As the gospel spreads across the country like wild fire surely now the gospel will be taken to the uttermost ends of the earth. As every nation, tribe and tongue is reached we will surely see the coming of Christ and the glories of Heaven unfold. Oh what a glorious day indeed! Or so it may have seemed.

It could not have helped but seem an answer to prayer and a God ordained union to some. I cannot answer for sure how I would have felt about the subject had I lived in that time; in reality I wanted this to work. I was happy as I played out the image in my mind of having my faith so closely tied in with state. The thought of having an integrated faith and government should not be considered foreign or all wrong to us. In the perfection of Heaven we will see this take place as we see every knee bow down to our God and Father of our faith. But as is was for me it surely must have been for others. I failed to bring into account the one element that keeps us contained in this world, sin. If man before the fall could not keep complete check on himself in the Garden of Eden then he was surely destine to fail to keep check over the faith of others in his fallen state. While this may be an achievable goal, it will not be accomplished by man.

As the years unfolded on the pages of history the progressing nightmare was told. How did the Church go from Justin Martyr to the Dominican Order? From a people that endured torture for the name of Christ to a people that inflicted torture in the name of Christ, the Church was radically changed. I seem to have the feelings of a father trying to comprehend the addiction found in his daughter. How could this have happened? She was so innocent, such a beautiful light to others. What made her make these choices? Why couldn’t she see what was happening to her and how she was hurting herself and others?

So what is the answer? Do we abandon completely the idea of faith playing a role in government? Should the Church be completely divorced from the state? Should Christians isolate themselves from government and state offices? One possible answer: The presence of the Church should only be felt in government through the beliefs and moral convictions of those believers holding office in government and in no way should the leaders of the Church be directly tied to the state outside of being the spiritual leaders of the congregations in which the government officials reside. As in any situation and in a government chosen by the people the Church’s focus should be on the Great Commission. The change brought about by a relationship with Christ brings about a moral and spiritual cleansing. Through ongoing discipleship in the individual believer and an intentional approach to evangelism all with the guidance of the Holy Spirit the Church will grow. This change brought about on the population will in effect change the culture we live in. This change will be felt in all aspects including government. You cannot change the government to change people, you must change people to change the government. Are the problems we have today anything to do with a lack of the Church being involved in the state, or is it more likely a problem with the faith in the Church?

Christian Jihad

Christian Jihad is a very eye opening book. Having little study into the Crusades my perception of them was greatly weighed on by Hollywood. Take for example Robin Hood. As the story goes the Honorable King Richard was absent fulfilling his duty to England and God. In Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade the knight portrayed is one of most heroic and outstanding character having not abandoned his post for hundreds of years. To see what the view of the early Church was and then to see how warped the Church became in later years is really frightening. The view given of the Donatists and the Anabaptists and how they were treated by the organized Church is scary to say the least. How could a people who actually read the Bible be so far off as to think that torture and murder were bringing people to God? Where did Christ nail the Pharisees to a cross? What example or teaching was used?
Another part of the book I deeply enjoyed was learning the depth of the Just War criteria. While Augustine is not able to come to a fully complete acceptance of war I feel a sense of relation in that I am not always able to completely put all my eggs in one basket. Overall I feel confident that Christian Jihad will serve as an excellent challenge to traditional and cultural thinking and serve to open up the mind to a clearer view of our world and history.

Quote

I am not sure where I heard this but I believe it speaks volumes on the importance of the decisions we make.

“You make your choices and then your choices make you.”

Resource

As a resource I am recommending that if you don’t already have one that you get a Thompson Chain Reference Bible. Since we are attempting to look at the world from a Biblical view our first point of reference should be the Bible and having a Thompson Chain Reference has been very helpful to me.

Love In Christ,
John