waltondammerung

Well, my comments in the previous exchange were blunt as well - but that's what blogging is all about, right?

I would also like to put into context my previous defense of what is called the Religious Right. I am, generally-speaking, appalled by the RR's understanding of political reality and their actions in response to that reality. At the same time, I nearly always defend them when they come under fire. Why? Because at least they're acting, however wrong-headedly. To me, the Religious Right is like the Polish cavalry charging the German Panzers in September 1939. You're glad somebody's doing it, but you don't expect success.

Now: to your latest post.

Probably the most important argument in that post is found in these two sentences: "It seems to me that the theocracy of the Old Testament and descriptions of the future millennial rule of Christ are not necessarily examples of government that can or ought to be followed in our particular situation. When it comes to looking for practical suggestions for those of us whose government is not directly or even indirectly ruled by God (in addition to His sovereignty over everything that happens), the Bible does not seem very clear."

This is the center - ground zero - of the whole question. Let me start by taking a short-cut in this matter: my view is that the teaching of Christ is normative for the believer in politics, and not the Old Testament.

With this stipulated, I think you make the mistake of thinking that Christ's kingdom is a future event. The teaching of Christ in the gospels is largely concerned with the kingdom, and He teaches that it is being established as He speaks. Of course, the *fullness* of Christ's kingdom is a future event and will take place at the end of history. But Christ's kingdom is established in the incarnation and resurrection, and is enacted on earth today, to the extent that Christians live that kingdom. The coming of the kingdom is not a future event, but is the definition of the historical era between the resurrection and the end of history.

Thus Jesus clearly states, following the resurrection, that: "all power in heaven and on earth has been given to me." All power necessarily includes all political power. Again, this is not something that will occur in the future, but is something that happened with the resurrection. While Christ distinguishes between God and Caesar, Caesar is ultimately under God's authority. And to the extent that Christians themselves are Caesar - whether as magistrates or as citizens - Christ's kingdom is established, if imperfectly.

The problem, I think, is that you are looking for a particular political program - the Israelite system of monarchy, for example - rather than what is essentially an existential relationship to politics. If a Christian had (somehow) become emperor of Rome at the time of Nero, his political responsibilities would have been quite different from a Christian who becomes president of the United States.

At the same time, there are political orders that are more godly than others. For example, becoming emperor of Rome in 60 AD meant accepting a unitary system of government, based on the authority of a single individual, an essentially a pagan understanding of political authority. However, becoming president today means accepting a divided system of government, based on a separation of powers, which is an idea that originates in the covenant-based division of authority in the Bible. The word "constitution" is a secular synonym for the word "covenant." The word "federal," as in federal government, comes from the Latin word foedus, which again means "covenant." The history is there for anyone who wants to read it.

In short, what distinguishes the United States is that we have a covenant-based government, an idea that can be traced to only one historical source.

This brings us to the biggest political lie of our time, which is that the word "secular" means non-religious. Actually, the word secular is an invention of Christianity and is meant to signify the distinction between church and state – or God and Caesar. But all government is religious, since the whole of reality is religious. There are not two realities. Even substitutes for religion, like Marxism-Leninism, or American liberalism, which deny that they are religious, are the functional equivalents of a religion. If they promulgate the illogical idea that their politics is non-religious, this because – as a matter of rhetoric – they wish to brand their opponents as being religious, while pretending that they themselves are not.

Of course, the fact that even most Christians have now bought into this modern definition of the word secular, as meaning non-religious, signifies just how deep the rot has gone within the church itself.

********

You also had some questions at the end of your post:

Amy - How do you pray for our government?

My answer - Generally I pray that right decisions be made in particular instances, which is probably not completely up to the standard implied by Paul.

Amy - Is there a doctrinal or theological basis for Christians being held accountable for the laws and their enforcement in a state in which they have some responsibility?

My answer - Yes. As I argued above, Christ's kingdom does not arrive at the end of time, but is already present insofar as Christians live out the meaning of the gospel. This means that, to the extent to which Christians have political responsibility, whether as magistrates or citizens, they establish Christ's kingdom - though, of course, not fully.

Amy - Is there a doctrinal or theological basis for Christians being held accountable for the laws and their enforcement in a state in which they have some responsibility?..... Does our role as American Christian voters change as the country becomes increasingly secular and immoral?

My answer - "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me." That’s a pretty firm doctrinal basis. Further, as I said, the big lie of modern politics is that the word "secular" means non-religious. American society is not in the process of becoming more secular; it is in the process of becoming pagan. One religion is replacing another in America, even as eighty-five percent of Americans call themselves Christians, a designation which is being emptied of meaning. The political role of the believer, in this situation of essential religious decadence, changes to the extent to which the existential political situation changes. But I don’t think you can separate the decline and fall of constitutional – or covenantal – government in America from the decline and fall of Christian belief itself.

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