Should we try to legislate the Bible in today's society?
Following on from yesterday's post on rebuking, John Piper was clever enough to make a very relevant Podcast a week before I posted. Although not specifically on rebuking, I think he sums up things really nicely.
Source
-
Should we try to legislate the Bible in today's society?
It's not inappropriate to seek to apply the Bible, provided that we apply it wisely. And the wisdom lies in realizing that—since coerced faith and coerced obedience are unbiblical—the Bible itself provides the guidance and the ground for making space for a culture in which people have the right to choose which moral elements they will or will not obey. It sound almost contradictory. In other words, the Bible insists that there must not be coercion for every single moral command that it contains.
For example, "Thou shalt not covet." Are you going to make that into a law? No, because coerced non-coveting won't work. It's a self-contradiction. It's the same thing with belief in Jesus. The Bible clearly commands, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." Should we turn that moral religious command into a moral law? No, because a law-constrained faith in Jesus is unbiblical and has no validity. Therefore, in a sense, the Bible shows that we should not turn all of its commands into law.
So your question boils down to, Well, which ones then?
Don't kill? - We all agree on that one. Make that a law.
Don't steal? - We all agree on that one. Make that a law.
Don't commit adultery? - Hmm. Now what about that one?
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy? - We used to have laws about that.
The way it works practically is that for the laws where we can get overwhelming consensus in the culture we're going to use coercion. The irony is that we believe in using coercion as a culture for the things that don't seem to matter very much. For example, I've got to get all the dog poop out of my back yard or I'm going to get cited, and coercion will be used to make me cut my grass or clean my yard. And yet, we can't use coercion legally to save a baby's life if he is still in the womb.
What we need to do is find those things in the Bible that we believe should be lived by, and then try as Christians—through preaching, teaching, and prayer—to bring about as much consensus as we can. And yet we will not press for the legislating of things where there is massive unwillingness to do it, because we would wind up making coercion the ground of our morality.
posted by Phil @ 4:19 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I recall, as a young'un (I've been told that my lack of hair makes me look older, and that it makes me look like i'm 12 - either way, young'un refers to under 12) asking why we don't make laws to make people believe in God.
I never got a really good answer to that at the time. I don't think I was in a position to understand the answer at the time. So, I believe it to have been out of wisdom that I did not receive a decisive yes wonderful/no terrible response.
Anyway, to sum up your response, Phil, are we saying that we should convince society on as many points as we can so that we can get everyone to agree on what's right or wrong? And then is the rest up to us to live out - to let ourselves shine in the world?
The idea of adultery is quite a stumbling block to the various non-religious people in society.
They say as long as you don't harm others, it's ok. Yet at the same time, an affair is seen as being ok/none of my business/turn a blind eye. And in the background we have, in this civilised, post-modern society of ours, we have jealousy killings when a husband or wife finds out that their spouse has been unfaithful.
The current societal view on adultery appears to me to be so inconsistent. We find it ok to lock people up because they steal someone's money, but there's no punishment for stealing someone's spouse.
Except in Utah. (And in various other nations around the world, that could be listed if I could be bothered to do the research.)
I think we have a right to push toward the betterment of society. But the pushing of Biblical law - for the reason that it's God's law - seems futile.
It's been interesting to study Israel as God's redeemed people for my next sermon. They are redeemed by God and he expects them to act like it, to be a "light to the nations"... a beacon of hope, not a pillar of legalism.
The thing that I've always struggled with is what would I do if I was prime minister, if I was a politician making the rules.
As a Christian what should I do?
Post a Comment
<< Home