09.11
What Civil Government Should Christians Want
It’s a simple question. Of all the different experiments with government that humanity has conducted, which one is it that Christians should advocate? Or should we advocate any particular one at all? Well, that question can only be answered by a proper understanding of what government is and what it does. If it’s a benign institution that exists independent of common people then it should be an easy step to say that Christians should just let it all be and not get involved. But we know that isn’t the case. Government, at it’s root, is this: the enabling of some people to exercise power over all of the people. How much power they can wield and for how long depends greatly on which form of government it is. In that case, we as Christians should absolutely be concerned about what type of government we have. If the difference between republic and democracy means the difference between legitimized slavery or freedom, then we have a moral obligation to advocate one over the other.
Here’s where I want to bring up the continuation of our Jim Wallis quote from the last post:
Those who study the biblical witness seriously will discover that their alienation from the present system can be understood as the normal existence for the people of God. They will find that biblical politics are invariably alien to the politics of the established regime and will also question the politics of the new regime that any revolution will eventually establish for itself. They will see that to break free from one system only through an allegiance to another is no break at all.
I think he’s absolutely right here. My question to Jim then would be why he isn’t practicing that principle now. He has given over his allegiance, whole-heartedly, to the current regime. He may be able to come up with justifications for that in his own mind, but aligning yourself with any regime is going to bite you in the rear eventually. If he thinks that this current administration is going to “be different” somehow then the question is, is government being “different” ever better, based on our historical experience. I think the answer is obviously no. Democracy historically produces less poverty and harm than socialism. That’s just a fact. But that doesn’t mean that democracy is what we should advocate. Just simply being the lesser of two evils isn’t somehow an endorsement I care to get behind. The American “system” isn’t going to be any better because your guy is the president Jim. It’s going to be just the same as always. Perhaps worse.
So, what government should Christians advocate then? To me there is only one answer: none at all. Call it anarchy if you want to, but I just don’t see any compatibility between Christian conscience and government in any form. Government is force, pure and simple. Anarchy is freedom. The freedom to associate and make contracts with whomever we determine to do business with. The freedom to keep our own money for whatever purpose we see fit. The freedom to help others through benevolence without the government intruding and making it difficult and cumbersome. The freedom to hire yourself out to someone at any wage that will help you get a foot in the door. The freedom to educate your children in whatever way you see fit. The freedom to exercise your faith however you want. Government is force. Anarchy is freedom.
If you are a Christian and you support government in any form, you ultimately have to ask yourself a few questions. First, are you morally ok with being the recipient of money that is stolen from other people by force? I’m not, and I don’t see how anybody could be. When it happens on the street we call it robbery. When it happens as the result of a 51% majority of voters we call it democracy. I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make it ok. Secondly, are you willing to give up control of everything you have just so you can live comfortably? I’m not. Think I’m exaggerating? Try forgetting to pay a parking ticket and then see exactly how much “control” you still have over your own life. The idea that you are still in control of your own affairs after instituting a government is an illusion. When the government has bigger or more guns than you do, you have no control.
Jim goes on to dig his current position deeper in the hole:
We begin to understand that we have been programmed for idolatry, for putting our trust in systems, governments, revolutions, declarations of independence, and new socialist orders.
To place our faith solely and completely in the efficacy of the Word of God, to hope in the gospel alone, is to establish an eternal revolutionary posture in the world which unceasingly and in every circumstance perpetually seeks justice, liberation, and peace, never being satisfied to rest false hopes in the powers and idols and systems of the world that continually claim to be our salvation.
Biblical politics takes, as their starting point, the manner of God in Jesus Christ. Biblical politics thus exemplify the political authority of the Incarnation. Jesus rejected the political realism of the Sadducees and the revolutionary violence of the Zealots out of their mutual subservience to the politics of power, which is common characteristic of both established regimes and the revolutionary forces which seek to replace them. The subordination of persons to causes and ideological necessities has always been alien to the gospel.
Wow. How refreshing would it be if Jim would actually carry out in practice today what he espoused in principle in 1976. The Christian has no business being the advocate for any form of central government. Giving control of our lives over to others is contrary to our position before God. We’ve forgotten that basic tenet of the faith that, “to obey is better than sacrifice.” Involuntary obedience to another man will always diminish the worth of my obedience to my Lord by frustraing it and making it more difficult, or even illegal. Historically, Christians have always been better off in a rejecting posture toward civil government. Whenever we have jumped on board with the current regime it has always, always ultimately been to our detriment. Just ask the Christian laity in revolutionary France. At first it seemed great that the corpulant, fat cat clergy was finally getting what was coming to them. But then the revolution turned on the church as a whole, as it always does. They weren’t so happy when their own heads started rolling in the streets.
Jim, the current pathetic state of the church didn’t come about because of capitalism. That makes no sense at all. No, the current apathy in churches is the direct result of Christians getting on board with the state and becoming ever more reliant on the state to do the work it, itself should be doing. It’s enabled us to become lazy. Big government corrupts every institution it governs and then it spreads to all those secondary instiutions within the system. Having no government at all would be the best thing that ever happened to the church. Sure, it would be scary. Who said life is supposed to be easy and free from fear. Christ never promised that to the church. But benevolence poured out freely, even in the face of fear is superior in every way to the dole that’s enabled through the coercive force of government.
