Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Cvengr
There is only one correct way to live and that's in obedience to how God has created our lives by His plan.

The point is that only you can know what that plan is for yourself. The thought leaders of the Enlightenment believed that government could play no role in that relationship. Before, the pope had bestowed Christ's authority onto kings, who then ruled the people. After King Henry the 8th rose up and burned down more than 100 abbeys and monesteries in the name of religious freedom, the king claimed direct authority from God. In short, the people were still obligated to take his dictates as if they were from God.

The thinkers of the Enlightenment understood that the people do not need a governmental vicar by which to obtain their commands. The government should limit itself to earthly concerns. The thinkers of the Enlightenment understood that by claiming to represent God, earthly men -- corruptible men, could misuse the trust they gained by claiming this to their own ends.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, even if one claims to have God on one's side.

America's founding, rooted in the Pilgrim's flight from the Anglican state chruch, and in the Quaker and Rhode Island experiments in free thinking, combined with the Enlightenment philosophy that the signers and authors of the Declaration of Independence had been studying, made for a strong conviction that government had no religious authority. People had to justify their laws in terms of practical arguments, so long as they honored the few rights provided by the Creator as enumerated in the Declaration of Independence.

Today, all of those ideals are still in full effect. Nothing has changed, except we have as a culture grown more secular. So some people try to justify the reintroduction of religion into government as a means for recouping our cultural losses. But there won't be any easy way to accomplish that. The best solution is to revisit the Enlightenment and try to regain our understanding of its ideals. We have slipped so far behind in understanding it because of postmodernism, Marxism, and multiculturalism.

What the Christian right proposes is a retreat into theocracy, an abandonment of the original intent of the most enlightened founding fathers. We know how that works. We know that men are incapable of representing God's will in the form of government authority. We have to find a better way.

134 posted on 04/15/2005 11:13:20 PM PDT by risk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 130 | View Replies ]


To: risk
We know that men are incapable of representing God's will in the form of government authority.

Boiling it down, you don't trust God.

God can accomplish his purpose with satan leading the government.

137 posted on 04/15/2005 11:23:59 PM PDT by Raycpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 134 | View Replies ]

To: risk

You are confused.

The separation of Church and State, a political doctrine developed several centuries before our founding fathers, was premised upon the exisitence of God, Jesus Christ, and the instituion of nationalities.

It was recognized that all freedom is based upon recognition of authority. The freedom of men within a nation upon the authority of both God and of the nation, which was a divine institution. (The history of divine institutions came several millenia prior to the US and the rather late blooming European flavors of government, were far from representing God as a 'Christian nation' as properly identified.)

The Separation of Church and State recognized that responsible men respectful of legitimate authority of God (as in the Church during this persiod) and of the Nation (or State) would attempt to obey the laws of each. The laws of each were created to govern both believers and unbelievers, however, it was also recognized that whatever secular national law was created to govern unbelievers should not interfere with the believer attempting to respect the legitimate authority of both Church and State.

Accordingly, the policy of a separation between Church and State was established so as not to infringe upon the laudable effort of those attempting to remain obedient to both.

Those who confuse the separation of church and state with an exclusion of God's authority over unbelievers, frequently confuse religion with a relationship with God. It isn't.


143 posted on 04/15/2005 11:37:47 PM PDT by Cvengr (<;^))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 134 | View Replies ]

To: risk
What the Christian right proposes is a retreat into theocracy

What specific organized group of any significance proposes this? Examples please.

147 posted on 04/15/2005 11:51:16 PM PDT by NewLand (Faith in The Lord trumps all!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 134 | View Replies ]

To: risk
What the Christian right proposes is a retreat into theocracy,

BWWWAAAAHAHAHA! You may think we're all stupid but we're not THAT stupid! Sheesh, Unbelieveable. There may be a few who in ignorance of Scripture think that will work, but really, to fling around the term "Christian right" like the MSM does lumps everyone who thinks marriage ought to be protected into that crowd.

157 posted on 04/16/2005 7:38:10 AM PDT by Terriergal (What is the meaning of life?? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 134 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson