Render unto GOD.
Posted on 08/06/2009 4:10:22 AM PDT by far rider
On a political forum I happened to run across one of the peculiar arguments some use against people of faith. Some have complained about invocations of the name of the Creator in political matters, or even requests for prayers for our country.
The argument goes something like this:
“Your religion says to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s. There is supposed to be separation of church and state in this country.”
For some reason, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (separation of church and state) has come to mean “you can’t talk about matters of faith in public”, when I, among others, have come to understand that the First Amendment meant a prohibition against the establishment of a national church, like the one England has.
(The church of England understood this very well, to the point of calling themselves the “Episcopal” church in America, to avoid the connotation of a national church.)
When the “church and state” and “render unto Caesar” arguments are taken to their logical conclusion, we see that number one, we are not in first century Rome. I know there are people around who think their wisdom extends to the first century and that Jesus was talking to the United States as well as citizens of the Roman Empire when He gave the “render unto Caesar” explanation, but that’s simply not the case.
In the USA, WE are Caesar. We are not governed by a King or an Emperor although if we are not careful we may be ruled by a dictator.
Number two, theologically speaking, the “church” is not a building or a denomination. It is a body of believers. It is literally impossible to separate the church from the state in the United States when both of them exist in the people, as this country is “of the people, by the people, for the people”.
The fallacious “separation of church and state”, as applied by the “freedom from religion” crowd falls apart in light of a proper understanding of just who the church is and who the state is, and the proper interpretation of the establishment clause – the prohibition of national church – becomes clear.
To insist that citizens of the United States leave their faith at the door in order to become good citizens violates the very intent of the First Amendment, and smacks of the kind of tyranny our founding fathers fought to free us from.
Don’t fall for it.
I only worship the King of kings.
As far as rendering.....lets melt some fat.
Great post, and accurate. The founding fathers did in deed establish that the sovereign citizen himself is “Caesar” in the context of the American nation, and therefore our representative government is supposed to render unto US what belongs to US.
The federal government, especially since FDR, has been usurping the position of Caesar. It’s time we go into overdrive, teaching this to our families, friends, and neighbors.
And most American pastors need to get into gear on this, too, as they have been messing up the teaching of Romans chapter 13 for far too long.
Evil is supposed to be punished.
Good (e.g. raising our families for God instead of the state; self-sufficiency subject only to the laws of God; etc.) is supposed to be REWARDED.
The Scriptures, not Congress was the standard for “good” when our nation was founded. It still is in my family.
As a matter of fact, my pastor is the one who gave me the “We are Caesar” idea in a sermon a few weeks ago, an idea that has been percolating in my head ever since then.
He used it in a different context, but as the pieces started to fall into place, it becomes a perfect answer for the “freedom from religion” crowd as well.
You can also read Render Unto Caesar by Archbishop Chaput. He puts to lie this line of thinking much more eloquently than I could.
Thanks for the tip. It’s on my wish list.
How many of us would stand up to Zero and his minions is a question but regardless of the outcome we will not live as serfs in a Marxist state driven to third world status full of corrupt politicians and watching or freedoms and resources frittered away.
1st amendment ping
It was LBJ who devised the regulations attempting to silence churches on politics, yes? He had comtempt for the churches in Texas who opposed him, the wretched one, and he remembered them when he got to the White House.
I’d rather have wanted the Romans the hell out of my country.
I think you are going to get your chance.
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