{"id":1725,"date":"2015-07-03T13:02:55","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T20:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/?p=1725"},"modified":"2015-07-03T13:02:55","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T20:02:55","slug":"lets-not-make-christianity-the-law-of-the-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/2015\/07\/lets-not-make-christianity-the-law-of-the-land.html","title":{"rendered":"Let’s (NOT) Make Christianity the Law of the Land"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.”<\/em> Daniel 7:26<\/p>\n

There is a group — I don’t know if it’s small or large, but it’s fairly vociferous — which\u00a0insists the reason our nation (the United States) is tanking, is because we no longer have prayer in schools.<\/p>\n

And we have removed the Ten Commandments from public places.<\/p>\n

\"Field<\/a>
This land is your land, this land is my land, and in it we are meant to live free. Christianity by decree is just as limiting as the promotion of paganism. Field of Dreams, original oil painting by Steve Henderson; licensed wall art home decor at Framed Canvas Art.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And now, our Supreme Court has legalized homosexual and lesbian marriage.<\/p>\n

But, the good news is, we still have In God We Trust<\/em> on our money. (What an interesting place to put a reference about God.)<\/p>\n

In short, according to this group, which as far as I can tell consists of a number of decent, ingenuous, guileless\u00a0people who are easily swayed by a smaller, more powerful media and celebrity Christian\u00a0cabal\u00a0that foments anxiety, fear, anger, and helplessness, we as a nation are doomed to eventual destruction because we do not trust and honor God the way ancient Israel, with which we associate ourselves, did.<\/p>\n

A Stiff-Necked People<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Let’s pass by ancient Israel for now, and whether or not they ever, for any meaningful length of time, trusted, honored, revered, and followed God (the book of Judges is an unambiguous\u00a0commentary on\u00a0this, although Exodus 15:22 — 17:7 initiates the\u00a0unflattering\u00a0image\u00a0of faith by a “stiff-necked people”), and let’s look at the United States — which promotes itself as a “Christian Nation.”<\/p>\n

Is the answer,\u00a0as some politicos aver, a return to godliness under a conservative, Republican administration (for some reason, the terms are interchangeable with “Christian”) that will undo everything the present one has done? (This might be a good time to note that the present administration, in addition to creating a flurry of personalized executive orders, has built upon and strengthened policies set up and created in the last one, and the one before that, and the one before that.)<\/p>\n

In short, the answer, according to this voice, is that we legislate worship (along the lines of, “If you build it, they will come”)\u00a0and unless and until we do so, we are doomed to destruction.<\/p>\n

Legislating a Belief in God<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It sounds logical, and worshiping God by governmental edict\u00a0is nothing new. The decree in the verse introducing this essay, from\u00a0the book of Daniel, was uttered by King Darius, the Medean\/Persian ruler who overthrew Belshazzar, the last king of the Babylonians, in the 6th century B.C.<\/p>\n

Darius\u00a0established this ordinance\u00a0after Daniel survived the lion’s den, where this faithful, non-stiff-necked\u00a0Hebrew\u00a0had been condemned after violating an earlier executive order, by this same ancient president.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, some 65 years before, in the prior\u00a0and partisan administration of Nebuchadnezzar, this governmental decree had already been made, after yet another violation of an executive order which resulted\u00a0in the tossing of Shadrach, Meschac, and Abednego into the fiery furnace:<\/p>\n

“Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble.”<\/em> (Daniel 3:29)<\/p>\n

Enforcement like that would put teeth into a law reinstating prayer in schools.<\/p>\n

It sure worked for the Babylonians, didn’t it?<\/p>\n

Thank You<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for joining me at Commonsense Christianity, where I remind Christians that our first, foremost, and primary allegiance is to the Kingdom of God, not any nation of man. This is one of the reasons\u00a0why Christians are persecuted, you know.<\/p>\n

Posts complementing this one are<\/p>\n

Christianity Is Not a Political Party<\/a><\/p>\n

Big Business Christianity<\/a><\/p>\n

Why Political Activism Is Not the Christian Answer<\/a><\/p>\n

Is America Doomed?<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.” Daniel 7:26 There is a group — I don’t know if it’s small or large, but it’s fairly vociferous — which\u00a0insists the reason our nation (the United States) is tanking, is because we no longer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":561,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,88,5,1026,13,2,10,11,58,3,15,124,7,1450,8,6],"tags":[1069,1611,103,412,1608,1607,26,310,1125,1610,24,1609,261,698,76],"class_list":["post-1725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-bible","category-christianity","category-church-2","category-encouragement","category-faith","category-family","category-home","category-hope-2","category-inspiration","category-lifestyle","category-news","category-personal-growth","category-politics","category-spiritual-growth","category-spirituality","tag-babylon","tag-christian-nation","tag-christianity-2","tag-conservative","tag-daniel-726","tag-executive-order","tag-god","tag-government","tag-israel","tag-legislate","tag-prayer-2","tag-prayer-in-schools","tag-republican","tag-united-states","tag-worship"],"yoast_head":"\nLet's (NOT) Make Christianity the Law of the Land - 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