Christians in a republic and God's law

[The Protector]

This is something I've been thinking about for a while, and I'm hoping the collected wisdom of the members here might enlighten me:

I think one of the over-arching themes in scripture is that God has given us the right to self-determination; Christ's sacrifice was for all of us, but God leaves it up to us whether we accept the grace of his salvation or not. In other words, God has gifted us with free will-- a freedom to choose. At the same time, God has made his law (his moral standard for us) rather explicit. Given this, as Christian citizens of a free republic, should we work to enact legislation that reflects God's moral standard for humanity (e.g. No abortion, or no adultery), or should we work toward greater personal freedom (and responsibility) politically, while obviously working to win souls to Christ privately?

As always, many thanks to the great contributions made by so many members here, and thank you for your thoughts on this topic.

[Ivellious]

It depends on how you intend to "enact legislation that reflects God's moral standard."

In some ways, it makes a great deal of sense. Yes, murdering your neighbor should be illegal, and yes, that is part of God's moral code (I personally would extend that to banning the death penalty, but I digress). Things like that aren't just Christian code, but are easily part of any major culture's code.

The problem I and many other non-Christians in America have is that some Christians take it too far. That is, it begins to infringe on everyone's right to believe in and practice any religion, and be a part of any culture that does not infringe on the basic human rights of others. Laws that are explicitly Christian and violate or infringe on the beliefs of other groups are damaging to the integrity of the "freedom" of America. When Christianity is deemed as being superior to all religions by our laws, that spits in the face of the idea that we are all free to choose our religious beliefs, and it violates the notion that no law should force Christianity down the throats of non-Christians.

A few examples of this that are somewhat big news these days:

*Long-standing ban on "homosexual" behavior (i.e. oral and anal sex are banned under law in some states even today).
*Bans on committed homosexual couples having equal rights as committed heterosexual couples.
*Bans on abortions (I'll concede that there are non-religious arguments to this, but when politicians cite the Bible as their only reasoning, that's insulting).
*Laws that would force the teaching of Christian creationism in public schools (not ID, but some states have proposed teaching Biblical creationism in science class).

In short, no, you shouldn't leave Christianity at the door when it comes to politics and law-making, and it certainly should impact how you go about law-making. But there is a fine line, in my opinion, between letting Christianity influence our government officials and having the Bible become the nation's law book.

[The Protector]

I actually didn't intend for this to be a repeat of the discussion in the other thread; my question was not what Christians should do by secular standards, but rather what their duty to God is. Perhaps I put this in the wrong sub-forum.

For what it's worth, though, I will respond to your statements here in the thread wherein we had discussed this previously. Thank you for sharing your thoughts; although I disagree with some of your assumptions, they are obviously carefully considered and passionately held.

[Canuckster1127]

Which in the end is more eternal and what did Christ model in his earthly ministry?

I think if you examine the life and ministry of Christ it will become evident pretty quickly that he rejected the Kingdom's of Men in favor of the Kingdom of God.

I believe Christians within a republic or democracy have a responsibility to vote their conscience and include their voice in the public square. However, our primary focus is not to enforce morality upon others by use of political power. Outward change in behavior is of little eternal value without an inward change of heart which only God through Christ and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit can bring.