To answer my first question:
For the unbelievers among us,
what purpose does marriage serve?
As I said, I'm talking about
this from our perspective as Christians living as Pilgrims in Babylon. In
Genesis 9 where God covenants not just with Noah but with all of humanity
regarding nature...a nature no longer under man's blessed Dominion (Genesis 1),
but now under fear, dread, and curse.
Man is still over this
creation, but no longer has any hope of building the Garden-Kingdom of God on
earth. This peace...where the wolf lies with the lamb, will only come with the
New Heavens and Earth, the Garden reborn and transformed, the Consummated
Kingdom under the 2nd Adam...Christ Jesus.
For now man has dominion over
the creatures....not as in the garden, but for food. And we're enemies and
there's no longer any peace. We eat each other, or to prevent them from eating
us we have to either domesticate them or kill them.
The lex talionis (law of retaliation) outlined in Genesis 9 is often
appealed to as a prototype of civil government. This is largely correct. Again
we're not being given a blueprint for civil society...we're being told what
government is really all about. It's violence. Violence employed to keep fallen
man from violence against himself and his neighbour.
It's a Means, a tool employed
by Providence to keep people from killing each other. We can kill the beasts,
but when a man kills another man...he's treating the man not as one made in
God's image...but as a beast.
When Providence removes its
restraining hand...then yes, men turn into animals. That's also the lesson of
Romans 1. When fallen man completely suppresses conscience then he's handed
over to judgment and ceases to be (as it were)....human.
Watch out. It's blood in the
streets, people losing all humanity... all humanness (that which differentiates
us from beasts)...and eventually yes, even boys don't know that they're boys
anymore and girls don't know that they're girls.
And that's where we're at
today. The celebration of violence, the lack of decency and even basic charity
and manners[i]
towards each other...and people self-destructing in an orgy of bodily destruction...a
destruction of God's image.[ii]
I think we learn that in terms
of theology and expectation, government is really and truly limited...it's to
keep people from slashing each other's throats...to keep people from turning
into animals and cannibalizing each other. Beyond that it serves little
purpose.
Sacral Theorists have for
centuries tried to place positive and pedagogical frameworks on government. By
this I mean, they want to suggest that government can help to build the
Kingdom, or on a more basic level, teach morality and encourage manners.
Christians will often appeal to Galatians 3.24 at this point, but in doing so
demonstrate they’ve not understood the chapter or that they’re taking Paul’s
illustration out of its redemptive context.
To juxtapose Law in Redemptive
Covenantal Israel and… Civil Law in Common Non-Covenantal New Testament Era States
is to profoundly misunderstand both categories.
Government can force fallen man
to conform to social norms. In that sense it can ‘force’ morality. But what is
morality?
‘You can’t legislate morality’
we often hear. Christian Sacralists will attack this as an absurdity. And in
one sense they’re right and in another sense they’re absolutely wrong. You have
to ask some questions first.
What is morality?
Is it tied to action or
thought? Or both?
If it’s ‘merely’ action, then
yes, government can make you do this or that.
But as Christians we certainly
know better. Morality is a matter of the heart[iii]
and when someone is not regenerate, even their ‘good deeds’ are tainted with
sinful motive and intent. Hence from a theological standpoint their social ‘good
deeds’ are not moral, in fact in terms of the Judgment of God…their good deeds
condemn them and increase their judgment.
They ‘knew’ that something was
the right thing to do but did it not to glorify God but to make themselves feel
good, earn adoration, maybe acquire a bit of legalistic pride. Their actions
may benefit society….via the Providential Common Grace of God, but is it moral?[iv]
No. And in that sense, no, you
cannot legislate morality, because the state cannot in any way change the heart
or shape it into something that pleases God.
As Christians our morality
flows from the heart and our lives, our moral action, shows our renewed minds
and hearts. Our lives are worship, not merely an outward conformity, which we
fail to attain, but the posture of our hearts. We don’t desire righteousness
out of fear of violence, but because we desire to ‘know’ God, and be reconciled
with our Father. We seek to do the right because it is right.[v]
The sacrifice of the wicked is an
abomination to the Lord,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight. (Proverbs 15.8)
But the prayer of the upright is His delight. (Proverbs 15.8)
If our civil
morality is shaped by Christian thought and action, then it’s something the
unbeliever cannot comprehend, let alone accomplish, and in no way does it
please God or earn his favour. Our lives are worship and if our every thought
and deed is to be to the glory of God how can the unbeliever participate in
this moral action?
[i]
Manners rooted in altruism are something we
should embrace and teach our children. Thinking about others first is a
critical element to ‘social’ thinking, which is part of what makes us human. We
have to be both individual and social. Being purely social is a problem and not
one we have in our society. It’s something you’re more likely to find in a
Confucian structure.
Our problem in the West
is that we’re almost wholly individualistic and hence our ‘society’ which is
built around manners is collapsing. Increasingly the only way to hold it
together will be the threat of violence.
Sadly, manners can also
be abused, not only in the hyper-social Asiatic structures, but in created
social castes and hierarchies. Christendom has certainly been guilty of the
latter. This could be explored extensively but will have to wait for another
time.
[ii]
Satan rejoices in the image of God being
defiled, destroyed, and used in ways that mock God’s created order.
For the Tolkien aficionados,
this is what Tolkien was getting at with Elves and Orcs. Elves are pure and
uncorrupted and thus immortal. Orcs are perversions, tortured images of what
the Valar had shaped/created… a mockery.
[iv]
Carnegie did a good work in the city of
Pittsburgh with the museums, library and university he created. His
philanthropy lives on. But did he do it to glorify God? If not…then was it
actually good? It’s good in a sense, a horizontal sense…but does it give him
standing before God? If not, can we call it moral?
Yet he knew to do it and
‘knowing’ implies culpability and responsibility. So if he did it for the wrong
reason, even his good deed becomes sinful.
I don’t think most
Evangelicals have really grasped the depth and pervasiveness of sin… and many
have not really apprehended its implications.
As a semi-comedic aside
I would point out that sometimes lost people understand this better than
Christians do. Look at these lyrics to a popular song, sung by a homosexual.
Ironically he grasps the concept better than many Christians do…he sadly doesn’t
have an answer. But in no way would he trust in his works. How sad it is to
live without grace.
When I look back upon
my life
It's always with a sense of shame
I've always been the one to blame
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's a sin
Everything I've ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I've ever been
Everywhere I'm going to
It's a sin
At school they taught me how to be
So pure in thought and word and deed
They didn't quite succeed
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's a sin
Everything I've ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I've ever been
Everywhere I'm going to
It's a sin
Father, forgive me, I tried not to do it
Turned over a new leaf, then tore right through it
Whatever you taught me, I didn't believe it
Father, you fought me, 'cause I didn't care
And I still don't understand
So I look back upon my life
Forever with a sense of shame
I've always been the one to blame
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's a sin
Everything I've ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I've ever been
Everywhere I'm going to - it's a sin
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's always with a sense of shame
I've always been the one to blame
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's a sin
Everything I've ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I've ever been
Everywhere I'm going to
It's a sin
At school they taught me how to be
So pure in thought and word and deed
They didn't quite succeed
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's a sin
Everything I've ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I've ever been
Everywhere I'm going to
It's a sin
Father, forgive me, I tried not to do it
Turned over a new leaf, then tore right through it
Whatever you taught me, I didn't believe it
Father, you fought me, 'cause I didn't care
And I still don't understand
So I look back upon my life
Forever with a sense of shame
I've always been the one to blame
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's a sin
Everything I've ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I've ever been
Everywhere I'm going to - it's a sin
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
[v]
When people speak of ‘accepting’ Jesus because
they didn’t want to go to Hell, I’m left wondering if they have really
understood the gospel. If that’s the posture of their heart, then what they’ve
embraced is akin an insurance policy or even superstition.