In a theocracy, one religious sect rules to the exclusion of all others. In the Constitutional republic that America was created to be, there is no ruling sect , no national church, no theocracy. The Constitution's amendment stating "CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF" means two things. The Founding Fathers intended to keep government out of the business of the church, and to keep government from establishing a national religion either in name or through its policies.Where I live, we have a representative on our school board who appears to believe that the United States should be a theocracy, excluding the practice of any faith outside of Christianity. We have a significant percentage of residents in our community who practice Islam, Buddhism, and other eastern religions, not to mention all the non-Protestant churchgoers and those with no religious beliefs at all. Yet she advocates policies that prohibit students from other faiths from freely practicing their religion.
In one instance, some Islamic students stated that they were fasting for Ramadan and requested a room in which they could spend their lunch hour so they wouldn't have to spend that time in the cafeteria surrounded by food. She took a stand against granting this request! When I emailed her about it (I knew the media mis-reports things all the time, so I wanted to hear from the source what the issue was), she wrote that since Christian students have been mistreated by their school districts, she refused to let her district treat students of other faiths better!
Isn't that doing to others what they did to you? Isn't that retaliation and revenge? Isn't that doing the opposite of what Jesus called on believers to do?
- " So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12
- "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." Matthew 5:38-41
- "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king." I Peter 2:11-17
We must remember that we cannot put Jesus on the throne ourselves, as if God had need of help. We can't build a theocracy by human hands or through human means. What we can do is live God's love out every day, share the reason for the hope that we have with others, and sharpen one another into ever-increasing personal Christlikeness.
Yes, this is hard work! Too many "Christians" think they have salvation as fire insurance against hell and that they don't have to do anything else! They forget that we demonstrate our faith through our works!
James 2:12-17 "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
Incidentally, this is a major problem with Christians' response to the abortion issue -- they say "Abortion is an immoral way to handle an unwanted pregnancy," but they then turn around and act like unwanted pregnancy will go away just because abortion does. We should, with the same passion and boundless energy that we devote to anti-abortion lobbying, work to help women with an unwanted pregnancy carry their babies to term and find good homes for them.)We should also pray for a revival, remembering that revival isn't an event created by people, it is a movement of the Holy Spirit initiated by God alone. The only way real, genuine change (rather than external, skin deep change) will happen in our society is if God sparks a revival and regenerates people's hearts in huge numbers. Person by person, as the gospel spreads, people will turn from their sin and slowly, society will change as well.
