"HOW SHALL WE THEN LIVE?" Francis Schaeffer

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Found on AlbertMohler.Com

CHRISTIAN MORALITY AND PUBLIC LAW:
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"Speaking from Christian conviction, I would finally suggest two principles for our consideration that come directly from the Word of God and from the command of Jesus. In the greatest commandment, we are told to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. The second is like it: We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. A Christian's motivation for entering the public square and advocating public policy is love of neighbor. Our concern in political, moral, social, and cultural engagement is not simply to impose Christianity--as if the mere imposition of a Christian moral code would be sufficient. Rather, our concern is love for our neighbor. We are motivated by love for other human beings, believing that health and welfare and happiness and commonweal are dependent on society's being ordered in such a way that the Creator's intentions for human relationships are honored and upheld--and that will inevitably require restrictions on human conduct. Only when the Creator's intentions for human society are upheld will His desire for human happiness also be realized among us.

As Christians, we understand the law of the harvest--as we sow, so shall we reap--and thus we must make arguments about action and consequence that deal not only with demographic and economic and cultural realities, but with issues far more important than any considered in the secular world. Love of neighbor means we are compelled out of concern for our fellow citizens to see the law and public policy rightly ordered in such a way that maximum human happiness will be achieved.

JB here: Christians have often been perceived, with good reason, as the "Thou Shalt Not" party. But the irony is this, unfettered freedom has always led to great pain and personal and corporate destruction. As a culture adheres more closely to principles of life found in ancient scripture, the culture is healthier and it is happier.
"Thou shalt not touch" the hot stove does limit one's freedom; but the benefits are clear.

Of course if you're into pain then by all means reject the tenets of ancient scripture. You will know pain.

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