Okay, today I'm going to change gears a little bit. I dearly love digging into the Bible and unearthing the things that God says in there, which we did a little bit yesterday. I honestly believe that we Christians actually don't get the severity of God's commands, will, and design often enough, and therefore, we have a lessened understanding of just how amazing God's grace is. But I will dwell on that a little more in a couple of future posts.
But for a moment, let's change gears and think about something that I honestly believe gets highly confused in our nation and in our day and time. As Americans, one of the sayings that is consistently brought before us is that there is a separation of church and state. The state (i.e., the ruling authorities) cannot dictate what people are to believe. The church (i.e., the gatherings of all religious groups) does not rule according to their particular tenets of faith and belief.
Now, I put this before us for this reason. If we truly believe that there is to be a separation between the church and the state, then that means that the law of the land may not necessarily be in line with what a faith gathering believes. As an example, I lived for a good amount of time in Utah, where there are many who belong to the Mormon faith. This particular emphasis on the difference between the church and the state affect many who adhere to that particular faith. Mormons, at least traditionally, held to the idea of polygamous marriage (that is, a man having more than one wife). However, the state in the past has only recognized the union of one man with one woman. While this stance may have had an impact on the legal definition of marriage for those of the Mormon faith, there are those who held that their particular beliefs meant that a man could marry additional women, but only one would be recognized by the state. The others would be practiced in the context of their religious union. What the Mormon would believe would be contrary to the law of the land, and would have an impact on how they legally live in the land, even if they would find alternatives to live out their faith in the context of the state.
What I want to put out here for us to think about today is simply this. If we truly do believe that there is and should be a separation of church and state, then that means that we shouldn't be overly concerned when the state defines things differently than the church does. Yes, it may have a great deal of impact on how we have to do certain things, but because there is a separation, we honestly should not get too up in arms when the state changes how it views certain matters. Yes, we pray that the state will see the wisdom of God as He outlines things. Yes, we pray that the state would work to preserve the value of life and protect its citizens. Yes, we pray that God will work to influence the state in positive ways. We do all these and more because we are citizens of the state, even as we realize that we are only temporary citizens here.
As we think about the state re-defining what constitutes marriage, we realize that it will affect us personally in some form or fashion. We also realize that the state is not mandated to hold to the particular beliefs of the church (even while we would hope and pray that they would see the wisdom of doing so). They are, after all, two different entities. So if the state changes the way something, such as marriage, is defined, we realize that there will be an impact on us, but we don't lose heart. After all, our hope is not in how the state defines things, but in the fact that our God has forgiven us and given us a permanent home through Jesus.
But for a moment, let's change gears and think about something that I honestly believe gets highly confused in our nation and in our day and time. As Americans, one of the sayings that is consistently brought before us is that there is a separation of church and state. The state (i.e., the ruling authorities) cannot dictate what people are to believe. The church (i.e., the gatherings of all religious groups) does not rule according to their particular tenets of faith and belief.
Now, I put this before us for this reason. If we truly believe that there is to be a separation between the church and the state, then that means that the law of the land may not necessarily be in line with what a faith gathering believes. As an example, I lived for a good amount of time in Utah, where there are many who belong to the Mormon faith. This particular emphasis on the difference between the church and the state affect many who adhere to that particular faith. Mormons, at least traditionally, held to the idea of polygamous marriage (that is, a man having more than one wife). However, the state in the past has only recognized the union of one man with one woman. While this stance may have had an impact on the legal definition of marriage for those of the Mormon faith, there are those who held that their particular beliefs meant that a man could marry additional women, but only one would be recognized by the state. The others would be practiced in the context of their religious union. What the Mormon would believe would be contrary to the law of the land, and would have an impact on how they legally live in the land, even if they would find alternatives to live out their faith in the context of the state.
What I want to put out here for us to think about today is simply this. If we truly do believe that there is and should be a separation of church and state, then that means that we shouldn't be overly concerned when the state defines things differently than the church does. Yes, it may have a great deal of impact on how we have to do certain things, but because there is a separation, we honestly should not get too up in arms when the state changes how it views certain matters. Yes, we pray that the state will see the wisdom of God as He outlines things. Yes, we pray that the state would work to preserve the value of life and protect its citizens. Yes, we pray that God will work to influence the state in positive ways. We do all these and more because we are citizens of the state, even as we realize that we are only temporary citizens here.
As we think about the state re-defining what constitutes marriage, we realize that it will affect us personally in some form or fashion. We also realize that the state is not mandated to hold to the particular beliefs of the church (even while we would hope and pray that they would see the wisdom of doing so). They are, after all, two different entities. So if the state changes the way something, such as marriage, is defined, we realize that there will be an impact on us, but we don't lose heart. After all, our hope is not in how the state defines things, but in the fact that our God has forgiven us and given us a permanent home through Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment