Zeal For Truth

Author’s Note: This article arose from a discussion following last Friday’s set of links. It was buried in the comments of that piece and is being brought out separately for consideration as part of its own case. For clarity and consistency, there have been some changes and additions to the original post.

Because there is no specific (or implied) biblical mandates for how we are to address the secular legality of drugs and prostitution (some would stop me here and cite certain commandments, but I will deal with those later). Indeed, there is very little political philosophy in the bible at all - we must use a different approach. One legitimate way to determine biblicality then, is to draw logical conclusions from the fundamental nature of God revealed in scripture. There may also be related or implied passages that can then be applied with the knowledge of God’s character. To start, let’s explore the fundamental nature of God, as it relates to these issues.

God Unilaterally Grants, Respects and Supports Free-will through Allowing Choice
God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree, but he left the tree in the garden (Genesis 2:9). He left the choice available to them (and they chose poorly). God gave his law to the people and allowed them to chose if they would follow him (Joshua 24:14-15) - he did not make them robots which unconditionally loved him. Jesus died for all mankind and God desires that all men be saved (2 Peter 3:9), but he doesn’t force them into heaven. He does not force them to repent and believe. He educates, he explains the consequences, he unabashedly reveals his desire that men would turn from sin (and drugs and prostitution are sins, morally evil in the sight of God) but yet he does not whisk the drugs and lust away as he well could.

God holds absolute respect for the order he gave the world, and the freedom he gave man. He demonstrates his love by declaring, in frank terms, the consequences for evil that man will bring upon himself if he continues to chose poorly. God’s respect of freewill is based on education, love and choice not on fear and control (2 Timothy 1:7).

Each individual man is responsible for his own sins. Fathers aren’t punished for their son’s sins. God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. A sin that anyone commits, from lies, murder, drug-use, lust, fornication, etc… is soley accountable to the man who did it. No one else is punished (Ezekiel 18:20).

Real Change Only Comes Through Conversion
The only way a man can make morally good choices is through conversion, otherwise he is darkness (Ephesians 5:8). It is not compliance with God’s law, in and of itself, which converts a man. God’s law is an educational tool, not a list of requirements. Obedience to the law is totally unable to produce actual inward change (conversion). Conversion takes place by education about the law (Psalm 19:7).

The law reveals that man is sinful and requires a supernatural change (Romans 3:20). Through understanding the purpose of the law, he is empowered to seek Gods power to convert his soul and make wise, morally good choices. But God still does not remove the choices, reminding the man whenever he choses evil, that he must depend on God for goodness, not on his own willpower. Were God to remove choice after conversion, man would consider God’s work a one-time-only solution, and not a consistent change in lifestyle for the rest of his life. The converted man now despises sin and is convicted when he sins - the unconverted man has no ability to gauge sin, and has only the inward inclination to continue in sin, without a real desire to change. Sin is not effectively addressed without conversion. Christians have no other solution or alternative to see man actually turn from sin.

Prohibitions on drugs and prostitution are a tremendous detriment to conversion, which is the called work of the church. By forcing the right choice (by removing wrong choices), we disable a man to chose correctly. It is required of a man to humble himself and chose to follow God - this is the responsibility associated with free-will (Micah 6:8). In order to turn from sin, there must be sin to turn from - otherwise it’s a false choice. God is smart enough not to do this, are Christians smart enough to obey God?

Christians Must Emulate God
As Christians (”Christ-like”, “little Christs”) it is our job to emulate God (Ephesians 5:1) not to do things our way, and violate his order. That means we must never (because God does not ever) violate free-will. He has given us no permission to do so and will not because he himself does not violate his own order.

We see that God will act on behalf of innocents to protect them from violations of their free-will by others. And, not surprisingly in perfect consistency, man is given jurisdiction to protect against violations of the above (Gen 9:6), not to violate God’s order and infringe these things. There was, at least, some Christian foundation to our country, as these principles were enshrined in the declaration of Independence. Namely, that

…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

How Should the Christian Deal With All Sin?
To determine what the Christian should do, we must determine what God does. God will punish sin in the day of judgment. His “punishment” though, is interesting because it is a punishment of ultimate permission. That is, God submits his desire that all would be saved to the principle of free-will, and allows man an eternity of total absence from God and all things pertaining to his nature (love, joy, goodness, hope, light, etc…). God’s punishment is not a negative punishment, but a positive one. It affirms man’s freewill rather than deny it (Galatians 6:7).

Libertarians are often criticized in the same way God is for being “harsh” or “cold” because the natural consequences for sin (not crimes [which is a social function to be dealt with separately, in a moment]) are brutal. A person who abuses drugs, for example, will lose his health, property, friends, family and life very quickly (Proverbs 22:8). A person who is slothful will become impoverished, unhealthy and probably shorten his life as well (Ecclesiastes 11:4). These are natural consequences built into the laws of the universe, and outlined in scripture.

God has compassion on humanity, and has (without violating free-will) intervened to educate, warn, caution and compel men to convert. Whereas it is the call of the radical Muslim, for example, that all must “convert or die,” but God actually says “convert or else I will let you go.” The Christian emulates this attitude for sin - by laying out the consequences, warning, compelling, convicting, reminding even pleading. Christian who understand this know that, for example, a man who defiles his body with the sin of homosexuality is not locked up by the church against his will and prevented for choosing good or bad. Nor is anyone who tempts him into homosexual acts locked up. Gossips are not forced to have their mouth taped shut, or their ears plugged (although, it is tempting!).

These people aren’t “punished” or even hedged against themselves by preventative measures because God himself does no such thing. Even the Holy Spirit, when he indwells believers is a gentleman, and will not force himself on someone (Luke 11:13).

Finally, Application to the Issue
How is the sin of prostitution or drug use any different? The ridiculous solutions used above for gossip and homosexuality are actually used in drug use and prostitution! Drugs are banned and women who practice fornication are locked up. This is the same erroneous logic that gun-control advocates endorse - ban guns, as though the sin of murder has anything to do with guns?

The law is not a means to perfect God’s people - Paul addresses this in Hebrews often (the back half of chapter 7, especially). It is most definitely not a mechanism to “make moral” a society or nation. Attempting to achieve morality by works alone is legalism. Rather than saying “your morality, or your life,” the Christian is to use the law to show a man his sin, not to convict him of actual crimes. If this were the case, when a person admits that they are a liar, thief or adulterer, I should be calling the police. I do not see this view endorsed by scripture. Conversion - which is the objective of the law - happens by spiritual change, not by police, courts and jails.

God’s concern is that the sin would be repented of - as this is the only way to get rid of sin. Banning the sin in secular society doesn’t accomplish that aim, for one, and it does nothing to encourage repentance (which is what the Lord wants). The law is there to bring knowledge of sin, which leads to repentence. It is not there to prevent man from sinning, as though that is somehow going to bring about real righteousness.

Common Objections
The first objection is that God clearly bans sins such as adultery and pharmakia (drug use) in scripture. Even the ten commandments clearly show:

Thou Shalt not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14)

Following this, I should presume that laws should be made prohibiting adulterers, liars, coveters, blasphemers, idolaters and anyone who doesn’t honor the sabbath, as these things are all clearly declared wrong in scripture. Not only should they be morally reprehensible and considered sin, but all societies must follow through and prohibit them legally.

But the passage does not indicate at all that adultery is to be illegal. It is wrong, it is not to be done, it is unacceptable for God’s people to break this law (and we read later that there are consequences). But I see no biblical mandate to make it illegal in secular society, and actually have trials, punishment and government authority to regulate fidelity in marriage. There is no way to derive this from the passage.

There is also a passage in Leviticus 20:10 that could be trouble:

The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.

It looks like God does indeed support government punishment for adultery. But the society referred to in Leviticus 20:10 is a theocratic society with God and/or his appointed representative. The law being made is for a specific group which made a contract with God and agreed to abide by his leadership. There is no precedent here commanding that gentile nations, with secular governments, are required to prohibit by law adultery.

Moreover, free-will is supported in this example. Israel had a specific and special free-will contract with God. They weren’t stuck with the deal and had the free-will to leave the direct rule of God (Joshua 24:14-15). God was not violating their ability to chose - ever.

The fact is, Israel had a pretty good deal from God, and it makes perfect sense that God expected a certain order. This, however, it not follow that all peoples, all cultures, in all places, in all times are legitimate in legislating mosaic law on people not under contract.

Little Children, Keep Yourself From Idols
As Christians, we know that power is a legitimate idol. Whereas following the 10 commandments is not idolatry (except to exalt one’s self in false righteousness), mankind desiring to be a god, that is to have a form of the power that defines such an entity, is idolatry. The pharisees, for example, were idolaters - they had put their laws, and their power to make them, ahead of God. They took for themselves authority they had no right to. Worshiping a king is idolatry. Worshiping a philosophy is idolatry. Worshiping power is idolatry. Even if those things are wrapped in biblical language and tradition - it is still idolatry, albeit in sheep’s clothing. In fact, this is the very nature of the anti-Christ and (I suspect) the reason why he will be able to deceive so many.

It’s not our job as Christians to throw people in jail for sin, it is our job to educate them about sin, its consequences and an alternative choice to dying in sin. Whether Christians are in society that bans certain sins, or not - the Christian mission does not change. It’s not the Christian’s job to start having protests over banning/ending laws either way. They can as a citizen of a nation which values or requires these actions (voting, protest, public discourse), but they have no biblical mandate to support or oppose such laws in secular society as a Christian.

The exception is if support for laws or making them is done out of sinful motives. A Christian supporting drug prohibitions so he can use heroin, is motivated by sin. A Christian supporting drug prohibitions so that he can exercise authority or exalt himself as a god or self-righteous man, is motivated by sin.

This has always been a flaw in mankind - the desire to be a god. The problem is that we do not posses the perfect justice of God and thus make poor laws, enforce them inconsistently and corrupt society - generating more sin, not less. As Christians, we think we know God and thus have a right to do things in his name - and so we give ourselves authority that even God does not take.

Christians should not support these laws because God does not support anything about them - neither their principle, their motives, their effects (intended and unintended) or their justification.