A previous blog, “Sovereignty: Free Family v. Controlling State,” discussed the perpetual tension between the sovereign family and the sovereign state. In recent decades, the federal government has been winning that tug-of-war at an accelerating pace that is nothing less than frightening. Here’s how:
The state breaches family sovereignty by:
- Encouraging divorce, abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide
- Removing children from their family
- Tacitly for ever increasing amounts of “education”
- Physically for an ever-widening list of alleged “abuses”
- Dilution/diffusion (ever broadening definition of “family” to include a growing list of “alternative lifestyles”)
- Increasing control over personal health, including life and death decisions
- Promoting radical feminism and materialism, which undermine and scatter the family
- Attacking the traditional amazingly complementary roles of family members
- Facilitating a progressively increasing dependence on government
- Replacing traditional family values with evolution-rooted post-modern views (no god; no absolute/objective truth; no single universal set of best values)
- Promoting multiculturalism over traditional Judeo-Christian culture and values
- Adopting a suffocating array of ever increasing over-zealous and over-reaching regulations
All is not lost. God is still in charge. By a huge majority, Americans still claim a faith in God. If they learn the importance of voting for candidates of strong character, we’ll be well on the road to recovering freedom and reducing government intrusion into family life.
The Founders referred to the right to vote as won with blood, precious, important and vital. They also often referred to voting as casting the “sacred vote.” We are called to vote for candidates of strong character, because one of our great purposes in this life is to grow in godly character. Only candidates exhibiting strong character are able to understand the importance of God-given freedom.
What do you think? Are you willing to fight and vote for freedom restoration for your children and grandchildren?
Dr. Lloyd Stebbins 
Great encouragement to utilize our voices in our votes.
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Never vote for any candidate just because you saw a name on a bunch of yard signs. We must be much more thoughtful than that. The League of Women Voters usually posts on the Internet a side by side comparison of candidate views. For merit retention of judges, there is usually a bio of the judge on the Internet. What do you think?
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Agreed, a vote just to vote without knowing the facts is foolish.
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That’s right. As the Founders contended a “sacred” vote honors God. Anything else dishonors Him. Clearly, only an informed vote can be a sacred vote. Anything else amounts to a vote to roll the dice, which most of the time will dishonor God. What do you think?
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As Christians, we can and should be involved in civil government by holding positions. Additionally, we should express our beliefs through voting. We should be grateful for and take advantage of any resource and opportunity to exert Christ-like influence upon society. However, we should do this without neglecting our higher duty to the Gospel. Some have exchanged the Gospel for politics, but it is my humble opinion that it is misguided to expect the government to be the Church’s ally and primary partner in changing the world. The state is temporal and affects only things that are temporal.
The Lord was born into a society where political corruption and autocratic rule were common. Palestine and the surrounding areas were filled with merciless tyrants, murderous dictators, and a society steeped in slavery. The Jews were a conquered people and little more than chattel to the Romans. They were an underprivileged and oppressed minority with no voice and little legal recourse for injustices. But it was against this backdrop that Jesus said to “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21)
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The Lord was definitely born into a corrupt culture. However, the United States government was originally designed to avoid such massive corruption. That’s why the Constitution put the federal government into a very tight box. The intention was that the government would be the church’s ally to the extent of guarding the God-given freedom of individuals, families, and churches, essentially protecting individual freedom and the sovereignty of both families and churches.
Before changing the world, it’s first necessary to change ourselves and our institutions internally. As politicians increasingly ignore the Constitution, the breaches of family sovereignty continue. Many people don’t understand that the freedom of individuals, and the sovereignty of families and churches are all tied together. A stress or political attack on any one of them directly affects the other two.
Of course all people of Judeo-Christian tradition should be involved in civil government through prayer, voting for candidates of strong character, and holding political positions or campaigning for candidates of strong character. If every Christian, only once in a lifetime, actively campaigned for a candidate, massive numbers of people of strong character would be swept into office. Of course, none of these activities should cause the believer to neglect a higher duty to the gospel. To an extent, it may actually be an expression of that higher duty. The Founders thought so.
In recent years, the founding document of the Manhattan Declaration also quoted, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21) The intent was to throw down the gauntlet in a very direct statement to “Caesar” (aka U.S. Government) that henceforth the body of believers would not stand for the government intruding on the “things that are God’s). The general intent was to combat the many intrusions of government into family and church life. However, the Declaration singled out for special emphasis 1) the sanctity of human life, 2) the defense of traditional marriage, and freedom of religion. It’s a fantastic document signed my many hundreds of thousands of church leaders and others; it’s easy to find on the Internet. Check it out!
Sadly, many believers have become anesthetized by an overdose of materialism and an underdose of Judeo-Christian values. The result is that instead of presenting a desirable image to outsiders, we are perceived as judgmental, narrow-minded, dupes. We have done it to ourselves. That awful image must change. We must wake up and become the change we’d like others to see. What do you think?
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No matter how lofty an ideal it may have been in the beginning, looking to government as an ally to establish God’s kingdom is ill-advised.
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Absolutely! I agree. Government’s only job is to protect the God-given freedom within which others can establish God’s kingdom. What do you think?
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Agreed!
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As a mom schooling mom, I like how your book tells of the foundational people and principles that the USA was built from. To my husband and me, George Washington is still the greatest US president.
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In recent years, it seems to have been open season on the Founders. Critics abound. However, reading the material and the quotes they left behind for all of us it becomes inescapably clear that they were endowed with uncommon wisdom. Accordingly, my book allows them to speak for themselves. There is much more to come. What do you think?
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I wholeheartedly agree with your statements about the American Family and culture. The endorsement of abortion and same sex marriage are an indictment of our lack of morals, the morals that helped to form the underpinnings of the United States. As this nation spirals further and further away from God and our moral responsibility one can almost feel the end times hurtling toward us at a frightening speed. Schools have altered American history to the point that it doesn’t even resemble what I was taught in school. Some history books even state that the holocaust never happened!
As a child protective professional for a decade, I saw first hand the utter apathy parents have sunk to in their parenting responsibilities. Many of the mothers on my caseload treated the removal of their children from their custody as a vacation and an opportunity to “party hard.” Granted, I saw only the worst of the worst, but being that as it may be, I can’t help but think that there are too many parents willing to let the public school system raise their children, or at the other extreme “helicopter parents” that think they are doing their child a service by always making excuses for their behavior and never letting the children make a decision for themselves while heaping every new gadget and gizmo on the child because he has asked for it. They spend all of their time transporting their children to this play date, to that game, or to that other after-school activity and have given up on a life of their own. Some live vicariously through their children. Others feel it is their duty to provide for every whim of the child. As a result we have an upcoming generation of adults that expect to start out in life at the top of their chosen field. What? Start at entry level and work up? No way, they see that as beneath them. Parenting is a balancing act that is mastered by few people if they were to be totally honest with themselves. Some try too hard and others are overwhelmed and/or just don’t try at all.
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Interesting comments. I teach online university-level courses. Typically, the first few days the course website is loaded with introductory or get acquainted messages. Occasionally, one of the women says, “I stay an home and take care of the kids.” My response is usually, “You don’t stay home to take care of the kids. You can pay someone to do that. You stay at home to raise the kids. There’s a world of difference.” Parenting carries an enormous responsibility to raise the children to be adults of strong character. It is the woman/wife/mother who connects past and future generations. She creates the cohesion of the family and the sustainability of the culture. When she leaves home, love leaves like air out of a flat tire. The home becomes nothing more than a building, the house where family members come for a place to sleep at night. No civilization has ever survived the breakdown of the family. What do you think?
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