Gary responds to a statement from Hawaiian Sen. Mazie Hirono claiming that we have no idea what the Founding Fathers believed.
One way to keep Christians out of the public arena, especially in the realm of politics, is to claim that there is a separation between Church and State. The argument is based on the assumption that in biblical times Church and State were merged, and in modern times the First Amendment separates the two institutions. Supposedly, under biblical law, priests ruled over elders, judges, and kings. If this is the case, so the argument goes, the Bible cannot be used in our modern pluralistic society where the Constitution forbids the State to be ruled by ecclesiastical officers. Church and State were not merged in the Bible, and the Constitution does not mention a Church-State separation because the institutions were already jurisdictionally separate in the colonial era. Max I. Dimont, writing in Jews, God, and History, sets the historical record straight:
In the Mosaic Code the civil authority was independent of the priesthood. Though it is true that the priesthood had the right to settle cases not specifically covered by Mosaic law (Deuteronomy 17:8–12), that did not place it above the civil government. The priesthood was charged with the responsibility of keeping this government within the framework of Mosaic law, just as the United States Supreme Court is not above the federal government but is, nevertheless, charged with the responsibility of keeping it within the framework of the Constitution.[1]
The Bible teaches that there are multiple jurisdictions with specified functions and limits of authority and power: family, Church, and State.[2] Each of these governments has its own jurisdictional boundaries. In Israel, the torah (law) was viewed as the authority for all three governments. While the standard of law was the same, not all laws could be applied in the same way under each jurisdiction. For example, a father could discipline his own child for an infraction, but he could not discipline another family’s child, excommunicate a church member, or impose and carry out the death penalty on a criminal who committed a capital crime. While the State has the authority to try and execute convicted murderers and impose other civil penalties, individuals, families, and churches do not.
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths takes a closer look at God's Word and applies it to erroneous misinterpretations of the Bible that have resulted in a virtual shut-down of the church's full-orbed mission in the world (Acts 20:27). Due to these mistaken interpretations and applications of popular Bible texts to contemporary issues, the Christian faith is being thrown out and trampled under foot by men (Matt. 5:13).
Buy NowGary responds to a statement from Hawaiian Sen. Mazie Hirono claiming that we have no idea what the Founding Fathers believed. Sen. Hirono is trying to reinterpret the Constitution for her own purposes and wants to disregard the thousands and thousands of pages of books, letters, and articles written by the Founding Fathers describing exactly what they believed and why they wrote the Constitution the way they did.
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[1] Max I. Dimont, Jews, God, and History (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962), 47.
[2] Gary DeMar, God and Government (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1982—1986).