Liberty From Abuse
January/February 2014
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Liberty must be understood within moral limits or it becomes as oppressive and destructive as any centralized tyranny. Freedom of speech has never been taken to allow any right to shout "Fire!" in a darkened theater, and the Second Amendment's protection of the right to keep and bear arms has never been construed as an absolute right to use those weapons against others.
One of the purposes of God's law is to restrain evil. God's sanctions against certain acts limit the circle of harm and, where possible, provide redress and restitution. In particular, God's law provides the framework for freedom from abuse and liberty from tyranny. In regard to abuses emanating from those holding spiritual authority, God's primary sanction is permanent removal from office. The widespread failure to apply this Biblical sanction leads to a world of untold misery for countless victims throttled by institutional machinery working overtime to keep restitution and restoration inaccessible to them.
The Pilgrims, in their quest to be stepping-stones for freedom, had almost everything go wrong as they attempted to plant a colony in the new world. By the time they reached the shores of New England, they were poor, had barely enough provisions for the first winter, and began to die at an alarming rate. With such beginnings, it is no wonder we don't associate economic prosperity with them.
Most American missionaries suffer from a very serious handicap when they go to another culture: lack of understanding of foreign cultures. I don't mean a lack of understanding of the details of the cultural habits and customs and folklore, but lack of covenantal understanding, of the religious foundations of a culture which would oppose-intellectually and psychologically-the preaching of the gospel.
God has already given us the pattern for our generation by the successful pattern of past generations. Christendom must renounce the two-kingdom doctrine and its monastic pietism that has infected too many churches, and band together in order to advance the Calvinistic view of liberty under God. Perhaps we Christians who are committed to the comprehensive scope and meaning of the Great Commission can use the successful patterns of the past so that our nation can once again regain its rightful place as a godly city upon a hill.
Today the word mentoring is thrown around quite a lot in both Christian and non-Christian circles. It is important to be clear what makes for a godly mentoring relationship and what the goals are for deeming one as successful. First and foremost, there must be true fellowship.
Among other things, my small role in God's Kingdom is to write fantasy novels-inspired first and foremost by the Bible itself, but also by the work of R. J. Rushdoony and his teaching of Christian Reconstruction.