God's Law
The world is full of many people who are ready to believe in God and in the Bible from cover to cover except where it disagrees with them.
- R. J. Rushdoony,
Position Paper No. 232
The world is full of many people who are ready to believe in God and in the Bible from cover to cover except where it disagrees with them. They would favor a shorter and revised Bible which would leave out most of the "thou shalt nots," especially where such things as sexual misconduct are concerned. They want an "inspiring" Bible rather than a commanding one, and they are therefore in favor of shorter "Bibles" which omit the law but retain inspirational texts.
The reason is simple: man is a sinner, and he wants no control, least of all by God, over his "private life," especially where sex is concerned. The term "private life" is a curious one because, no matter how much sexual privacy is sought, sex in its ramifications is very public. The consequences of adultery and homosexuality are far-reaching in any society. Private acts have social consequences. A world order built on the family is challenged by sexual sins and man's choice is an obvious one. Either such offenses as adultery, and especially homosexuality, are opposed, or else society collapses.
Some churchmen oppose adultery, homosexuality, and other sexual offenses simply because the Bible condemns them. (Too many are too cowardly to speak out.) We should condemn what God condemns, and we have no valid choice in the matter, but we need also to understand that a godly civilization requires godly living. Those whose opinion is simply, and they are many, let the world live its way and we Christians God's way are deadly wrong. First, God's law concerning sexuality is for all men. Second, a godly world order requires God's law. Since all men are created by God, all men are must be under God's law. To forget this fact is to believe in a world under man's law as the goal of history.
A brief glance at the Bible tells us that much space is given to the law and to salvation. The law tells us what the life of salvation is, one of obedience to our Lord. If we examine the literature of the sexual revolution, we see that it strikes against salvation, and it offers freedom from God's law as its way of salvation.
Take your choice, then. Antinomianism in the church, or in the sexual revolution, has as its goal the death of God. If God's law be dead, then God is dead for us. Is this what you want?
- R. J. Rushdoony
Rev. R.J. Rushdoony (1916–2001), was a leading theologian, church/state expert, and author of numerous works on the application of Biblical law to society. He started the Chalcedon Foundation in 1965. His Institutes of Biblical Law (1973) began the contemporary theonomy movement which posits the validity of Biblical law as God’s standard of obedience for all. He therefore saw God’s law as the basis of the modern Christian response to the cultural decline, one he attributed to the church’s false view of God’s law being opposed to His grace. This broad Christian response he described as “Christian Reconstruction.” He is credited with igniting the modern Christian school and homeschooling movements in the mid to late 20th century. He also traveled extensively lecturing and serving as an expert witness in numerous court cases regarding religious liberty. Many ministry and educational efforts that continue today, took their philosophical and Biblical roots from his lectures and books.