Man's Desire For Peace
Editors Note:
The following text was contained in an e-mail sent to me by Paul Bishop. It's style is more
casual than Paul's normal style but it is well worth reading. Paul writes...
A friend recently sent me a quote by President Eisenhower.
"I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments
had better get out of the way and let them have it."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower 1890-1969
The friend asked me, "What do you think?" Here was my reply.
The late Dr. Francis Schaeffer wrote a book in the 1970's titled "A Christian Manifesto".
The book answers your question. I've read it about two or three times.
A short but I think fair summary of it's thesis would be:
1. The more Atheistic a nation, culture, or civilization becomes, the more unstable
it becomes. The predictable results of the Atheistic culture is disorder and anarchy. Since man
is schizophrenic, (i.e., he does NOT want God, but he DOES want the cultural stability and order
that only belief in God can produce) he looks to government to bring the stability and order
(peace) he seeks. The problem with that is the lack of belief in God produces increasing disorder
and anarchy. Then he calls for MORE government. At the same time, their Atheism is producing
(again, predictably) more disorder. Which results in more calls for MORE government. The result
is predictable. Tyranny. And so the vicious circle continues. The old saying is true. "Men who
WILL not be ruled by God (and by implication His law - the Ten Commandments) WILL be ruled by
tyrants." By the way, this call for more government from an atheistic culture is essentially
a violation of the first commandment. "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me (idiom: in my
presence). Atheists do have gods. Most simply are not honest enough to admit it.
2. The more Theistic (especially a Biblical or Judeo-Christian theism) it is,
the more stable it is. The overall tendency of the theistic culture is order and self-government
by whose law? DUHHHH! God's law. The "Operating System" for your computer is Windows. It produces
the necessary order for all the rest of what you do on your computer. An interesting statement
I read recently was that "The Ten Commandments are the 'Operating System' for any stable society," or
words to that effect. I would add for a stable personal and family life also.
3. The above two items are not accidental. They are very predictable. It's really
quite simple. If there is no God, then there really is no such thing as law. To be sure, the
state makes laws, and enforce those laws. But that doesn't mean that the laws are right. All
it means is the state has the guns and the patronage to make and enforce those laws.
So government is NOT going to get out of the way. Our national lawlessness which
flows from our national Atheism produces more anarchy, which prompts us to call for MORE government.
The answer is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The statement "ye are not under the law,
but under grace" (Romans 6:14) is much abused and much misunderstood. We are NOT under the law
- as a MEANS of salvation. Salvation is of grace. But we are still obligated to obey the law
- BECAUSE we are saved. (Romans 6:15-16) That's what the book of James is all about. That's what
the parable of the goats and sheep is all about. (Mt. 25:31-46) That's what being judged by our
works is all about. We're not saved by works. But we are going to be judged and rewarded by them.
So you can see where an abuse or misunderstanding of the relationship between Law and Grace can
lead to personal and social destruction.
As, by the way, all doctrinal or theological error predictably
will to some degree or other. The same for "freedom in Christ." My freedom in Christ is freedom
TO obey Him, NOT to disobey Him. (Rom. 6:15-16)