Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may
apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.—Phil 3.12
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A CHRISTIAN NATION. |
Excerpted from:
REFORMED HERITAGE. | ||
No. 8. |
DECEMBER, 1992. |
VOL. 2. |
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TrueCovenanter.com Editor's Introduction. The present editor wishes to express appreciation to the author of the following document, Tom Reid, for giving permission to use the document on truecovenanter.com. Mr. Reid is presently the librarian at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh. The points he expresses below are a succinct presentation of the historic Reformed Presbyterian perspective on the civil institutions of the United States. The reason used and scriptures cited will make clear that this is the only honest and biblical perspective that Christians should embrace or express when it comes to addressing political matters or the history of this nation as it transformed into an ‘independent’ political entity. 2012.12.13. |
The debate continues between those who believe that the U.S.A. began as a Christian nation but has been secularized by forces alien to its heritage, and those who believe that the U.S.A. never was a Christian nation, the “Founding Fathers” having been formed in their thinking not so much by Biblical revelation as by the so-called “Enlightenment.”
The argument can be carried on endlessly as one-liners culled from the Founding Fathers are tossed back and forth like intellectual Molotov cocktails. However, one helpful way to approach the question is to compare the government of the U.S.A. with what the Bible says the government of a Christian nation should be.
Firstly, a Christian nation would openly recognize that its own existence and the power of its government comes from the God of the Bible. “There is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God . . . For he is God’s servant to do you good . . . He is God’s servant . . . the authorities are God’s servants . . .” (Romans 13:1, 4, 6). God “sets up kings and deposes them” (Daniel 2:21). In contrast, the Declaration of Independence of the U.S.A. contains a vague reference to “Nature’s God” and the Constitution refers to the God only in its date: “the year of our Lord.”
Secondly, a Christian nation would clearly recognize Jesus Christ as its Sovereign. “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me,” he said (Matthew 28:18). Therefore, the “great commission” of the Church is to call the nations to serve Jesus Christ as Sovereign (Matthew 28:19-20)! However, the U.S.A. recognizes the President as the Head of Government; “Jesus Christ” is not mentioned in any of our founding legal documents; and the Constitution guarantees that no religion, including Christianity, may serve as the national religion.
Thirdly, a Christian nation would consistently seek to follow the laws of the Bible for the nations. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). Old Testament Israel did not please God by letting each citizen do as they wanted in the name of personal “freedom;” Israel knew God’s favor as its government regulated the life of its people in accordance with God’s Law for them. Nonetheless, the law of the U.S.A. does not rise above the vagaries of the will of the majority (the “We, the people” who produced the Constitution), tempered only by the Supreme Court’s self-appointed authority as final arbiter of the Constitution’s meaning.
A Christian nation? Whatever we were then, the Founding Fathers failed to create a Christian government for this nation. It is only now, as the commitment of the average American Christian to Biblical Christianity is at its weakest level ever, that the rotten political foundation on which we have sought to build this nation has been exposed.
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