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R. J. Rushdoony wrote the following:
This is what John Adams, later second President of the U.S., wrote in his diary on February 22, 1756:
Like others of his day, Adams was a theonomist! |
In principle, Adams is advocating "Theocracy." Adams is saying we should be governed by God and His Law Book, the Bible.
In principle, John Adams is advocating "anarchy."
No, he wasn't advocating "anarchy" directly. Adams' purpose was just to praise the Bible.
But nobody in government today would ever say what Adams said: We should take the Bible for our only law book.
That's too "radical." It's "homophobic." Or something. Only a "domestic terrorist" would say something like this.
Benjamin Rush signed the Declaration of Independence and served in the Presidential administrations of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison -- each of whom came from a different political party. And of what party was Rush? He answered,
I have been alternately called an aristocrat and a democrat. I am now neither. I am a Christocrat. I believe all power. . . will always fail of producing order and happiness in the hands of man. He alone Who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him.
The overwhelming majority of church-going Christians would be appalled at the idea of abolishing all earthly governments and submitting to the government of Jesus Christ, the Messiah-King. The Bible says Jesus is the only legitimate Governor. Human governments are idolatry. In the Bible, human governors are false gods.
Where did Adams get the idea that human society requires human "gods?" He got it from the Greeks, not the Bible. From Athens, not Jerusalem.
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Rushdoony authored a book called Institutes of Biblical Law, explaining how the Bible had been used as a law book in John Adams' day, and how it could be used today. Rushdoony's "law book" is not the same kind of "law book" as those found in a law library, containing statutes and decrees of government, enforced by violent earthly enforcers. There is no verse in the Bible that anyone in our day can point to and say, "This verse gives me the right to take vengeance on my enemies (cf. Romans 12:19), extort money from others to finance my acts of vengeance, and threaten violence against anyone who tries to compete with my system of 'justice,' and God will not hold me guilty of sin for doing so."
When the Bible says we are to leave vengeance to God (Romans 12:19; quoting Deuteronomy 32:35), it's saying we should leave all "law enforcement" to God. But those who are not anarcho-capitalists are deists. They don't believe God will intervene in history to take vengeance and establish justice.
Adams wasn't literally advocating the abolition of "civil government," but I believe the Bible does. Visible, physical, earthly kings are false gods, since only God is our King.
I believe the only law book we need is the Bible. The Bible is a textbook for every subject, not just religion. In our day, that's one of the most offensive things anyone can say. "Law books" full of statutes to be enforced by government violence are created by "governments." No governments, no law books. No law books, no governments.
Every legitimate, non-sinful "service" provided by "civil government" is a service that can be provided by entrepreneurs in a Freed Market at a lower cost, in greater supply, and with higher quality. Nothing in the Bible prohibits businessmen from providing consumers with these services, in competition with those who claim to be "kings," and consumers are not prohibited by anything in Biblical Law from choosing a non-State service provider in a Freed Market. Eventually, the goal is the elimination of all visible, earthly, physical kings, as they all repent and join the Freed Market under King Jesus.
As long as they remain in power, all earthly, visible, physical kings eventually ban the Bible, because they (correctly) see the Bible as an "Anarchist Manifesto." Even once-called "Christian nations," like the U.S.A., have now banned the Bible. The primary purpose of public schools when they were created 400 years ago was to teach the Bible. This is now outlawed in the United States.
A Christian society does not need a secular Washington D.C., or even a Washington D.C. that purports to be "Christian" or "Theonomic." A purportedly Theonomic "civil government" must use violence to suppress competition, or it is no longer a "civil government." By definition, a "government" has a monopoly on the use of violence, even as it uses violence to perform otherwise good deeds like "helping the poor." Good deeds which could be better performed by a Freed Market without violence.
The Bible says God is our Lawgiver, Judge, and King (Isaiah 33:22). That's all three "branches" of government under the U.S. Constitution.
When I talk with secular Christians (those who claim to be Christians but believe in evolution, Keynesianism, Marxism, or "liberalism"), I'm always told that I cannot trust the Bible to give authoritative answers in whatever field we are discussing. The evolutionist says, "The Bible is not a textbook on geology" or biology or whatever. The Keynesian says, "The Bible is not a textbook on economics." The liberal says "The Bible is not a textbook on political science." Whatever the discipline, the Bible is "not a textbook" in that field.
The implication is clear: the Bible is only a textbook on "religion." This is no threat to the secular pseudo-Christian, because he has relegated "religion" to the "upper-story" of his life, which at best takes only one hour on Sunday morning. Religion is hermetically sealed off from every other area of life.
In fact, for these people, the Bible is not even a textbook on religion. Name one secular university religion class that uses the Bible as a textbook, that is, teaches religion as the Bible says religion should be taught. Sure, the Bible is an "exhibit" in most religion classes, along with Greek and Roman mythology, the Bhagvad Gita, and the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. But it has no more authority in the religion class than these pagan religion texts.
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If the Bible is not a textbook of science and economics, |
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When the Bible is said to not be a textbook in any area of life, then the true authority in every field is the religion of Secular Humanism.
The issue here is not facts: not science, not history, not economics, not politics. The issue is morality. The secularist is saying, "Keep your morality out of my life." What is right and what is wrong for these secularists is determined by the scientists, or the economists, or the politicians -- any "expert" but Moses and the Prophets; any authority but God.
Even worse than saying the Bible is a textbook on geology is saying that the Bible is an infallible textbook on geology. This means that when the Bible speaks of a world-wide flood at the time of Noah, there is no option but to accept it and make it the foundation of all geological theories and explanations. What makes this so offensive is not the facts that would remain unexplained by bringing the Bible into the classroom (for more facts are explained by the Bible than by uniformitarianism), but by the actions in our lives that would be scrutinized and judged by the Bible. This is what motivated the development of "the theory of evolution." The theory justifies the more highly evolved people (caucasians) ruling over the less-evolved people (non-whites). The theory of evolution justifies some people being "gods" over others. (Plus, rulers get to cheat on their wives.)
| If the Bible is a textbook for the geologist, it means he faces God's Judgment for his political life. | Darwin wrote of his victory over Noah, and his joy that the Bible was no longer a textbook on geology:
No doubt his belief produced great relief. Sir Julian Huxley articulates the secular equivalent of "whew!":
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| If the Bible is a textbook for the politician, it means he faces God's Judgment for his sexual exploitation and his perjury. | The lines were vividly drawn by Aldous Huxley, grandson of "Darwin's Bulldog," Thomas H. Huxley:
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To say that the Bible is a textbook on geology is not to say that it contains every formula, every date, every molecular structure. Consider Orlin Grabbe's textbook on International Financial Markets. While it may discuss digital cash, foreign currencies, "forwards," "swaps" and interest parity, there are many subjects it does not discuss. Does this mean it is no longer a textbook?
There are many subjects not discussed in the Bible, and many facts not mentioned. It is, nevertheless, the Word of God, and it governs us in every area of life, and whatever it states on any subject of life, it is our infallible authority. What makes this proposition so offensive is that the Bible addresses every area of our lives. God claims jurisdiction over every action, every thought.
Consider the Table of Contents from Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law. Under the pattern of the Decalogue (The Ten Commandments), Rushdoony surveys all the case laws, prophetic utterances, and the commands of the Lord and His Apostles. Decades of study are evident in hundreds of footnotes to "secular" sources, to which Biblical Law is applied in detail (over 3000 Biblical citations). It can be seen that no area of life is not addressed by God's Law. Most evangelicals would never think to apply the Bible's authoritative and concrete direction to such problems as these:
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It is obvious that The Institutes of Biblical Law is no gushy, "pious" devotional reader. It is a pathbreaking, foundational Reconstruction of Law, Politics, Jurisprudence, and Social Morality. Every Christian Lawyer should read the book from cover to cover (849 pages). Every political scientist should do the same. It is not the last word, but it is the first word in generations attempting to rigorously apply Biblical laws to the problems of contemporary society from a Bible-believing perspective. The importance of Rushdoony's Institutes and of the "Theonomic" movement in general is not in the details of their applications, but the inescapable conclusion that the Bible provides all the Law we need to apply to the facts of our lives.
Rushdoony and the Reconstructionists have completely challenged the prevailing "piety" of the Protestant and Evangelical churches. Breaking asunder the previously impenetrable barrier between the "clergy" and the "real world," Rushdoony shows how every believer-priest must apply the Word of God to every area of his life. Since its publication (1973), the Reconstructionists have continued to apply God's Word to contemporary problems in new areas and in new ways.
We may disagree with his applications and interpretations, but we must begin where Rushdoony begins: with the recognition that the Lord claims sovereignty over all the earth, and has given us His Law in written form in the Bible. Every Christian, in whatever capacity he exercises his gifts, must bring every thought captive to the lordship of Christ. Lawyers are not excepted. Nor are judges, politicians, educators, scientists, and all others involved in "secular" matters. The Bible is not an out-dated document for the "religious," for "church-workers," and for the "ordained clergy" and other ecclesiastics. God's Law governs all men.
From John M. Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God, p. 7 text+n.11:
The lordship of Christ is not only ultimate and unquestionable, not only above and beyond all other authorities, but also over all areas of human life. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 we read, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (cf. Rom. 14:23; 2 Cor. 10:5; Col 3:17, 23; 2 Tim. 3:16-17). Our Lord's demand upon us is comprehensive. In all that we do, we must seek to please him. No area of human life is neutral. note: This was the insight of the great Dutch thinker Abraham Kuyper. He saw that the lordship of Christ requires radically different Christian forms of culture. Christians should be producing distinctively Christian
• art,
• science,
• philosophy,
• psychology,
• historical and
• biblical scholarship, and
• political and
• economic systems.
And Christians should educate their children in distinctively Christian ways (note the God-saturated education urged in Deut. 6:6ff. after the challenge to love God exclusively). For many of us, such considerations mandate home schooling or Christian schools for our children, for how can we otherwise compete with up to seven hours a day of public-school secularism mandated by law? In any case, Christians may not take the easy road, uncritically following the thinking of the unbelieving world. Consider Kuyper's remark: Of all the territory in the creation, Jesus says, "It is mine."
The Bible is the foundational textbook for every area of human thought and endeavor.
I know my way around a law library. I passed the California Bar Exam, but was denied a license to practice law because America -- once a Christian nation -- is now a secular nation, and Christians cannot become attorneys (according to the Supreme Court of the United States) because their allegiance to God's Law Book trumps their allegiance to Washington D.C.'s law books. Details.
