God’s Law and Understanding the Separation of Church and State
Introduction
In a recent exchange with a person on Facebook over how Christians should respond to questions concerning Covid-19 mandates, one person wrote:
To be fair, biblical stuff shouldn't rule our government. We're supposed to have separation of church and state for a reason, It can't really be your main argument... As for the vaccine.. I really see both sides; it's not right to push a vaccine an deny business etc to those who don't want it for religious reasons or trama etc. But people are dropping like fly's... We're having a global emergency and this can help end it…
I humbly disagree concerning "biblical stuff" not ruling our government. Hear me out.
The Reason Behind the Separation of Church and State
I agree 100% with the separation of Church and State. The State should never take power to establish a religion, nor should they claim "headship" of the Church. Many people throughout history fought for and died opposing the State's takeover of the Church. Nor should the Church assume Roman's 13 role of the State. God gave the power of the "sword," i.e., the power to punish evildoers, to the "higher power."
Who Defines “Evil”?
But the question, however, is who defines "evil"?
This is the heart of why "biblical stuff" is the main argument. If "evil" is defined by the legislature, by a dictator, or the mob you have tyranny. The passing of HB6432 is case in point. The legislators and the governor made a moral judgment that children of a certain age must be vaccinated to attend school with no religious exemption, and centers of higher education must require up-to-date vaccines as well.
What is law but the establishment of a moral code, and what is a moral code founded upon? If it is based upon Humanism, in whatever form that may take, then the State has every "right" to establish what morals they deem necessary. They have that right either because the People have given them that right or they have that right by force or the threat of force. After all, they have the POWER to do so through direct force or the threat of force.
God Defines Good and Evil
The Biblical argument is that there is a Higher Law that transcends human law. This Higher Law does not change with the passage of time, the passage of a bill, or at the whim of who holds power. The Ten Commandments are rooted in the character of the one and only Trinitarian God who revealed Himself in His self-authenticating Bible. The Bible reveals that He is unchanging, and thereby, His Law is constant as well.
Evil, then, is defined by the God of the Bible and no one and nothing else. He defines what is good and evil, not humanity. This is the point, incidentally, of Genesis 3. Adam and Eve decided for themselves what was good and evil, rather than founding this in the unchanging character of God. God said that eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was evil. Satan planted doubt as to who defined good and evil by undermining the revealed word of God by asking the question, "Did God really say….?" (Genesis 3:1)
If the Law of God is founded in anything or anyone else, this law can and will be changed by whoever is in power. And that is precisely what the passage of HB6423 did. The State of Connecticut defined that day what they deem good and what they deem is evil.
The Separation of State and Law
In short, I agree with the separation of Church and State, but I do not agree with the separation of the State and God's Law. As soon as you allow for that, you have the rule of Humanism, and we've seen the results of that in States who fully adopted this religious system in the communist Soviet Union and China, for example.
Ultimately, the battle we are in is between two religions; the religion of the God of the Bible and the religion of Humanism. Both have their foundations. Christianity is rooted in the unchanging character of the one and only self-existing Trinitarian God who has revealed Himself, and thereby His Law, in the pages of the self-attesting Bible. Everything else is rooted in the changeable whims of fallible human beings.
I'll put my trust in the former, never the latter, so help me God.