{"id":37,"date":"2015-09-08T13:01:51","date_gmt":"2015-09-08T17:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/?p=37"},"modified":"2015-09-13T20:44:45","modified_gmt":"2015-09-14T00:44:45","slug":"lord-of-soul-and-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/index.php\/2015\/09\/08\/lord-of-soul-and-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord of Soul and State: The Duty Of Christians to Mix Politics and Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cReligion and politics don\u2019t mix\u201d is a mantra taught throughout the United States as indisputable, absolute truth (along with the mantra that \u201call truth is relative\u201d), but Christians owe their first allegiance to God, and any view of the relationship between church and state must conform to \u201cThus saith the Lord.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

God Rules Over All: \u00a0The Soul and the State<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The idea of a Christianity that saves souls but leaves politics alone is a double-minded, unfaithful Christianity.\u00a0 First, a finite God, one that does not rule over the State, cannot guarantee eternal salvation for your soul, because if God does not rule over every area of life, then there would be nothing to prevent that area of life outside of God\u2019s control from obstructing the salvation of your soul at some point during eternity.\u00a0 A finite God would be surrounded by a mysterious universe bigger than himself.\u00a0 Only an absolute ruler of the universe could guarantee the promise of eternal salvation.\u00a0 There is no guarantee that good will ultimately triumph over evil, if everything is not under God\u2019s control.\u00a0 The mysterious chaos beyond God could overwhelm Him and end God\u2019s very existence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, salvation has no meaning unless God is absolute, because if God is not absolute, then there is no absolute standard of good to sin against. \u00a0If there is no sin, then there is no need for salvation from sin.\u00a0 Subject to forces beyond himself, a finite god would be a standard of ethics in flux and subject to legitimate ethical challenge by forces outside of him.<\/span><\/p>\n

The God of the Bible is not like the finite gods of the ancient pagans, who had one god for the seas, another for the trees, etc.\u00a0 Neither is the Biblical God like the finite gods of the modern world, ones that are merely gods of people\u2019s private lives and the afterlife.\u00a0 \u201cReligion is a private matter, not a public matter\u201d is only true if God is finite.\u00a0 That is not the Christian God.\u00a0 Rather, \u201cFor all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens\u201d (Psalm 96:5).\u00a0 As Creator of the material world, His rule is not just over \u201cspiritual\u201d matters.\u00a0 He is the Lord of all.\u00a0 He is the great \u201cI am\u201d (Exodus 3:14), the source of all existence.\u00a0 \u201cIn Him we live and move and have our being\u201d (Acts 17:28).\u00a0 \u201cFor from Him and to Him and through Him are all things, to Him be the glory forever.\u00a0 Amen\u201d (Romans 11:36).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As divine<\/span><\/i>, the second person of the Trinity, this comprehensive rule applies to Jesus Christ:\u00a0 \u201cFor by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities\u2014all things were created through Him and for Him. \u00a0And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together\u201d (Colossians 1:16-17).\u00a0 Not only that, but as the Messiah<\/i>who conquered sin and the curse of sin as far as they are found, God the Father has appointed the ascended Messiah as ruler of all things, including the State.\u00a0 Psalm 2<\/cite> declares:<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, \u201cLet us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.\u201d \u00a0He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, \u201cAs for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.\u201d I will tell of the decree:\u00a0 The LORD said to me, \u201cYou are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Likewise, Psalm 110:1<\/cite> also says:\u00a0 \u201cThe Lord said to my Lord, \u2018Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 And Isaiah prophesied, \u201cFor to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder\u201d (9:6<\/a><\/cite>).\u00a0 While some have claimed that Christ only serves as a priest in the present age and reigns as king only after His second coming, Christ is a priest in the order of Melchizedek, who was simultaneously a priest and a king, as is explained in Hebrews 7<\/cite>.\u00a0 Moreover, Peter declared on the day of Pentecost that these Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah\u2019s kingship were fulfilled at Christ\u2019s ascension into heaven (Acts 2:34-36).\u00a0 And Paul also explains that God \u201craised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. \u00a0And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church\u201d (Eph. 1:20-22).\u00a0 And Philippians 2:9-11 says, \u201cGod has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Immediately prior to His ascension, Christ himself declared:\u00a0 \u201cAll authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations\u201d (Matt. 28:18-19).\u00a0 John describes Him as \u201c. . . Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth\u201d (Rev. 1:5).\u00a0 Echoing Psalm 2, John also describes Christ in Revelations 19:15-16:\u00a0 \u201cFrom his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. \u00a0On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Why should a State government submit to Christ\u2019s rule when everyone in that State is not a Christian?\u00a0 First, because even if they are not Christians, they are God\u2019s creatures, whether they want to acknowledge it or not, and Christ is God.\u00a0 Second, even if all people and governments don\u2019t acknowledge Christ as their Savior, they ought to:\u00a0 \u201cevery knee should<\/i> bow, in heaven and on earth\u201d (Phil. 2:10)\u2013the word \u201cshould\u201d signifies a moral imperative.\u00a0 And in the course of history, every knee will eventually bow, or else be destroyed:\u00a0 \u201cFor he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet\u201d (1 Cor. 15:25).<\/a><\/span>[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Since God rules over all, rebellion against God involves all areas of life, including the political; therefore Christ\u2019s work of redemption from sin and His Messianic reign must extend to all areas of life, including the political.\u00a0 The idea that religion is a private affair and that religion and politics should be kept separate is not an idea that Christians can agree with.\u00a0 The gods of other religions may be kept in a box, but the God and Savior of Christianity rules over all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Myth of Neutrality<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The modern U.S. Supreme Court claims that the State should be neutral toward religion.\u00a0 But since God rules over all things, there is nothing in life that can be neutral toward God.\u00a0 Nothing is secular in life, except as a false interpretation of life.\u00a0 Religious neutrality of the State only makes sense if God is finite and does not speak to the State.\u00a0 But since the God of the Bible is not finite, the claim of neutrality is really a rejection of God.\u00a0 Ignoring God\u2019s commandments to the State is not neutrality toward God.\u00a0 It is anti-God.\u00a0 If the Bible requires that a person be executed for a particular crime, and some other view of ethics forbids it, then both views cannot be followed.\u00a0 There cannot be neutrality between them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The secularists have their own \u201cgod\u201d in the sense of an ultimate authority. Some ultimate standard of right and wrong will be used to judge whether laws are good or bad. \u00a0The secularist god is the State, or Humanity, or some other created thing.\u00a0 The myth of neutrality is a deceptive way to exclude the God of the Bible in favor of one of the false gods of man.<\/a><\/span>[2]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>In practice it leads to the view that the State is prohibited<\/i> from acknowledging that God exists and that His law must be obeyed, leaving atheist views of the ethics as the only legitimate guides for the State.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Can We Rely on Non-Christian Views of Justice?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

If the standard for the laws of the State do not come from God, where could they come from?\u00a0 Aside from the fact that to ask such a question assumes the anti-Christian view that God is not absolute, how could there be standards of right and wrong without God?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is matter to give us standards of right and wrong?\u00a0 No, because right and wrong are not physical objects.\u00a0 \u201cDo not steal\u201d cannot be isolated in a test tube, or seen with a microscope or telescope.\u00a0 Are right and wrong to be determined by careful, \u201cscientific\u201d observations of what is most beneficial for the human species?\u00a0 No, because \u201cbeneficial\u201d itself is a value judgment, not a material object.\u00a0 In a materialistic world, a world without value, not even the choice of life over death would be a value.\u00a0 And observations by finite<\/i> humans, even if they are really smart scientists, cannot serve as the ultimate source of universal<\/i> principles of justice.\u00a0 Observations of what is<\/i> cannot, by themselves, tell us what ought<\/i> to be; observations cannot give us a goal for human behavior.\u00a0 A universal God who reveals His standards to us must be presupposed to account for universal standards of justice that can be applied to and by the State.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shall we look for the standards of the State in a realm of impersonal concepts, as Plato did?\u00a0 No, first, because only persons can be moral.\u00a0 Impersonal abstractions can no more be moral than impersonal matter, such as a chunk of rock, can be moral.\u00a0 Second, the Platonic view places the standards of the State in a realm that excludes the material world that we live in.\u00a0 The world of ideas was real, and the world of matter an illusion, in Plato\u2019s philosophy.\u00a0 Immanuel Kant\u2019s view of ethics faces a similar problem:\u00a0 The standard of ethics is an empty abstraction that cannot even be known, and even if it could, it would be useless because this abstract realm excludes all the particulars of the changing world of human experience.\u00a0 The Christian view of ethics has no such problem because the absolute Creator is the source of both morality and matter, thus the two are always relevant to each other.\u00a0 God\u2019s law never becomes outdated or irrelevant because God is in control of history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Secular ethics is philosophically bankrupt, as has been acknowledged more and more often by philosophers in our \u201cpost-modern\u201d era.\u00a0 As one philosophy professor has acknowledged,<\/span><\/p>\n

I will put the current situation as sharply as possible:\u00a0 there is today no way of \u201cproving\u201d that napalming babies is bad except by asserting it (in a louder and louder voice), or by defining it as so, early in one\u2019s game, and then later slipping it through, in a whisper, as a conclusion.\u00a0 Now this is a fact of modern intellectual life so well and painfully known as to be one of the few which is simultaneously horrifying and banal.<\/a>[3]<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Without an objective standard of ethics, secular political theory must reduce to every man creating his own standards of justice, which is pure anarchy; or the State is allowed to arbitrarily create its own standard of justice, which is totalitarianism.\u00a0 When there is no God to restrain the State, the one with the most might will ultimately determine what is right<\/i>.\u00a0 Only the Christian worldview can account for political freedom within the bounds of just laws.\u00a0 To the extent that the United States or any other nation that professes to be independent of religious foundations exhibits freedom and justice, then it is being inconstant with its God-denying claims, and is often borrowing from Christian principles from a more explicitly Christian past without acknowledging it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>There is no alternative to Christian ethics.\u00a0 The State has no other place to turn except God to determine what laws are just, what laws are unjust, and what the extent of the State\u2019s jurisdiction is.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The Natural Law Cop-Out<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Christians often appeal to \u201cnatural law\u201d as a convenient excuse for escaping explicitly Christian involvement in politics while still claiming to hold to a Christian view of the State.\u00a0 This is called the \u201cTwo Kingdom View\u201d in Lutheran theology.\u00a0 But if the Bible is true and God is absolute, then rebellion against God will not be limited to only a portion of life.\u00a0 The rule<\/i> of an absolute God will be reflected in all areas of life, thus rebellion<\/i> against God will manifest itself in all areas of life.\u00a0 \u201cNatural law\u201d becomes natural idolatry as nature is interpreted by unregenerate minds.\u00a0 God has indeed revealed His law in nature (Romans 1 and 2), but those in rebellion against God \u201csuppress the truth in unrighteousness\u201d (Rom. 1:18).\u00a0 They can \u201cshow the work of the law\u201d (Rom. 2:15), but their sinfulness does not make them a reliable guide.\u00a0 Since God rules over all life, and rebellion against God manifests itself in every area of life, then God\u2019s redemptive revelation\u2014the Bible\u2014must speak to all areas of life.\u00a0 The Bible must be the explicit guide and absolute authority for the legislation, execution, and interpretation<\/a>[4]<\/a> of just laws for the State.<\/span><\/p>\n

Martin Luther is claimed to have said, \u201cI\u2019d rather be ruled by a competent Turk than an incompetent Christian.\u201d<\/a><\/span>[5]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>This idea fails to connect with the issues that have been presented here.\u00a0 The Bible says the following about how to choose a ruler:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Choose wise and discerning and experienced men.” Deut. 1:13<\/span><\/p>\n

“And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. \u00a0Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such<\/i> over them to be<\/i> rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all times.” Exodus 18:20-22<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/span>For one thing, we can see that Luther presents a false dilemma.\u00a0 In the verses above, the rulers should be \u201cable\u201d and \u201cexperienced,\u201d not merely ones that \u201cfear God.\u201d\u00a0 The question is whether you should choose an experienced non-Christian politician or an experienced<\/i> Christian politician.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, rulers should be people who have been taught God\u2019s statutes and laws\u2014the ones delivered by God by special revelation.\u00a0 They are not to be left to follow their fallen reason to find God\u2019s law in nature.\u00a0 There is a need for redemptive revelation that guides every area of life because sin affects all areas of life.\u00a0 Luther\u2019s quote fails to recognize that, while a non-Christian may do the works of the law (Romans 2:14-15), the unregenerate will be less inclined to follow God\u2019s law, whether it is found in nature or the Bible:\u00a0 \u201cFor the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.\u201d\u00a0 (Romans 8:7)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cPolitics is Corrupt\u201d Cop-Out<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The claim here is that politics always involves compromise to get things done, so Christians cannot participate without being corrupted by sin.\u00a0 But how is that different from any church?\u00a0 There are no perfect churches.\u00a0 Decisions of the church and committees within churches are reached by compromise.\u00a0 Not everyone is happy.\u00a0 God has given His standards for the State, and the inability of Christians to reform all legislation to God\u2019s standard all at once is no excuse for not achieving justice to the extent of their ability. \u00a0\u00a0Gradualism is morally acceptable.\u00a0 Even Jesus did not heal everyone or save every soul in his earthly ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cThat\u2019s God\u2019s Job\u201d Cop-Out<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Another claim is that God\u2019s kingdom comes by God\u2019s power, not man\u2019s effort, so Christians should make no effort to conform the State to God\u2019s law.<\/a>[6]<\/a><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>There are some things that only God can do, but God has given us His laws for the State and expects us to live by them.\u00a0 God is sovereign over the State, but that does not exclude human responsibility.\u00a0 For Christians to \u201cbring in the kingdom\u201d in the sense of making the State more Christian does not mean that lawless violence should be used to take over the State, as I more fully explain next.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Imposing Our Views on Others by Law<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>But even if Christians believe that God\u2019s law is the perfect standard of justice, do we have the right to impose that law on non-Christians?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 All law is a matter of imposing a view on others.\u00a0 If everyone agreed with the laws, lawbreakers would never have to be punished.\u00a0 The one who steals or kills does not want the prohibitions against those acts imposed on him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Who decides which law will be imposed?\u00a0 The answer in the West is that democracy is the means of deciding who will make the laws.\u00a0 Nothing in this essay implies a rejection of the democratic process.\u00a0 In fact, Western Civilization follows the democratic process largely because of the formative Christian influence on it in the past.\u00a0 Led by Oliver Cromwell, the Calvinists of England asserted the rights of representatives of the people against the despotism of the king in England\u2019s Glorious Revolution.\u00a0 The Puritans applied their church government structure to\u00a0the State, giving us representational democracy (a.k.a. the republican form of government).\u00a0 Later, the American Revolution mirrored the English Revolution in asserting the rights of representatives of the people against the despotic rule of the King of England.\u00a0 One of the influential books at the time of the American Revolution was a book called The Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants<\/i> by Junius Brutus, who defended the republican form of civil government from the Bible.\u00a0 He pointed out that, although God sometimes directed His prophets to anoint His choice for the next king, no king of Israel took power until all the people of Israel, or least their representatives, elected him as king (2 Sam. 16:18):\u00a0 David (2 Sam. 2:4, 5:1-3);\u00a0 Solomon (2 Chron. 29:22-23); Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:1); Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:20); \u00a0<\/span>Omri (1 Kings 16:16-21);<\/span>\u00a0 Jehoiada (2 Kings 11:12, 17, 19); \u00a0Azariah (2 Kings 14:21; Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:1); ); Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:30).\u00a0 Thomas Paine, despite his later writings where he denounced the the Bible, defended the republican form of government from the Old Testament in his famous book\u00a0promoting revolution against England, Common Sense<\/i>.<\/a>[7]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Christian influence on the State has resulted in more restraints on the power of the State than nearly any society has seen.\u00a0 The Protestant Reformation overturned the idea of the divine right of kings through books such as Brutus\u2019 and Samuel Rutherford\u2019s Lex Rex.\u00a0 <\/i>The American colonists learned law through William Blackstone\u2019s Commentaries<\/i>, which taught that the State must be subject to checks and balances because the Bible teaches the depravity of man. The Bible restrains the State by limiting taxation to a rate of less than ten percent of income (1 Sam. 8<\/cite>).\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible to run a ruthless dictatorship on such a small tax rate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>All people in a nation are not related to Christ as their Savior.\u00a0 But all people are related to Christ as their Creator.\u00a0 And it is as creatures of God that all people have the obligation to submit to God\u2019s law.\u00a0 There is no other legitimate source of law.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Separation of Church and State:\u00a0 Yes and No<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Does this mean that there is no such thing as separation of Church and State?\u00a0 The answer to that question is not \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d because \u201cseparation of church and state\u201d can mean many different things.<\/a><\/span>[8]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>The words \u201cseparation of church and state\u201d are not in the U.S. Constitution, but the Constitution does forbid “Congress” from making a “law respecting the establishment of religion.”\u00a0 In historical context, this forbids an arrangement like the Church of England at the national level, where taxes were used to provide salaries to church officials, and State officials were required to be members of that particular denomination.\u00a0 Since the Bill of Rights originally only restricted the national government and not the individual state governments, the Establishment Clause even allowed the individual states to choose which denomination to establish for their state, or establish none at all.\u00a0 Nothing that has been said above is incompatible with this kind of disestablishmentarianism.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Another meaning of \u201cseparation of Church and State\u201d can be that the Church or the State does not have authority to control the other institution.\u00a0 Being appointed as pastor of a church does not give the pastor the authority to appoint or remove officials of the State, or enforce the laws and penalties of the State; and the State does not have authority to appoint or remove pastors, or determine Church membership or doctrine.\u00a0 This institutional separation of Church and State is completely compatible with what has been said above.\u00a0 The Bible teaches it.\u00a0 Although kings also held the office of prophet at times in ancient Israel, like David, the offices of king and priest were clearly separated.\u00a0 The kings came from the tribe of Judah, and priests came from the tribe of Levi.\u00a0 Kings were elected by the people; priests were not.\u00a0 King Uzziah was rebuked by the priests and cursed by God for attempting the priestly function of offering sacrifices in God\u2019s temple (2 Chron. 26:16-21).\u00a0 The chief priest was over \u201cthe matters of the Lord,\u201d and officers in the house of Judah over the \u201cking\u2019s matters\u201d (2 Chron. 19:11), and this was under the Old Testament theocracy, so it could not have meant that God had nothing to do with the affairs of State.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Jesus echoed the distinction from 2 Chron. 19:11 when he famously said, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar\u2019s, and to God the things that are God\u2019s” (Matt. 22:21, Luke 20:25). \u00a0Stripping this statement out of context from the rest of the Bible’s teachings, secularists have latched onto this as support for their position. But in light of the sovereign nature of the Biblical God and the Bible’s teaching about Jesus’ Messianic rule over the State, Jesus cannot be advocating a separation of God from the affairs of the State.\u00a0 Ben Mass comments: “Christ is stating here that we still have obligations to Caesar, not that Caesar has no obligations to God! He appeals to the image on the coin (Caesar\u2019s image) to conclude that the coin should be rendered to Caesar\u2014and just whose image do you think is upon Caesar himself? God\u2019s image, of course.” <\/a>[9]<\/a> \u00a0Both Church and State are under God\u2019s rule.\u00a0 \u201cThere is no authority except from God\u201d (Romans 13:1).\u00a0<\/a>[10]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span> A third meaning of \u201cSeparation of Church and State\u201d can be that God\u2019s law does not have authority over the State.\u00a0 This is a secularist version of separation of Church and State, and it is<\/i> completely\u00a0in<\/i>compatible with what has been said above.\u00a0 No Christian can consistently hold to this kind of separation of Church and State; it is incompatible with believing that God\u00a0exists and that salvation is through Jesus Christ.\u00a0 The God of Christianity is Lord of Soul and State.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Alleged Harshness of Biblical Law<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Biblical law is often viewed as barbaric and harsh.\u00a0 One reason for this misconception is ignorance of those laws.\u00a0 Sometimes people confuse Islamic law with Biblical law.\u00a0 For example, the Bible does not teach that a person\u2019s hands should be cut off for stealing.\u00a0 The Bible teaches that the thief should pay restitution to the victim.\u00a0 \u201cAn eye for an eye\u201d sounds harsh, but it is simply saying that the punishment should fit the crime.\u00a0 Biblical law should be widely acknowledged for being more humane than modern secular law in that the Bible does not teach that imprisonment is a punishment for any crime.\u00a0 Instead, the criminal would usually pay restitution to his victim.\u00a0 If he did not have enough money, he would be subject to involuntary servitude with a private business until he paid off his debt.\u00a0 Compare that with the widely-acknowledged failure of the modern prison system, which does nothing to repay the victim, and educates the prisoners on how to be better criminals rather than become honest and productive members of society.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Still many will not be satisfied.\u00a0 The conventional wisdom in Europe now is that all capital punishment is barbaric, and the Bible\u2019s teaching on capital punishment is considered the harshest aspect of Biblical penology.\u00a0 Once again, the issue comes down to the fact that if God is rejected, there is no other standard of justice that could replace it.\u00a0 There is no higher authority than God, therefore He is the indisputable authority for what type of punishment is defined as \u201charsh\u201d and what is just.\u00a0 Because God is perfectly just and loving, God\u2019s law is the perfect standard of justice and love.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bloody History of Religion and Politics\u2014And Atheism and Politics<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Some people may still say, \u201cI still feel hesitant to endorse enforcement of God\u2019s law by the State because when this was done in the past, it caused a lot of blood to be spilled over religious differences.\u201d\u00a0 If you want to compare Christian States with Atheists States, then the atheist position loses hundreds of times over.<\/a><\/span>[11]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>In one century, the Twentieth Century, officially atheist states slaughtered over 100 million innocent people!\u00a0 Stalin killed 10 million in his land reforms in the Ukraine.\u00a0 Mao killed 50 million in his land reforms in China.\u00a0 Pol Pot killed millions in the Cambodian killing fields.\u00a0 Much of this was warfare directed against the civilian populace.\u00a0 The Crusaders committed some outrageous acts, but it was a defensive war against invading Muslim soldiers.\u00a0 (And the Crusades were successful in preventing invading Muslims from conquering Europe, which would have reduced European civilization below the level of modern Afghanistan.)\u00a0 Atheists are still outraged that several hundred years ago some Puritans in Salem unjustly killed about 20 people before the town repented of its actions.\u00a0 That\u2019s barely worth noticing compared to the millions killed by Stalin, all with support of American Intelligentsia.\u00a0 Judging by the number of lives unjustly snuffed out, separation of atheism and State is much more urgent than separation of Church and State.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Inquisition killed many unjustly, but the worst of it was the Spanish Inquisition, which was run by the State and denounced by the Pope of that time.\u00a0 The general population had nothing to fear from Inquisition courts, and most of the judges were considered models of leniency in their day because of the many opportunities they gave the accused to repent.<\/span><\/a>[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

Excluding religion from the State does not bring universal harmony.\u00a0 Rather than using the State to persecute other religions like Christians have sometimes done, atheists use the State to punish all religions, and other secular beliefs that don\u2019t conform to the State-approved secular beliefs.\u00a0 The shortcomings of past officially Christian States pail in comparison to the failure of officially atheist States, but an even more important point is that there is no way to judge that any State has been just or unjust if the God of the Bible does not exist, because without such a God no ethical standards would be possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The New Testament and the State<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

That the Old Testament commands the obedience of the State to God\u2019s law is not denied by anyone.\u00a0 But what does the New Testament say?\u00a0 Does the emphasis on grace and redemption in the New Testament exclude the necessity of the State to obey God\u2019s law?\u00a0 No!\u00a0 Romans 13 says that all<\/i> rulers \u201cbear the sword\u201d as \u201cministers of God.\u201d\u00a0 1 Timothy 1:8-11 says:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The list of lawless acts is straight from the laws of Moses in the Old Testament.\u00a0 And notice that breaking these laws is \u201ccontrary to sound doctrine\u201d and \u201cthe glorious gospel.\u201d\u00a0 It is unchristian for the State to fail to enforce Biblical law.\u00a0 Jesus said that he \u201cdid not come to abolish the law\u201d (Matt. 5:17).\u00a0 Jesus does not save us by abolishing the law, because that would mean that nothing would be a sin.<\/a><\/span>[13]<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Rather he paid the price for our sin so that we could be lawfully righteous.\u00a0 And having redeemed us, \u201cshall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid!\u201d (Rom. 6:15).\u00a0 Our obedience to God\u2019s law cannot save us, but obedience to the law is the fruit of salvation:\u00a0 \u201cBy this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous\u201d (1 John 5:2-3<\/a>).\u00a0 Many Christians think that God\u2019s law is grievous, but what is the alternative?\u00a0 If we will not be ruled by God\u2019s law, the perfect standard of justice, then we will be ruled by the anarchy or totalitarianism of man\u2019s law.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>People often think that the greater grace in the New Testament compared to the Old means less wrath, and therefore lighter punishment for criminals now compared to what the Old Testament commanded.\u00a0 It is true that greater grace means more blessing for the redeemed<\/i> under the New Covenant, but the book of Hebrews also teaches that the greater grace under the New Covenant means\u00a0greater wrath<\/i> upon the ungodly:\u00a0 \u201cAnyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. \u00a0How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?\u201d (Heb. 10:28-29; also see Heb. 2:2 and 12:25). This greater wrath for rejecting Christ is not a reason for making criminal punishment more severe now than under the Old Testament\u2014which is called \u201cjust punishment\u201d (Heb. 2:2) after all, but neither is the New Testament\u2019s greater grace a reason to reduce the severity of criminal punishment in the New Testament era.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Some Christians have rejected any continued enforcement of Old Testament because they say that that the Old Testament foreshadowed Christ.\u00a0 It is true that many laws in the Old Testament were instructional about the redemptive work of the Messiah who would come, and therefore were of a temporary nature.\u00a0 The purpose of these types ended when the archetype appeared (Hebrews 10:1).\u00a0 But not everything in the Old Testament can be viewed as teaching the means of redemption.\u00a0 Redemption is necessary because God\u2019s eternal standards have been violated.\u00a0 And with rebellion against God\u2019s law comes repression and distortion of God\u2019s law.\u00a0 So not only does God\u2019s redemptive revelation, the Bible, need to show the way of redemption, but it needs to clearly define God\u2019s eternal standards of morality so that the world can learn what God\u2019s standards are that everyone must live by.\u00a0 Thus we should expect a mixture of temporary laws (foreshadowing Christ) and eternal laws (universal standards of ethics) in the Old Testament.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Some claim that the laws given to Israel cannot be applied to the modern State because those laws were only intended for the people of Israel.\u00a0 But the law given to Moses was the same law that God held aliens in the land of Israel to and nations outside of Israel:\u00a0 \u201cDo not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you\u201d (Leviticus 18:24-26).\u00a0 God punished Sodom and Gomorrah for homosexuality even before God delivered His law to Moses (Gen. 19).\u00a0 God sent Jonah to the foreign nation of Nineveh to demand that they submit to God\u2019s law.\u00a0 John the Baptist publicly denounced Herod, a Gentile, for violating God\u2019s law by marrying his brother\u2019s wife (Mark 16:17-18).\u00a0 Indeed, God\u2019s law speaks to the whole world that it may be held accountable to God (Romans 3:19).<\/a><\/span>[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>It may be that some Old Testament crimes or their punishments were meant to be enforced only until the time of Christ, but there is no reason to assume that all Old Testament civil laws were set aside.\u00a0 We should assume the continuing obligation of civil laws found in the Old Testament unless we find where the Bible teaches that a particular civil law in the Old Testament has been set aside because:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1) \u00a0Only God can set aside His law, so we must find Biblical authority to claim that a previous law no longer applies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0 The newness of the New Testament does not involve a new principle that is fundamentally contrary to Old Testament civil law.\u00a0 God\u2019s law is based on His nature, and God\u2019s nature does not change.\u00a0 The God of the New Testament is the same as the God of the Old Testament.\u00a0 \u201cJesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever\u201d (Heb. 13:8).\u00a0 <\/span>Remember that Jesus Christ is God, the second person of the Trinity, the same God that delivered His law to Moses on Mt. Sinai.\u00a0 Christ is the Creator of the Old Testament, who created \u201call things,\u201d including \u201cthrones or dominions or rulers or authorities\u201d (Col. 1:16).\u00a0 And as explained above, the nature of Christ\u2019s ministry was not contrary to the obligation of the State to obey God\u2019s law.\u00a0 The provision of a Savior from sin does not change the principles of justice and injustice.<\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0 As in 1 Tim. 1:8-11, the New Testament continues to speak positively about the validity of Old Testament civil law.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

What Christians Can Do to Honor God in Politics<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cRescue those being led away to death;
\nhold back those staggering toward slaughter.\u201d\u00a0 Proverbs 24:11<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Indirectly or directly, full-time or part-time, every Christian can contribute in some way to the furtherance of God\u2019s standards of civic justice.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Pray.<\/b>\u00a0 \u201cI exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour\u201d (1 Timothy 2:1-3).\u00a0 The prayers go before God like incense\u00a0and arouse God to bring justice to an unjust State in His timing (Rev. 8:3-5).<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Live a godly personal life<\/b>.\u00a0 Be honest, obey the king (1 Peter 2:12-14).\u00a0 Resist the king when his command cannot be followed without committing sin (Acts 5:29; Heb. 11:23, 31).\u00a0 This is a witness for God.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Vote for godly candidates<\/b>.\u00a0 Judge candidates and their positions by the yardstick of God\u2019s law, which defines perfect justice.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Become involved in political action organizations for your industry or your personal interests<\/b>.\u00a0 In whatever industry you work, you might become a member of an organization that is involved in political action in relation to that industry.\u00a0 If you build houses, you can become a member of the local Home Builder\u2019s Association and promote just property rights.\u00a0 If you are a nurse, you could work for God-honoring medical practice.\u00a0 If you work in a bank, you can work for just financial laws.\u00a0 Or if you have a personal interest in gun rights, or homeschooling rights, you can become involved in organizations that try to move law in a biblical direction on those issues.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Be a godly parent<\/b>.\u00a0 Train your children to obey the State, and to obey God above the State.\u00a0 Provide your children with the most thoroughly Christian education that you can, so that they will be taught to apply God\u2019s word in every area of life (Deut. 6:7<\/a>).\u00a0 Public schools are probably not the most Christian school in your area, to put it mildly.\u00a0 The current view of the U.S. Courts is that the State cannot acknowledge God, especially as the source of our nation\u2019s laws, and therefore schools run by the State cannot acknowledge God either.\u00a0 We must train up a new generation of Christians to overturn the false gods of the modern secular state.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Volunteer in your church to do the work commanded of the Church<\/b>.\u00a0 After the family, the Church is called to be the institution to provide charity to the poor (1 Tim. 5<\/cite>).\u00a0 God called a tax rate of ten percent a sign of tyranny (1 Sam. 8<\/cite>), therefore, limited to its Biblical size, the State should not have the resources to be in the welfare business.\u00a0 And when the State does spend resources for welfare to the poor, the poor often get trapped in the welfare programs. \u00a0They often cannot escape because they need moral<\/i> uplift\u2014to be taught responsibility.\u00a0 Only the Church can do that well.\u00a0 And those in the State welfare system often accept other aspects of ungodly government as well.\u00a0 They learn to vote for the politician that will keep their welfare checks coming, which is usually a politician that will vote for other ungodly laws.\u00a0 But if the poor are helped by the Church, they will be more willing to listen to what the Church teaches.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Teach God\u2019s law for the State in your church.<\/b>\u00a0 The Church is supposed to equip its members \u201cto prepare God’s people for works of service\u201d (Eph. 4:12) in all aspects of life.\u00a0 God\u2019s word is to be taught in the Church to thoroughly equip Christians for \u201cevery<\/i> good work\u201d (2 Tim. 3:16-17).\u00a0 Pastors have an obligation to teach the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), and it should be undeniable that the Bible has things to say about justice and the conduct of rulers.\u00a0 Even if the only political involvement of people in your church is as voters, they need to know how to discern between good and evil (Rom. 12:2; Heb. 5:14) in the political realm so that they will vote for representatives that will govern in pursuit of Biblical justice and promote an environment that allows the gospel to be freely preached and lived. \u00a0Churches that want to maintain their tax-exempt status in the United States cannot endorse or campaign for a particular candidate or make statements about a candidate’s moral qualifications for office, but they can speak out on the moral issues of the day, distribute voter guides, lobby for legislation as long it’s not a substantial part of it’s total activity, and sponsor candidate debates. \u00a0Pastor’s can even endorse candidates in their individual capacities. \u00a0For more information see “Churches, Free Speech, and the Regulations of the IRS Regarding Elections” from the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) at <\/span>http:\/\/www.aclj.org\/news\/Read.aspx?ID=84<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Call or write your political representative<\/b>.\u00a0 Hardly anyone else is, so your little voice can carry great weight.<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. Become involved with local precinct meetings of a political party<\/b>.\u00a0 Hardly anyone else is, so again, your little voice can carry great weight.<\/span><\/li>\n
  10. Run for office.\u00a0 <\/b>This is not everyone\u2019s calling.\u00a0 But if Christians won\u2019t do it, only those who refuse to honor God will rule over us.\u00a0 \u201cWhen the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn\u201d (Prov. 29:2).<\/span><\/li>\n
  11. Become a lawyer<\/b>.\u00a0 The oppressed need an advocate.\u00a0 The unjust need to get what they deserve.\u00a0 If Christians are not legally trained to fight for justice, justice will suffer.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    By Mike Warren, last revised 6\/16\/2010<\/p>\n

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    \n

    <\/a><\/span>[1]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>For more on Christ\u2019s Messianic Kingship see William Symington, Messiah the Prince<\/i> (Edmonton, AB Canada:\u00a0 Still Waters Revival Books, 1990 [1884]).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a><\/span>[2]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>See R.J. Rushdoony, Law and Liberty.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a><\/span>[3]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>Arthur Allen Leff, \u201cEconomic Analysis of Law:\u00a0 Some Realism About Nominalism,\u201d 60 Virginia Law Review (1974) pp. 454-55.\u00a0 See <\/span>http:\/\/www.christianciv.com\/Atheists_Confess.htm<\/span><\/a> for similar quotes.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a>[4]<\/a><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>That would be the three branches of civil government in the U.S. :\u00a0 Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a><\/span>[5]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>Nobody can find this reference, but even if Luther did not say it, it is consistent with his defense of natural law as the sufficient guide to the State.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a>[6]<\/a> See Michael S. Horton, \u201cHow the Kingdom Comes,\u201d Christianity Today<\/i> 50.1 (Jan., 2006), at <\/span>http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/ct\/2006\/001\/2.43.html<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Also see the response by John M. Frame, \u201cIn Defense of Christian Activism: <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Assessing the Views of Michael Horton and Meredith Kline\u201d April 19, 2006, at the Center for Cultural Leadership, <\/span>http:\/\/www.christianculture.com\/cgi-local\/npublisher\/viewnews.cgi?category=3&id=1145485285<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a>[7]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0Thomas Paine, Common Sense<\/i> \u00a0(1776), at <\/span>www.constitution.org\/civ\/comsense.htm<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a><\/span>[8]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>See <\/span>http:\/\/www.christianciv.com\/ChristianViewsonChurch&State.htm<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a>[9]<\/a>\u00a0 Ben Mass, “Theonomy” at http:\/\/theonomyresources.flockalert.com\/pdfs\/theonomy_by_ben_maas.pdf<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a><\/span>[10]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>For a thorough treatment of this, see George Gillespie, Aaron\u2019s Rod Blossoming<\/i> (Harrisonburg, VA:\u00a0 Sprinkle Publications, [1646] 1985).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a>[11]<\/a>\u00a0 See Gil Elliot, Twentieth Century Book of the Dead<\/i> (1972).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a>[12]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Myths About Past (Quasi-)Christian Civilization<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a><\/span>[13]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>Redemption pays the eternal penalties of sin, but it does not relieve us from the temporal, civil penalties.\u00a0 A Christian cannot tell a police officer that he does not have to pay his speeding ticket because Christ already paid his debts.\u00a0 Exodus 21:14<\/a> says, \u201cBut if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar [the place of redemptive sacrifice, foreshadowing Christ], that he may die.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    <\/a><\/span>[14]<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>See Greg L. Bahnsen, \u201cFor Whom Was God\u2019s Law Intended?\u201d\u00a0 in <\/span>The Biblical Worldview<\/i> 4:12 (December, 1988), at <\/span>www.cmfnow.com\/articles\/pe079.htm<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cReligion and politics don\u2019t mix\u201d is a mantra taught throughout the United States as indisputable, absolute truth (along with the mantra that \u201call truth is relative\u201d), but Christians owe their first allegiance to God, and any view of the relationship … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72,"href":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianciv.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}