Daily Jewel

by Pastor Carnell, McAlester, OK

“The Marriage of Church and State”
“With my help, leaders rule, and lawmakers legislate fairly…” – Proverbs 8:15 (MSG)

I am going to do something that I often attempt to stay away from—politics. It is not that I detest politics—it is because how divisive it can be, especially when combining politics with religion. We have just come through a very heated election season where politics was practically all we heard for months. And during this past election—religion played a part.
How often do we hear the phrase, “the separation between Church and State?” The belief that many have that the Church should have nothing to do with the government while at the same time the government should have nothing to do with the Church. But is that the true intent of the founding fathers?
Interestingly, (and this is pure opinion mind you) I think most people who cling to that phrase have absolutely no idea what it is truly saying. They would like to think that all rules and laws are purely based on human reasoning without any assistance from some supernatural being. Here’s another phrase that I hear far too often: “You can’t legislate morality.” My statement or answer to that is simple: where did we get those laws to begin with? Who determined murder was wrong? Or stealing? Whose idea was it to punish those who commit those crimes as well as other crimes against the state?
If you cannot legislate “morality” then we may as well just wipe every law off the books and let everyone govern themselves according to their own standards. What do you think would happen if that were the case? We’ve actually seen that before! The very last sentence (verse) in the book of Judges says: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” (Judges 21:25) Compare that to the words from the Psalmist who said: "Blessed is the nation whose God is Lord." – Psalm 33:12
Those words remind us that reliance on God and His providence was very real to our founding fathers as our early national documents bear testimony. It was not surprising that in the midst of the Civil War, when our nation received its greatest test, the decision was made to inscribe on American coins the motto: "In God We Trust." Ever since that motto was first adopted there have been those who have felt it hypocritical since we so often we put our priorities elsewhere. First of all, the motto, "In God We Trust" is not so much a boast as it is a conviction. It is not the proclamation of a smug people who deem themselves privileged and singled out for special favor. It is instead a conviction that calls us to repentance and nurtures our hopes. As one Theologian put it: "If within we find nothing over us, we succumb to what is around us." The motto "In God We Trust" while not always an actuality is still a commitment to be a nation whose Lord is God. While we are not presumptuous enough to think this is true in every way, we are committed to let it be so. Our prayer should be that God would make it so through us.
God’s wisdom was never meant to be reserved for a single segment of life—it was meant to be used wherever people are—be it at home, church, school, businesses, and yes, even the courtroom—state governments—the United States Capital—even to the White House. It would be my hope and prayer that we never lose sight of that!
Pastor J. T. Carnell.