Posted on July 4, 2014
Freedom and the Separation of Church & State
Today is, of course, July 4th or Independence Day. It’s the day we have for celebrating our freedom in America. Unfortunately, many people do not really understand what freedom really means. Often, people think that “freedom” is the license to do whatever their naturally sinful human hearts want to do. However, the Bible tells us that following our desires like this is really being a slave to sin (see Romans 6). It is only through the blood of Jesus that we can truly be free to live the lives God has created us to live.
We often hear critics use the idea of “separation of Church and state” to keep Christian ideas and symbols out of public things. Separation of Church and state was not originally supposed to mean “keep your beliefs out of my government” but more of, “keep your government out of my church”. A good example of this misunderstanding is the belief that Biblical creation should not be taught in schools. Naturalism and atheism are faith-based beliefs just like Islam and Christianity. Without the solid foundation of Biblical creation, all the good things about loving others, moral behavior, and helping others will crumble. Just look at what is happening to our young people in the schools today: no morals, school shootings, teen pregnancies, drugs, etc.
The truth is that we are all humans, including government officials, and we cannot really completely separate our beliefs from anything we do. It’s like trying to separate your home life and work life. Whether we like it or not, we can’t really leave our work problems at work when we go home and leave our home problems at home when we go to work. They all run together because it’s the same person with the same heart in both places. Let us not be double-minded slaves to sin, but rather let us be free to glorify and serve our Lord, just as we were created to do.
“It is obvious to every reasonable being that he did not make himself, and the world which he inhabits could as little make itself, that the moment we begin to exercise the power of reflection, it seems impossible to escape the conviction that there is a Creator.” ~ John Quincy Adams
