Thursday, January 26, 2017

Separation between Church and State or is it man and God?

One week ago tomorrow, Donald Trump became our president. On Saturday women took to the streets to protest the President. Granted they had the audacity to state they were protesting for reproductive rights as well as LGBT rights and I know some sincere women were. However, they were truly protesting the president and the new legislation they would have to live with should he decide to sign them. The "worst" among the new legislation is "Abortion." 
On Sunday, one of my friends posted this picture; a man with a sign stating we should build a wall between the state and church. My friends, I have to tell you, if you know anything about the religious history of the US; that wall has already been drawn. Unfortunately "Separation between Church and State" has different meaning to people than those who have actually studied it in it's original meaning with the founding of the nation. 
To those from the secular humanist persuasion, it means that the state can make no public acknowledgment of religion, have no religious displays, recognize no tax exemptions for churches, and goes so far as to regulate even religious expressions of private individuals in the public arena out of line.there are those who believe the matter is simply that the government should not establish an official state church, or that a church should not be anointing officials in the government. (1)
I tend to believe that the "official state church" is the meaning behind the Separation comments. As did founders of our nation. Did they declare independence because they wanted to setup a secular church? Or was it because they were more concerned when tyranny? We'd be foolish to believe that our founding father's were concerned with theology than they were with matters of tyranny. 
The Boston Tea Party was about taxes (and thus enshrined in American tradition the fine art of complaining about taxes), not about Baptists throwing Presbyterians' Bibles into the Atlantic. The Declaration itself made liberal use of religion in general, as did the founders in their public statements. Even in Jefferson's "Wall" letter, he expresses religious sentiment and asks for prayers. It's obviously clear; it isn't religious expression they are worried about. The choice of phrase is important, "separation of church and state." Jefferson doesn't say separation of religion and state. He is talking about institutional separation. Ireland's official church is the Roman Catholic Church, as is Poland's. In England, it's the Church of England. These aren't religions in general but specific religious institutions. No nation has "Christianity" as the official state religion for a very good reason.(1)
So let's look at it this way; man is governed by his beliefs. Truly we are; however, In the 1700's laws were set up to keep men from serving in their state governments or even in the government of the nation. Yet we moved away from that over the years, now anyone can serve in their state government or even in the government at the Federal level. We see this every day. We don't need to build a wall between the church and state--that line, that wall has been built and it's seen in the fabric of the country. 

What we really should be worried about is the wall that man has built between his heart and God. When a man (or woman) can kill a life that they most likely chose to start with a man then they have truly turned their hearts against God. To me that is far worse than trying to separate the church from the government. Less than 1% of abortions in this country are performed to save the life of the mother. Abortion on demand, has become the "out" for people who don't want to face the consequences of their actions. Even a leading group opposing abortion, the National Right to Life Committee, issued a statement saying that its position is "to allow abortion if necessary to prevent the death of the mother."(2) 

Friends; I don't expect anyone to agree with this; however, I can't stand by and continue to listen to women flip out over Roe v Wade being repealed. I personally think abortion should be abolished--but equally I think we should find ways to help keep Cancer patients alive and feeling as best we can; we should lower drug costs so that the elderly (and anyone really) can afford their medication. Being Pro-Life means that I am willing to help new mothers and give them the resources to raise a child--and I am not talking about welfare; help young women get jobs, bring them to doctors appointments , crochet a baby blanket--actually take care of the orphans. 
Break down the walls that have been built between God and man! Stop building walls, start having compassion, stop marching over senseless issues and start marching back to the church--stop falling in love with idols and fall in love with the one God that is madly and wildly in love with you! 






1-  http://www.libertymagazine.org/article/what-does-separation-of-church-and-state-really-mean

2- http://www.usatoday.com/story/newswith God. /nation/2012/10/19/abortion-mother-life-walsh/1644839/

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