Ken Lengel II

Conservative Christians, especially those heavily involved in activism and politics, have recently been calling for the government to legislate certain aspects of Christian morality into becoming the law of the land in ways that would infringe on the religious liberty of the non-Christian. At the same time, anytime those same Christians believe the government is making a law that encroaches on their religious liberty, they rise up in outrage.

Fellow Christians, we can’t have it both ways!

If you support religious liberty, you cannot support legislating Christian morals when it infringes upon the non-Christian’s religious liberty by doing so. This is why we see so much pushback from the secularists when you advocate for this. They truly understand that religious liberty is not merely the freedom to choose what religious system to follow but also the freedom to not follow a religious system at all!

If you support the legislation of Christian morality merely on the basis that the substance of the law is Christian in origin, you do not support the same type of government that America has. The system of government you are looking for is theocracy, where all people are forced to follow the Christian God, and if you think that will fix all our problems as a nation, just look at Israel. You can either support religious liberty or legislated Christian morality, but not both.

Christians need to choose between calling for the protection of religious liberty and the legislation of Christian morality.

So, which should we pick?

Well, I’ve heard arguments from both sides. One side says we should push to legislate Christian morality because we’ve got to turn America around for God. The other side says we should not try to get involved in government at all as Christians and should focus instead on converting the lost. Where’s the balance in the middle?

God never forces anyone to follow Him. He didn’t even force the children of Israel into a theocracy; He made a covenant with them, and they agreed to it. Simply put, God gives man free will and a choice in the matter of following Him. God gives man religious liberty. The existence of consequences when one exercises their religious liberty to not follow God does not delegitimize their religious liberty. There is a penalty for not following God, and that is eternal separation from Him. Wrongdoing must be punished, and justice must be served. God, as the ultimate judge, rights the wrongs that have been done in the world. God respects man’s choice when man decides not to follow after God. The result may be eternal punishment, but the choice is still respected.

In order to carry out the idea that we can somehow legislate this country into a Christian nation, it would take the equivalent of a Christian dictator setting up a religious police state in order to do that. This is foolishness. I’m not saying we can’t share the gospel and see another Great Awakening of sorts. I’m just saying you won’t force it to happen through legislation, nor should you be so adamant in advocating for it.

You will only harden the hearts of the unsaved towards God through legislation that infringes upon the religious liberty of the non-religious world.

If we truly believe in religious liberty, which I believe we should, as it is in line with the way God has interacted with man, then our focus should be not on legislating Christian morality, but rather sharing the gospel. Preach Christian morality, but by all means do not fall under the delusion that we will somehow turn this nation around because Scripture becomes the law of the land. We will only turn this nation around by winning the lost to Christ.

By way of example, the Prohibition was a failure because while it tried to legislate morality, it could not uphold morality on its own merit. Morality is a heart issue, not a legal issue. Remember how the Bible talks about the law of the Old Testament:

Galatians 2:16 — Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

The law of Moses didn’t change Israel’s tendency for sin. It only told them what sin was, and that they shouldn’t do it; yet time and time again Israel failed. God used that as an example to show that man must be changed not from the outside in (through the law of a government), but from the inside out (through faith in Christ).

I believe we should learn from this example. In my studies, I don’t see any problem with Christians being involved in government. I do however see a problem with trying to force the American people to follow Biblical principles through legislating Christian morals where it infringes on the non-Christian’s right to religious liberty.

Does this mean I think Christians in government should vote against Biblical principles in government? No. There are some things that we must stand for. All I am saying is a word of caution in that we must realize that if we want religious liberty in America to continue there is a line we dare not cross. I believe Christians in government should be very discerning and careful about what they vote for and how it is pushed through. We should not infringe on the religious liberty of the non-religious world lest we set a dangerous precedent that religious liberty is no longer a protected freedom in America. For if Christians set that precedent and then get voted out of power, who knows what our nation will become?

It is important that Christians in government do not use their platform to enforce who they are as individuals into the lives of other people. You can exhibit who you are and what you believe, by all means put it on display, but you cannot project that belief into other people’s lives. The American government is not meant to be as controlling as some conservative Christians or the progressive left want it to be. Many decisions are not the governments to make and that is key to understanding a proper role in government for any politician, not just Christians. Our problem is we have gotten so used to seeing a big corrupt government on the other side of the aisle that now we want it on our side as well.

In a sense, it is not as much the government’s job to legislate morality as it is for it to punish those who do evil. It is the church’s job to spread the gospel, and when people get saved, it becomes the Holy Spirit’s job to convict the person of sin. We as the church have given over our responsibility to the government. The problem is, again, the law will not save. Only Christ can save. You can legislate the whole Bible into law, but it is not going to change the hearts of the lost world.

It is my firm belief that even if we were somehow able to legislate Christian morality to the extent that many Christian conservatives want us to do, we will ultimately face the same issues that the prohibition faced. And once we set the dangerous precedent of infringing on the religious liberty of the non-religious world, there will be nothing to stop them from infringing upon the religious liberty of Christians when they get their turn in power.

We must realize that we cannot force the world to come to God on our terms; God says, “come as you are,” not, “come as you should be.” It may be a broken record, but let’s get them to Jesus first friends. God will do a whole lot better job of conforming them to the image of Jesus Christ than you, me, and the American government combined.

In the Bible, we as Christians believe God created three institutions: the family, the church, and the government. Let’s briefly examine all three of these, and then I’ll tie it all together at the end.

The Family

The family was established in Genesis 1:27–28 and 2:24 and provides the foundation for the institution of the family. We see in the curse of Genesis 3:14–19 that the woman is punished with pain in childbirth, and the man is punished with work now being much harder than it was before.

This gives us the gender roles that have been prevalent in society. God made man and woman different, gave them different functions, equipped them for those functions, and allowed them to live on this earth. Basic biology will show this to be true. The woman is biologically more suited to nurture. The man is biologically more suited to be the provider.

There are three main responsibilities that each individual family has, one, providing for their children basic necessities for life, two, protecting one’s own children from that which they find harmful, three, educating their children in what they find to be good.

What society has done is take God’s order and tried to tear it down. The feminist movement fights against the notion that women’s natural role is that of a mother and a nurturer. The transgender movement fights against the idea of any gender distinction at all. Keep this in mind, we’ll come back to this. 

The Church

The church was established in the New Testament, and depending on who you ask, you’ll usually get a few different answers. To figure out the role of the church, I feel that it is best to look at the directive Christ gave to His disciples before ascending into Heaven in Matthew 28:18–20.

The Greek wording of “teach all nations” means “to make disciples of all nations.” The role of the church then is to, through the power given to them by Jesus, go and preach the gospel to all nations, and then teach them how to live based on the commands in Scripture. The gospel empowers man to live the right way, and morality is taught through the church and then ultimately carried out in the believer’s life because of walking according to the Spirit and not the flesh. Teaching morality comes AFTER preaching salvation. Remember this. It’s going to be very important in a moment.

The Government

The government was established in Genesis 9:6 where God establishes the principle of man’s self-governance emphasizing the allowance of retributive justice to punish evil. It was further quantified in Romans 13:1–7, where Paul emphasizes that government leaders are allowed to be in power by God, and that they are to maintain order and execute justice.

This gives us the governmental roles that essentially formed our society. God made government as an institution to maintain order, execute justice, and punish evildoers. A great example of this in action is when America and other nations fought in WW2 and ended the wicked regime of the evil man known as Hitler, who advocated for genocide of the Jewish nation rather than protecting life. This is the role of government.

The Problem

What some in the church have done is expect the government to legislate Christian morality into becoming the law of the land in ways that would infringe on the religious liberty of the non-Christian. This is part of a completely unbiblical reconstructionist mindset that we must somehow reconstruct society with a new world order centered around a Christian theocracy. Again, God never forces anyone to follow Him. A state-sponsored religion of Christianity is not the answer to the sin problem in our society.

God has however, ordained a government in America that has allowed opportunities for the propagation of the gospel like never seen before. He has done this through giving us religious liberty in this nation. Our government in many ways was built upon the ideals of government within the Bible that God had ordained.

Liberal or conservative, the problem comes when we push for our government to go beyond the role in which it was meant to do.

There are certain responsibilities that each level of government has. I’m a preacher and a writer; I won’t claim to have knowledge of all the intricate aspects of what is and is not the government’s responsibility. However, what I do know is this. God has allowed for a government to exist here in America that allows for a freedom of religion. Any advocacy for our government to bypass that on Christianity or any other religion’s behalf is an attack on religious liberty that God has granted us here in this nation. It was never the government’s responsibility to mandate a religion. It was the government’s responsibility to maintain order, execute justice, and punish evildoers.

A government providing religious freedom must maintain some form of religious neutrality in order to be a fair and equal government.

We as Christians get upset when man tries to subvert God’s natural order of gender roles and identity. How hypocritical of us to do the same to God’s natural order for government! It doesn’t stop there though either; let’s go back to the church. When we call for the government to essentially act as a Christian theocracy, we are also subverting God’s natural order for the church! It is the church’s responsibility to spread the gospel and teach right and wrong, with the goal being that man’s morality be not legislated by the government but motivated out of a love for God!

It is possible that we have gotten so complacent in our soul winning efforts that some in our ranks are willingly handing the church’s responsibility over to the government. We have done the same thing with the church and the government that those who subvert God’s natural order for the family have done. Another possibility is that the dangerous movements of Christian nationalism and reconstructionism have gained traction in our modern-day Christianity, and this must be stomped out as well.

God designed three institutions: the family, the church, and the government. Everyone reading this would acknowledge that God’s design is better than our own. God has given each institution a distinct role and function.

Attempts by Christians to change God’s design will only lead society further away from even considering, let alone desiring, a relationship with God.

God will one day set up His perfect kingdom. We will not be ushering this kingdom in. Our priority as church members is to preach the gospel. Without the gospel the world cannot know Christ; without Christ the world cannot practice true morality. We have been given the freedom (by God, through His divine allowance of the American government to continue) to preach and teach freely without restraint in this nation through the provision of religious liberty.

Dare we attempt to tear that down by advocating for a theocracy that will only be enforceable by a Christian dictator and a religious police state? Whether it be Christian nationalism, reconstructionism, or any other term you want to call it, it is a danger to the religious liberty that has given us so much power to spread the gospel. By subverting God’s order for the church in advocating for a pseudo-theocratic government, we willingly forfeit the power afforded to us through the religious liberty we have.

There will be blood on the hands of every Christian who turns a lost soul away from the gospel because of their actions in this matter. I don’t want to recognize faces in Hell because I tried to force them into following a religion instead of causing them to see the love and joy I have found in my relationship with Christ. Friends, again, let’s get people to the cross, and let Jesus change their lives. Maybe, just maybe, we won’t have to legislate morality; people will live it.

I close with two quotes from Adrian Rogers, who stated these ideas much more eloquently than I could, in The Real Battle for the Soul of America:

“The government is here to restrain evil. The church is here to preach the gospel. The state is not the master of the church, and the church is not the master of the state. The church is the conscience of the state. We are here to hold up a standard of truth. The greatest responsibility in America is not in the White House but in the church house.”

“Our hope for America is to change public opinion, and the only thing that can change public opinion is the Word of God. The Great Commission remains the same: we are to win souls for Jesus Christ.”