Tuesday, December 30, 2014

STATISM

             In this short 2-page article I will first quote some definitions of statism and then give the biblical view.

The dictionary says statism is a political system in which the state has substantial centralized control over social and economic affairs. Obviously there are various degrees of it.

“Statism is the belief that the civil government (or man via civil government) is the ultimate authority in the earth and as such is the source of law, morality, and righteousness (that which is right and wrong).[1] Statism has manifested itself in different ways throughout history, and can be expressed through democratic and non-democratic governments alike.”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: “In political sciencestatism is the belief that the state should control either economic or social policy, or both, to some degree.[1][2][3][4] Statism is effectively the opposite of anarchism.[1][2][3][4] Statism can take many forms from minarchism to totalitarianism. Minarchists prefer a minimal or night-watchman state to protect people from aggressiontheftbreach of contract, and fraud with militarypolice, and courts.[5][6][7][8] Some may also include fire departmentsprisons, and other functions.[5][6][7][8]Welfare state adepts and other such options make up more statist territory of the scale of statism.[9][10] Totalitarians prefer a maximum or all-encompassing state.”

“The political expression of altruism is collectivism or statism, which holds that man’s life and work belong to the state—to society, to the group, the gang, the race, the nation—and that the state may dispose of him in any way it pleases for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own tribal, collective good. A statist system—whether of a communist, fascist, Nazi, socialist or “welfare” type—is based on the . . . government’s unlimited power, which means: on the rule of brute force. The differences among statist systems are only a matter of time and degree; the principle is the same. Under statism, the government is not a policeman, but a legalized criminal that holds the power to use physical force in any manner and for any purpose it pleases against legally disarmed, defenseless victims.  Nothing can ever justify so monstrously evil a theory. Nothing can justify the horror, the brutality, the plunder, the destruction, the starvation, the slave-labor camps, the torture chambers, the wholesale slaughter of statist dictatorships.”
The Biblical View On Statism
Can God’s judgments be justified? Bible believers say, “Yes.”
            The Bible shows that just because the state is bad does not mean we should rebel against it. But to believe the state’s laws are the highest laws is statism. “God [always] rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses” (Daniel 5:21b). The Apocalypse shows the Great Dragon as the authority behind the state (Rev 13). The Ayn Rand type anarchist therefore concludes that to be logically consistent we must then oppose government (the state) in favor of anarchy (no government).
The biblical view is to 1.) Confess that the state has bad laws and only God’s law is perfect, 2.) Confess that it is God’s servant (“an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.”), 3.) Confess that it is God’s judgment on fallen man for sin, 4.) Submit to it as God’s minister unless commanded to break God’s law. When the state forbids freedom of religion, Calvinism teaches that we have a right to resist only under the authority of the lesser magistrate. Individuals are not allowed to take the law into their own hands. (There is, however, such a thing as “citizen’s arrest.)
            Jesus did not and does not permit us to rebel because we do not like laws like taxation or because they are not in God’s law because those laws do not command us to sin. There are legal means by which to address those grievances. He forbids physical resistance to arrest and brutality (turn the cheek). Submission is the way we win. Cases of escape like Jesus, Paul, Elijah, and David did are not the same as sassing or wrestling with police. In unreasonable laws such as being forced to carry a soldier’s 100-pound load for a mile, the law of the kingdom of God is to go an extra mile. Only after Paul was beaten and released did he forward a message to the magistrate concerning his legal standing as a Roman citizen. He did not resist arrest, nor did Jesus. When Peter started to resist, Jesus said, “Put up your sword.”
            When Peter had already escaped from Nero’s persecution, Eusebius tells us that he met Jesus on the Apian Way outside of town. He asked, “Lord, where are you going?” just like he did in John 13:36. Jesus said, “I’m going to Rome to be crucified again.” Peter remembered how Jesus had predicted how he would die and said, “ “If I will that he [John] remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me” (John 21:22). Peter then turned back to Rome and was crucified upside down. The way of the cross lead to the conversion of the Empire. That is how they won and that model has never changed.
            Is it logical for the Bible believer to say, “Statism is bad, therefore anarchy is good”?  Is it logical to say, “Some cops are bad, therefore we need no cops”?  R.J. Rushdoony taught that anarchy is the father of tyranny. The “Ayn Rand” type anarchy might be logical to rebels, but it is lawlessness, and lawlessness is sin. This is the logic of a rebel. It is thoroughly consistent based on its false presupposition.

No comments: