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
science, statism 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 aggression, theft, breach of contract, and fraud with military, police,
and courts.[5][6][7][8] Some
may also include fire departments, prisons, 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.
