Day: January 4, 2019

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

 During a recent interview with The Washington Post, 

Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, 

which hails itself as the world’s largest Christian 

university, said that he doesn’t believe that the teachings 

of Christ were meant to be used for public policy, 
and confirmed that his stance is that the government 

should be “free of religious association.”

“Jesus never told Caesar how to run Rome,” Falwell stated. “He went
out of His way to say that’s the earthly kingdom, I’m about the heavenly
kingdom. And I’m here to teach you how to treat others, how to help
others, but when it comes to serving your country, you render unto
Caesar that which is Caesar’s.”
“You almost have to believe that this is a theocracy to think that
way—to think that public policy should be dictated by the teachings of
Jesus,” he remarked.
While his comments began in regard to Democrats citing Scripture in
their arguments for open borders, he confirmed The Washington Post’s
take on what his statements suggested when pressed further about his
views.

“So, the government you want is one free of religious association?” the outlet asked.
“Yes,” Falwell replied. “The government should be led by somebody who
is going to do what’s in the best interest of the government and its
people. And I believe that’s what Jesus thought, too.”
He was later questioned as to whether it is hypocritical for
evangelical leaders to support Trump, considering the moral concerns. He
said that he did not think so, as all men are sinners.
“So, you don’t choose a president based on how good they are; you
choose a president based on what their policies are,” Falwell stated.
Falwell again spoke of his view regarding the delineation between the earthly and the heavenly kingdoms.
“There’s two kingdoms. There’s the earthly kingdom and the heavenly
kingdom. In the heavenly kingdom, the responsibility is to treat others
as you’d like to be treated. In the earthly kingdom, the responsibility
is to choose leaders who will do what’s best for your country,” he said.

BlackstoneHowever,
David Whitney, pastor of Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in
Pasadena, Maryland, and senior instructor with the Institute on the
Constitution, told Christian News Network that America’s founders didn’t
view the government that way.
He pointed to the Declaration of Independence, which speaks of “the
laws of nature and of nature’s God,” and noted that the phrase
originated with William Blackstone, a Christian whose commentaries on
English law were centered on biblical law.
Writer Kent Schmidt outlines,
“Cicero and Grotius … believed that the law of nature, which is binding
upon all humans just as surely as gravity affects all of nature, is
nothing more than the voice of reason. In sharp contrast to this
humanistic view of natural law, Blackstone believed that the law of
nature is not only binding on all men, but that it is dictated by God
Himself.”
“Thomas Jefferson reflected Blackstone’s view when he used the phrase
‘law of nature and of nature’s God’ in the Declaration. This phrase
indicates that Jefferson understood the difference between Blackstone’s
theory and that of Grotius and Cicero. The law of nature refers to the
will of God observable in creation while the law of nature’s God refers
to the divine law which is revealed through the Scriptures.”
Whitney explained that while the teaching of Jesus are to be received
and followed personally, they also are to be the standard for family
government, church government and civil government.
“God’s law relates to each and every one of those four
jurisdictions,” he stated. “I cannot understand where Jerry Falwell has
missed what I think is pretty plain in the Scriptures—that God’s law,
given to us in Scripture, is the foundation of any legitimate law. As
Blackstone said and all our founders believed—and they argued in this in
the Declaration—if humans create law that’s in violation of God’s law,
it is not law.”
Whitney provided a number of examples where public policy must be founded upon biblical law.
“Judges can spill all the ink they want on paper and say that two men
can marry and that constitutes a marriage, [but] that does not change
the law of the universe regarding marriage. God defines marriage,” he
noted. “God commands thou shalt not murder. God commands thou shalt not
steal, thou shalt not commit adultery. So, God’s law relates to what
civil government is supposed to be enforcing.”
Whitney stated that there indeed is a separation jurisdiction-wise
between self-government and civil government, but not in the manner that
Falwell stated. For example, there are some sins that the government is
not meant to punish, such as gossiping, as those matters are more for
the church and family to address. But every realm of life—personal,
family, church and civil—has a responsibility to God to carry out His
will as outlined in the Scriptures.
“In advance of [Christ’s] kingdom, we are told to occupy until He
comes—that is to make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in their
individual obedience to God’s law (in self-government), in their
families and how their families obey God’s law, and in our churches and
how our churches obey God’s law,” he said. “[But] Jerry Falwell … seems
to balk at the idea that somehow civil government should also repent of
its sins.”

WhitneyWhitney
explained that if God’s law is not the basis for public policy, and it
is “free from religious association,” then all that is left is secular
humanism.
“You see, if you reject the idea that God’s law has anything to do
with human civil government, then you have no standard whatsoever by
which human civil government can establish justice in the earth,” he
noted. “When Jesus said, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s,’ He didn’t say that Caesar can make up any law he wants—that
Caesar could say, ‘Let’s go murder babies,’ and that’s fine with God.
No, no, no.”
“Our society has said murdering babies in the womb is perfectly fine.
[But] God’s law says that’s murder,” Whitney exemplified. “If you’re
just going to base it on human reasoning, [who’s to say] to stop with
murdering babies? Why not start killing old people because they’ve got
too many diseases or sicknesses, and they’re no longer useful to
society? Why not kill people in wheelchairs because, ‘Oh, they’re not
going to be useful’?”
He said that leaving public policy up to man’s subjective standard
leaves the rights of men vulnerable and unsecured, noting that
government-granted privileges can consequently be taken away as easily
as they are granted.
“Today, the government might say you can own property, and tomorrow
they’re going to steal the property from you, like they do in communist
countries or places like Venezuela where you don’t have any property
rights whatsoever,” Whitney outlined. “So, if you reject the whole
theory that our rights are given to us by God, then of course you’re
going to wind up with a system of government where no one has life,
liberty or property protected.”
As previously reported, Falwell has been a vocal supporter of President Trump,
repeatedly asserting throughout Trump’s presidential campaign that the
then-candidate bears the fruit of one being born again because of his
characteristic good deeds.
“I’ve seen his generosity to strangers, to his employees, his warm
relationship with his children,” he said on CNN’s “Legal View With
Ashleigh Banfield” in February 2016. “I’m convinced he’s a Christian. I
believe he has faith in Jesus Christ.”
Falwell made similar comments to Fox talk show host Sean Hannity.
“He may not be a theological expert and he might say two Corinthians
instead of second Corinthians, but when you look at the fruits of his
life and all the people he’s provided jobs, I think that’s the true test
of somebody’s Christianity, not whether or not they use the right
theological terms,” he contended.
Falwell asserted that those who expressed concerns about Trump’s behavior were violating the “judge not” clause in Matthew 7:1.
“Jesus said, ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged. Let’s stop trying to
choose the political leaders who we believe are the most godly because,
in reality, only God knows people’s hearts. You and I don’t, and we are
all sinners,” he said in an interview with the Liberty University
newspaper in March 2016.
John Jay, the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, once
said, “Providence has given our people the choice of their rulers, and
it is the duty, as well as privilege and interest, of a Christian nation
to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
______________________________________________________
SEE ALSO:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/jerry-falwell-jr-cant-imagine-trump-doing-anything-thats-not-good-for-the-country/2018/12/21/6affc4c4-f19e-11e8-80d0-f7e1948d55f4_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.01879d805320 
AND:
https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/31097-tennessee-democrat-proposes-dangerous-constitutional-amendments?vsmaid=2757&vcid=3987 
AND:
https://pulpitandpen.org/2019/01/02/falwell-jr-public-policies-not-dictated-by-biblical-teachings/