Is Christianity a theocracy?

[Halbhh]

That's pretty much the way life was in the West for well over one thousand years. Looking at homosexuality as an example, it was punishable by death as late as 1840 in Florida. The last execution for homosexuality in Europe was around 1830 or so. Thomas Jefferson advocated castration as punishment for it rather than the death penalty.

Yet man's government as the way to enforce personal morality doesn't actually work. For instance, one famous example would be Prohibition (since drunkenness is listed in the scripture as sin). The law only led to more sin, not less sin. Instead, the only real solution is what I copied from scripture in post 22 just above.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

im referring to theocracy and seeing what peoples opinions are on it.

I understand however it does not and can not exist today. Today it is known as Dominionism. Blessings

 

[Soyeong]

My question is about Christian theocracy and if we as Christians should try to force the secular world to submit to Christ by enforcing sin as crime. For example, let’s assume a same sex couple, a divorced couple and a unequally yoked couple all want to get married. Should we criminalize it to prevent it from happening or is that going beyond out duty as Christians?

Every law that has been written is legislating according to its author's concept of morality, so Christians wanting society to follow laws based on our concept of morality is not a different type of thing than non-Christians wanting society to follow laws based on their concept of morality. However, desire clouds our judgement, so we can't be sure if something is truly good or if we just think that it is good because we desire it, so Christians have the advantage of leaning not on our own understanding, but trusting God.

 

[SkovandOfMitzae]

Every law that has been written is legislating according to its author's concept of morality, so Christians wanting society to follow laws based on our concept of morality is not a different type of thing than non-Christians wanting society to follow laws based on their concept of morality. However, desire clouds our judgement, so we can't be sure if something is truly good or if we just think that it is good because we desire it, so Christians have the advantage of leaning not on our own understanding, but trusting God.

even then it’s still leaning on our own understanding to interpret the Tanakh. The Tanakh “ Old Testament “ contains 613 laws with 611 of them as commands and that’s the same numerical value as Torah.

 

[Mark Quayle]

To be "under one's thumb" means to be under that person's control. When did that go out?

Brings to mind political correctness, and a 'truth' ministry, doesn't it?

 

[Aussie Pete]

My question is about Christian theocracy and if we as Christians should try to force the secular world to submit to Christ by enforcing sin as crime. For example, let’s assume a same sex couple, a divorced couple and a unequally yoked couple all want to get married. Should we criminalize it to prevent it from happening or is that going beyond out duty as Christians?

The world needs to know that sin is sin. However, we have no right to impose moral values on the world. The reason the world is turning away from Christian values is that the church is failing in its mission.

We are at war. We need to choose our battles and who we fight. Jesus came to save the world, not condemn it. Satan is our enemy; we should be resisting him. Christians are supposed to be salt and light. Too often the church has failed to be either. The condition of the world now is the result. Changing the law won't change the heart.

We should be resisting laws that undermine the ability to preach the gospel and also hinder us from raising our children in a godly way. That will vary from place to place, of course. Where I live, it is now illegal to stop your children seeking gender reassignment procedures. This is obviously from the pit of hell. "Hate speech" laws are also being used to hinder preaching the gospel. We need to be praying about such things and speaking up as well.

 

[Soyeong]

even then it’s still leaning on our own understanding to interpret the Tanakh. The Tanakh “ Old Testament “ contains 613 laws with 611 of them as commands and that’s the same numerical value as Torah.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

We all have our own understanding of what it means to trust in the Lord with all our heart, what it means to acknowledge him ins all our ways, and what it means for Him to make straight our paths, so leaning on our understanding is not the same as using our understanding.

 

[public hermit]

My question is about Christian theocracy and if we as Christians should try to force the secular world to submit to Christ by enforcing sin as crime. For example, let’s assume a same sex couple, a divorced couple and a unequally yoked couple all want to get married. Should we criminalize it to prevent it from happening or is that going beyond out duty as Christians?

No. Every time the Church has used civil power to somehow try and enforce the ways of the kingdom, it's been a disaster. The horrors committed by the Church in power throughout its history prove the point.

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

The \
We are at war.

When was war declared and with who?

 

[Aussie Pete]

When was war declared and with who?

Satan. Exactly when he rebelled against God is not clear. But it was before the creation of Adam.

 

[Yarddog]

My question is about Christian theocracy and if we as Christians should try to force the secular world to submit to Christ by enforcing sin as crime. For example, let’s assume a same sex couple, a divorced couple and a unequally yoked couple all want to get married. Should we criminalize it to prevent it from happening or is that going beyond out duty as Christians?

You cannot force people to believe, that can only occur through the moving of God's Holy Spirit. It is our duty to be lights to the world but most Christians fail at this.
1 John 4:
7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

 

[Strivax]

Are Christian nations theocracies? I don't think so. I think we rely too much on the notion of individual freedom to qualify. If you want an example of a theocracy, check out Afghanistan under the Taliban. If one cites that state, theocracy doesn't seem very attractive.

Best wishes, Strivax.

 

[Strivax]

Satan. Exactly when he rebelled against God is not clear. But it was before the creation of Adam.

According to the folklore, God created Satan as the angel Lucifer (the bringer of light). It was not until he rebelled that he became Satan.

Best wishes, Strivax.

 

[Aussie Pete]

According to the folklore, God created Satan as the angel Lucifer (the bringer of light). It was not until he rebelled that he became Satan.

Best wishes, Strivax.

It's not folklore. And Lucifer is better translated "Star of the Morning" or Day Star. It's from Isaiah 14:12. "Satan" means adversary. Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 refer to human rulers, but also refer to the being behind those rulers, Satan. No human ruler was in Eden. Lord Jesus said that He saw Satan fall like lightning. It all fits.

 

[Strivax]

duplicate

Best wishes, Strivax.

 

[Strivax]

I wonder. Could humanity really be free unless he had the capacity to do evil? Which leads me to wonder further, perhaps Lucifer did not rebel at all. Perhaps he just thought God's thought, that humanity needs freedom to bring about His plan. Which is the voluntary submission to love. Jesus taught us that we should love our enemies, which implies that we should sympathetically think the best of them.

Best wishes, Strivax.

 

[Bill Fishlore]

My question is about Christian theocracy and if we as Christians should try to force the secular world to submit to Christ by enforcing sin as crime. For example, let’s assume a same sex couple, a divorced couple and a unequally yoked couple all want to get married. Should we criminalize it to prevent it from happening or is that going beyond out duty as Christians?

The Roman Catholic Church has always been more Roman than catholic. By this I mean that the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire (the Donation of Constantine) has given the Church an imperial organization and attitude toward believers. Protest against this form of religious authority is what has produced Protestantism.

Application of papal authority to civil society has produced some horrific results over time. Modern society is as different from that of the era of the Council of Trent as the era of the Council of Trent was from the era of Damascus. Christianity is connected to God through the medium of divine grace. None of that will change as it is a divine, not human creation. What will change and must change is human understanding of Divine grace, that is what Christianity is.

 

[nhisname]

You cannot force people to believe, that can only occur through the moving of God's Holy Spirit. It is our duty to be lights to the world but most Christians fail at this.
1 John 4:
7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

What does this mean exactly "Love thy neighbor as thy self? I understand being kind to others but if our neighbor is living in a worldly manner are we to condone that sinful behavior in order to show our love because to them we are not really Christians because we are to love them regardless.

 

[Strivax]

I should not get bogged down in the semantics, just get on with the love bit. You will find you discover an altogether better quality of life.

Best wishes, Strivax.

 

[Halbhh]

That's pretty much the way life was in the West for well over one thousand years. Looking at homosexuality as an example, it was punishable by death as late as 1840 in Florida. The last execution for homosexuality in Europe was around 1830 or so. Thomas Jefferson advocated castration as punishment for it rather than the death penalty.

While a problem that tends to happen in the world is convictions of individuals for capital crimes where it turn out they didn't actually do the crime they are convicted of, let's look at a more representative example for today, about making secular law about some things in personal morality.

Drunkenness is specifically listed as a serious sin. So, in view of that, what do you think of American Prohibition then?

How Prohibition backfired and gave America an era of gangsters and speakeasies

(it ended up not only funding and increasing organized crime, but taught millions to begin to see law as arbitrary and ok to skirt)

A contrast to the idea of making every last type of possible sin illegal is to instead seek to convert people with the Gospel, so that they change in their hearts to become a new person.