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Family government
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By Terry Dashner
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Parental government...
Continuation of a series on the separation of church and state...
Faith Fellowship Church...PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK74013...Terry Dashner
Pope Leo XIII said, "The family was ordained of God thatchildren might be trained up for himself; it was before thechurch, or rather the first form of the church on earth."
I agree wholly. The Bible has a lot to say about the familyunit. The Bible declares that husbands and wives are to be theheads-of-state in their homes. Parents are given a lot oflatitude in regards to ruling over the affairs of the social,economic, and paternal home. And the parents model stability,learning, and spirituality on a very basic and visual level.
It is true. The family is one government among many.
God has placed every believer in the body ofChrist--strategically. We are called, appointed, and enabled bythe Holy Spirit to fulfill the Father's purpose for our lives.What He has reserved for Himself to do, we can not do. On theother hand what He has told us to do, He will not do by Himself.We are to work hand-in-hand with God, but we are not to usurpauthority by going at it alone. For example, God called me froman early age to preach the Gospel. I'm positive that He could doa much better job than I; however, He refuses to do it Himselfor even send an angel in my place. He has called me. I must go,and He has been with me every step of the way.
In light of what is said, think about this. If there are manykinds of God-ordained governments, which there are--civil,state, county, municipality, school, church, and family--theneach has its own responsibilities and can not be substituted inthe place of another. For example, a family government can notusurp the authority of a national government and a nationalgovernment should not "butt in" the affairs of the familygovernment. Now obviously the family unit can not run nationalaffairs, collect taxes, maintain a world-ready army, and etc.But on the other hand, the national government should not usurpthe authority of the family and try and educate its children,train them morally, or make them good citizens by forcing thewill of the state on them.
It is the parents' right and duty before God to "train up achild in the way he should go." That duty, as burdensome as itis at times, should not fall on the civil government'sshoulders. Only a family unit can instill lasting character,virtues, and godliness in its children. And the parents do it bya living example.
Maybe Americans have problems delineating the differencesbetween church and state because we've forced each one intoroles that neither one was designed to function in. A particularchurch "sect" or denomination should not govern in the role ofcivil government. But on the other hand, the civil governmentshould not exterminate the role of the church or what theJudeo-Christian ethic has built in this nation--laws and publicinstitutions which shall always be subject to God's Law.
We should never elevate the state over God's way of doingthings. Consider this. We have dropped the ball in rearing ourchildren according to the Bible way. We have freed ourselvesfrom our family responsibilities by giving our children to thestate to raise, educate, and care for. The state was notordained by God to usurp the authority and responsibilities offamily government. Because we have substituted roles and usurpedauthority, we've taxed and burdened our civil government to thebreaking point.
But not only has the family unit failed in its responsibility toits children, the church has often failed too. Why? Because Godhas commissioned it to assist the widows and orphans, but wehave said no repeatedly by passing that responsibility to thestate. Shame on us! The church, the family, and the state mustget back to what they were designed to do. When that happens,there will be synchronization between church and state and notabandonment by one for the other.
Keep the faith. Stay the course. Jesus is coming again.
Pastor T.
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