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America First: A Christian Perspective (Part 1)
13 Plays26 days ago
This is Part 1 of a 5 part miniseries on the topic of America First. Paul and Dustin discuss the "America First" platform, and whether or not it is good and biblical.
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Transcript
America First from a Christian Perspective
00:00:13
Speaker
right, Dustin, we'll talk about America First today. Okay. Not, you know, an uncontroversial subject, but in in some sense it shouldn't be, and we can't be exhausted, but just want to have a conversation, obviously from a Christian perspective, about America First. that I think it's an appropriate thing.
00:00:31
Speaker
So um I'll go ahead and put my cards on the table there, but want to wade into it just a little bit. One of the things that I'm always mindful of, and and I think you are too, ah When we talk about America first, we want to make sure that we're not conflating um Christianity and America.
00:00:50
Speaker
Sure. We make a distinction between the church and the state. Yes. And again, I think all Christians would understand that, but sometimes... Folk can kind of get confused. We kind of need to define our terms a little bit there because ah it's it's one of those buzzword terms that a lot of people will use it and maybe mean different things when they use it. I think it'd be good for us to talk about what we mean yeah when we say that and how do we approach it from a biblical perspective. Yeah, yeah.
Misconceptions in Politics and Faith
00:01:18
Speaker
That's where I'm coming from.
00:01:19
Speaker
And, you know, on the one hand, sometimes, you know, we get this criticism, well, Christians think God is a Republican. Yeah. And obviously we don't think God is a Republican. no And I'm not trying to go, you know, third wayism or anything like that.
00:01:34
Speaker
um But, you know, generally speaking, and in some sense, Republicans are, you know, supposed to be conservative and conservative by that. We mean constitutional.
00:01:47
Speaker
Again, I'm going to get bogged down. I don't want to do that. But all I'm trying to say is, on the one hand, We're not trying to merge um God with any particular party.
00:01:59
Speaker
<unk>re We're not trying to conflate Christianity with the United States of America, as you've said, as I've said. But America first, I think it's appropriate. Let me let me read something sure real quick.
European Protests and Nationalism
00:02:10
Speaker
And this doesn't necessarily have to do particularly with America, but we're going apply it.
00:02:13
Speaker
okay um There are protests. Let me wade into the quote. ah emerging right now all across Europe um against mass immigration.
00:02:25
Speaker
um The economically smothering ah bureaucratic policies that are coming down from on high, protests against that, economically smothering um regulations, I could say, energy policies that are, I'm just using this phrase, economically smothering, just came came to me.
00:02:48
Speaker
But one commentator had this to say. He said, one of the common and visually striking features of these protests is the multitude of national flags.
00:02:59
Speaker
From one set of eyes staring at the array of protesters waving their country's flags in the air, the scene looks like a never-ending quilt of unbridled patriotism.
00:03:11
Speaker
Now, that that's a ah striking quote to me, and and and I know what he's getting at, and I agree with him. Um... But at the same time, and and I'm saying that's a good thing, but but that's a number of countries in Europe and and people waving their own flags. Right.
00:03:30
Speaker
And what they're waving their their flags for is, again, it's protest against the the heavy-handed policies. ah Again, as I mentioned, not economic policies, energy policies, but mass migration policies, open borders, things like that. And I think Christians...
00:03:50
Speaker
A lot of the time, and again, we're going to talk specifically about borders, so i don't want to say too much at at this moment, but just again, by way of intro, I think Christians are like, well, you know what's wrong with open borders? Aren't we welcoming of all people? That kind of thing. and you know There's a sense in which a number of years ago, I wouldn't describe myself having that kind of mindset exactly,
00:04:13
Speaker
But, you know, what what is the Statue of Liberty? Give me you're poor you're tired you're your your huddled masses, something like that. Yeah, I mean, but there again, there has to be some kind of, um you know, regulation with that. With all those of us who try to look it through the lens of Scripture, we've we've tried to...
00:04:33
Speaker
you know have a regulations in place. we We want to be compassionate, but yeah you know you just you have to think these things through. That's where I'm coming from.
00:04:45
Speaker
So again, without getting too bogged down, why would I say That America first is a good thing, particularly when you think of this last little line, never-ending quote of unbridled patriotism.
00:05:00
Speaker
Because, again, I've always said, oh well, I have said I'm a patriot, and I am, but my ultimate allegiance and loyalty is to Christ. Right.
00:05:11
Speaker
and And I think any true Christian should understand that. This is what I was getting at a few minutes ago when we were saying some Christians conflate patriotism with with Christ. Right. Like if if you don't support the president,
00:05:26
Speaker
You know, you're being unchristian. i don't think that's the case. Especially if he's a Republican. And and these days, especially he's President Trump. Right, right. You know, and and this is why, again, we might be getting out in the weeds, but this is why a lot of folk, I'm talking about Christian leaders. I'm talking about generally trusted Christian leaders saying, President Trump, we've got to support him all the way.
00:05:49
Speaker
and And, you know, he's he's he's a baby Christian. Mm-hmm. And it's like, no, he's not. Right. There's been no evidence of a heart or life change. and And you said it, evidence of a heart or life change, because people say, well, how can you judge the heart? Well, only God judges the heart, but...
00:06:06
Speaker
Donald Trump, listen, I voted for him three times. I'm not happy with the decisions he's making now sure with reference to Iran. We'll just leave it there for the moment. ah Well, I'll probably say more about the president. and I'm not here to bash the president, and I certainly respect the office. But I voted for him three times, not happy with what he's doing now.
00:06:26
Speaker
But never should should any Christian have considered him a Christian.
Trump's Christian Alignment
00:06:31
Speaker
No. This is just not the case. he's not Someone not long ago said he's not part of our tribe. He doesn't understand our language. That's why he says and does things that just baffle Christians.
00:06:43
Speaker
Most of us, you know, the recent, what was it? Some kind of picture where he was depicted as Jesus. Some AI generated image on yeah Twitter, I think it was, or X. Sorry. Yeah. Dated myself there. But oh where, yeah, he's dressed in a ah robe that...
00:07:01
Speaker
most people that have grown up in church would understand to be supposedly representing Jesus. Yeah. And he's standing over a sick person, I think, and placing his hand on him like he's healing him or whatever. Yeah.
00:07:15
Speaker
And of course he tried to backtrack and say he didn't think that that was depicting him as Jesus. It was a doctor or something. Right. Yeah. That's beside the point. It it is. and and But I've heard Christian pastors try to defend the, the the I'm simple. I'll call it a picture. yeah Sure. Anyway.
00:07:31
Speaker
So, and again, this is also the same person that during his first campaign, um, in an interview said, I've never felt I needed to ask for forgiveness for anything. Yeah.
00:07:42
Speaker
So that's definitely not something a Christian would. No. I have to ask for forgiveness every day. Oh, yeah. Every day, for sure. I'm with you. um You know what? I'm just kidding. Yeah. yeah Amen.
00:07:54
Speaker
So why America first? Why is that and a good thing?
Globalism vs. National Sovereignty
00:07:58
Speaker
Why is that important, particularly from a Christian worldview? Well, one of the things we can say is because of globalism, and globalism and You know you hear this phrase more now than you used to, but I i was talking about President Bush the other day.
00:08:11
Speaker
I'm talking about Bush I. And in his 1988 acceptance speech at the RNC, he talked about a new world order. And, you know, at the time, I had no idea.
00:08:24
Speaker
i didn't know what he was talking about. yeah I do now. And a new world order is is not what we want. The Great Reset is not what we want, you know. the surveillance state and digital banking and credit scores, social credit scores. you know If you score high, then you know you get the benefits. And if you score low, then you know your bank account is cut off. you know you're You're basically on the street.
00:08:49
Speaker
And I'm not going down that road, but I'm just saying the whole... America first dynamic, I think, pushes back against that just a little bit.
00:08:59
Speaker
um And when I think of globalism, one of the things I think about is the Tower of Bible. Right. Yeah. Sure. I mean, the people were building this tower and they were working together and they, in some sense, felt themselves essentially to be God or captains their own fate. They were doing so out of pride. Yeah.
00:09:18
Speaker
They said, let's build a tower so we can touch heaven, yeah essentially. Yeah. Touch God. Exactly. And God confused their language yeah and scattered them. Yeah. Quite intentionally, lest they you know band themselves together and exalt themselves against God, which is you know state power. This is one of the things we talk about a lot to the state Difference between government and the state, and and I know a lot of folk are aware of that, but but a lot are not. and Well, what do you mean by that? Well, you know, you you've got to have some kind of government.
00:09:50
Speaker
You know, you've got to have the rule of law because we need to protect... ah We need to be protected from predators, but so the rule of
Pentecost and Unity in the Gospel
00:09:59
Speaker
law. But at the same time, um the state ah as an entity, it arrogates power unto itself, and and it grows bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And you see this right throughout history.
00:10:13
Speaker
um My son pointed out to the other night, you come to the Bible and you see ah demonic forces behind state power. sure I mean, you a Revelation, you've got to the beast. You've got really two beasts there, the land beast and the sea beast, but certainly Satan is the dragon, and he he's the one who gives the beast his power, government government. And so anyway, not to get too bogged down there, just saying you've got to be very leery of the state.
00:10:44
Speaker
And so There's this tower of of Bible dynamic going on in my mind when when I think about Come to Acts 17, verse 26. If I could just read this. sure This is Paul up on the Areopagus, but he's I'm just picking up in the middle. and it's just a It's one verse. He says, God has made from one blood, assume that's Adam, one blood every nation of men,
00:11:13
Speaker
Now, on the one hand, now on the one hand you can't develop a theology typically out of one verse.
00:11:25
Speaker
You know, unless you've got a verse in Romans that says ah Jesus is Lord. Well, you could develop a theology off of that. sure But generally speaking, you need context, you need a lot of other things.
00:11:39
Speaker
And also, Acts is theological narrative. and So when you're talking about a narrative dynamic, you can't build a theology off of that. the you know The more didactic sections of Scripture um really give us our doctrine, and and so we understand narrative sections based on that.
00:11:57
Speaker
At the same time, it's an intriguing verse. In other words, I don't want to just say from this one verse that God has established nations, and therefore nations must be distinct from one another from here to the final state.
00:12:12
Speaker
um I'm not saying that. However... And and why why why do we have to be careful? Well, one of the things we would have to think about, because I just mentioned the Tower of Bible, one of the things we have think about is Pentecost.
00:12:26
Speaker
What's happening at Pentecost? It's almost an undoing of the Tower of Bible. Yeah. This is where it does kind of get muddy because... When we think about the church, when we think about Christ's church, it's people from every tribe, nation, and tongue. And he says there is no Jew, there is no Greek.
00:12:41
Speaker
and And so there is a uniting. And at Pentecost, we see the the tongues descending on the apostles, and and they begin prophesying. And all of the people from all different regions that spoke all different languages from all different backgrounds— were hearing the word of the Lord proclaimed in their own language. And so the gospel was being used to bring people together now in in humility and repentance through the gospel, as opposed to them being united in pride in at Babel. And so when we I think it can be easy for us to, when we think about
00:13:17
Speaker
the church And we think about the gospel and how that's a bringing together of people regardless of background or language or or all of that. And that's a good thing. That's, I mean, Scripture tells us that that's the goal of the gospel. yeah But...
00:13:35
Speaker
That's the the church and the state are two different things. yeah And ah in in a lot of different areas, we can tend to conflate those two things together.
00:13:46
Speaker
And then that's when it causes a lot of confusion for us. So we need to learn the difference between what's what's good in the in the context of the church versus what's good in the context of the state. And then that's the answer, because I think it's a legitimate question. So not to build a theology out of Acts 17, Tower of the Bible, then you've got Pentecost, but you're making a distinction between the church and the state. And you also mentioned the goal of the gospel. i got another verse I want to read, if that's okay.
00:14:14
Speaker
Because you're right, 100%, which has bearing, but your answer is spot on. But this is Ephesians 3.9. You know, Paul's talking about a mystery. And mystery in the New Testament, by the way, as you know, it's not something that's hard for us to understand, per se, or mysterious.
00:14:33
Speaker
Excuse me. Mystery refers to, its technical term, refers to something, and Paul explains this in Ephesians. We're not going to go down that road, but I just want to put this on the table.
00:14:44
Speaker
refers to something that's been given in seminal form in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament it is now fully revealed. We now, oh, okay, we could have missed it. Sure.
00:14:55
Speaker
Shouldn't have, probably, but... You know, I think it's road to Emmaus, Luke 24. and i I don't think I would understand the Old Testament apart from the New, at least the way that I should. We could understand some of but you know what Anyway, so fully revealed. So he says, this particular mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things for Jesus Christ,
00:15:21
Speaker
And you just used the words. And you even know I was going to read this verse. you You said the purpose of the gospel. He says, to the intent. Anyway, sorry. I get excited when the Lord's working. Amen.
00:15:35
Speaker
um To the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages, hidden in God, created all things through Jesus to the intent that now, new covenant, new age, that now...
00:15:46
Speaker
the manifold or multicolored wisdom of God might be made known by the church. Now hold on to that phrase. To the principalities and powers in heavenly places, spiritual realm, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
00:16:06
Speaker
So, wow, that little phrase And, of course, you've got to read the rest of Ephesians, that context. But when he says by the church, he's about what you were talking about, that the gospel breaks down all barriers, socioeconomic barriers, racial barriers, ah male, female. Right. Like you quoted it, neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, bond or free, but all are one in Christ Jesus. Right.
00:16:33
Speaker
um And of course, that doesn't mean that men cease to be men and women cease to be women. It just means we have a ah spiritual connection. And the gospel is for everyone, not just for a particular group.
00:16:45
Speaker
Right? So that' that's the whole intent.
Balancing National Identity with Faith
00:16:50
Speaker
um But to your point, that's very clear that you're talking about this oneness in Christ.
00:17:03
Speaker
It's not in America. Because only Christ can do that. Only the gospel can do that. Yes. No earthly nation can do that. um It's only the gospel that can unite and can break down those barriers. Yeah, that's right.
00:17:16
Speaker
So, when i when I say America first, that also means I'm saying And again, we're not saying that if you're not American, you're not Christian, you're not creating the image of God, we hate you, ah we we don't want to dialogue with you. We're not saying any of that. We want to have fellowship.
00:17:35
Speaker
um I'll try to have fellowship with anyone, but believer or unbeliever. um But I also recognize that there's no genuine fellowship unless you're in Christ. But I'm trying to win people. And I don't mind living with people who are different from me.
00:17:51
Speaker
as as long as we're law-abiding citizens and we are Americans. and And what does that mean? Well, we understand what it means to be an American, right?
00:18:02
Speaker
um But my my commitment to Christ supersedes that, of course. But it doesn't mean that I'm not happy to be American. But when I say America first... I'm a Christian, I'm an American.
00:18:14
Speaker
if you're If you're a German, you should be German first. If you're British, you should be you know ah England first or Anyway, Italian, Italy, Italy first. you know Unless you're an American, you could be from Italy, and you in you understand what I'm trying to say.
00:18:32
Speaker
There's a gospel benefit to working for the good of your nation. There you go. um We've talked about this in a different context before, but the very fact of the Roman Empire in the first century was a wicked empire. Lots of bad things happened with the Roman Empire.
00:18:51
Speaker
But there were a lot of good things that came as the result of the prosperity of Rome. The road system we've talked about before, yeah that was a benefit to be able to take the gospel to the nations.
Roman Empire and Gospel Spread
00:19:04
Speaker
yeah A unified language, the majority of the empire all understood, could write, read, speak.
00:19:10
Speaker
So that when the word of God was written, it was written in this common language that others could understand. And so, again, there's this dichotomy here of the Roman Empire was by and large wicked, but there was a good benefit for the gospel yeah in the prosperity of Rome.
00:19:30
Speaker
yeah And so we can talk about the things that are wrong with America. Mm-hmm. But at the same time, there can be a gospel benefit to working for the good of the country. Yeah. Because we do so with a biblical mindset, a biblical worldview in that the things that we want to be prosperity, we're doing so out of a gospel mindset. Yeah.
00:19:56
Speaker
so that it benefits others so that through that benefit we can share the gospel. You have really pinpointed what I've been struggling to say, which is good.
00:20:07
Speaker
But we say it all the time. We want to do all that we do for the glory of God, and we we will work toward the good of others. So that's that's exactly where I'm coming from. was just going back to the quote from You know, the fellow who is looking at the the protests in Europe and the the different flags, just affirming that. So um i I think, as you have expressed it, that's where we're going. And that's why I'm saying the particular brand of America First that we're trying to talk about is rooted, I think, in a Christian worldview. Yeah. Okay. Now, I got five um pillars, tenets, tenets.
00:20:46
Speaker
of this America first. I did not come up with these or or articulate these.
Five Tenets of America First
00:20:52
Speaker
um When President Trump, I mentioned him again, was running in some sense throughout his first and second campaign, these are kind of the tenets that he articulated.
00:21:05
Speaker
And um I got these from an interview, and this, I don't even know how long ago it's been. It's been several months. But I got these from an interview that Tucker Carlson was doing with Marjorie Taylor Greene. Okay. I only say that for, I didn't come up with this. I'm just giving, citing my source. Sure.
00:21:23
Speaker
That's all. And we're not going to... recapitulate that interview, i I don't even remember what was said. i haven't seen it. Yeah, there you go. But I did write down these principles. Really, they were talking about the five pillars of MAGA, make America great again. And there's there's a there's a a divide within MAGA now. And man,
00:21:49
Speaker
I'm getting called names by certain people because I'm concerned with what the president is doing now. But nevertheless, the the first dynamic was, and I should have, anyway, the first dynamic of these five pillars was America first. And let me just read their understanding, the guiding principle that every decision by the United States government must prioritize,
00:22:14
Speaker
the benefit of the United States and its citizens above all else. Wouldn't that make sense? Sure. Wouldn't we want our government to prioritize us? Again, you've to be real careful Because you've got all of these, oh, 1984, was it Orwell? We read this back in high school.
00:22:34
Speaker
And war is peace. yeah You had all these little phrases that, well, war is not peace. But but they'd say them over and over. Propaganda. Propaganda. Thank you.
00:22:45
Speaker
So you have to be careful that, you know, we have this thing now called, well, we we need to have, you know, all these military bases all over the world because we need to protect our interest.
00:22:55
Speaker
Okay. Well, you you can that means you can define America's interests any way you want to. Sure, sure. and And that's not where I'm coming from. Not at all. just Sorry.
00:23:06
Speaker
and Just protect America. you know, and do good things for the citizenry. don't Don't take trillions of dollars out of the pockets of Americans to support a rogue state in the Middle East called Israel, who's nothing but, um and in my estimation, a murderous regime at this particular point.
00:23:27
Speaker
And I'm not projecting that on you. That's a personal—I don't even know why I said that. Anyhow— So I want to say just just a little bit ah about this.
00:23:39
Speaker
um I think when you think about the government, a good government, prioritizing its own citizens, and this is partly how I think, I think that's rooted in the individual.
Responsibility and Society
00:23:55
Speaker
Because I think things have to start with the individual. When you start thinking collectively, that's when you get off into communism or socialism or something like that.
00:24:06
Speaker
And every single human being is created individually by God, created in the image of God. of course, the image of God is marred in us because of sin um in the fall.
00:24:18
Speaker
But nevertheless, and we're but we're fearfully and wonderfully made. So i think it starts with the with the individual. But individuals are connected two ah Other structures.
00:24:31
Speaker
Sure. So they're connected to a family, for example. I would assume that if I were to come over to your house and kick in your door and, you know, be wielding a gun, you're going to move to protect your family. Sure. i And I would say that's your duty. Mm hmm.
00:24:51
Speaker
Yeah. Not all Christian thinkers think it's your duty. And again, I understand the confusion. Well, we're just to love everybody. Okay, well, shouldn't you love your family?
00:25:03
Speaker
And that that that goes back to what a lot of folk are talking about with the order of amorous, you know, the order of loves. Am I going to love this crazed gunman? Well, I want to love him, but the most loving thing I can do is stop him, preach the gospel to him,
00:25:19
Speaker
Right. But at the same time, I mean, i i would never want to really I wouldn't want to hurt anyone. I certainly want to kill anyone. But if I just let him do what he does, that's not loving my family.
00:25:33
Speaker
Well, my family. And again, i've I've spent some time thinking about this because I've got trusted Christian theologians who would say the opposite of what I'm saying.
00:25:45
Speaker
And I'm thinking, okay, well, because I'm very sensitive to the commands of Christ. Love your neighbor. Turn the other cheek. But at the same time, as I've tried to think it through biblically, and again, I'm not saying i have the corner on all truth.
00:25:59
Speaker
But i I think I'm right on this, that it's my obligation to protect my family. It's your obligation protect your family. But um I think I pretty much agree.
00:26:11
Speaker
um i always wrestle with drawing the line between self-defense versus defending my family. Mm-hmm. um If I'm the only one in danger and you're threatening me, who um i do still kind of wrestle with, do I have the right to use deadly force against you to protect myself? Yeah.
00:26:32
Speaker
But if you're threatening my family, which I feel like I have been given a command by God to care for, protect, then I think that is a different category.
Duty, War, and State Necessity
00:26:42
Speaker
But again, not to get off in the...
00:26:45
Speaker
Down a rabbit trail on that. I'm glad you said it ah because it's worthy of contemplation. A lot of Christians don't like to wrestle with things. And I'm not, oh, look how wonderful I am. i And I'm not saying my fight or flight wouldn't take over in that situation. Right. It's still going to be a human nature that's going to want to preserve my own life. Yes. But the degree to which I feel like I have the right to take that yeah for myself versus my family. Yeah. um I think that's something we have to think through. We can actually maybe talk about that yeah sometime.
00:27:14
Speaker
I know a fellow who wrote a book on ah self-defense, and he's a Christian. Presuppositionalist. so but might We might have him. Yeah, that'd be good. And talk to him. It's really good. But anyhow, so moving on, or we'll never get through this. We may have come back and a second. Maybe. Part two. Why not? America First, second.
00:27:33
Speaker
which could I love it. You're almost as quick as our producer today. Almost. Anyway. That's a high bar. Yeah. ah Anthony's over there saying, I wish I could say something. No, no, no.
00:27:47
Speaker
So, and i and I will come back to the issue of self-defense in just a moment. So remind me if it seems like I'm never going to get there. ah But I wanted to say, Christians, you know, you're connected to your family, but you're also connected to a community. Sure.
00:28:04
Speaker
And then, of course, we're connected to, a a in our case, a state. um And then we're connected to a nation, a country. and And so, you know, interventionist war is one thing, but self-defensive war is something else. And I've often said, and again, you made the distinction between yourself and then the defense of others, legitimate conversation,
00:28:35
Speaker
But I think on the one hand, as I've said often, I want no part personally, I want no i don't want our i even want our nation part of it, I want no part of an interventionist war that's merely political, merely regime change because we want the building we want the oil or whatever.
00:28:55
Speaker
But there's an invasion of our country. I'm 62 years old, but I'm going suit up. Do you know what i mean? not Not out of hatred right for for those who are coming our way. Not out of vengeance. Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. That goes back to, I think, what you were talking about. we have to We have larger issues to think about as Christians. Right.
00:29:16
Speaker
Even in self-defense. And I'm not saying we don't have a God-given right self-defense. And and in you aren't either. We're just saying it could be a conversation. Yeah. I'm not trying to be wishy-washy here. we're We're happy to put our cards on the table. Mm-hmm.
00:29:29
Speaker
But the the Bible is very clear. We should think. and so But I'm saying I would suit up because i I believe I have an obligation to my fellow countrymen, my fellow neighbors, who is my neighbor, to to help protect them.
00:29:46
Speaker
if if somebody breaks into my house and they get the upper hand and they're about to murder everybody in my family and I'm on the ground bleeding out and my neighbor sees what's happening. If he can do something, I would appreciate that. Sure.
00:30:05
Speaker
Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And that that's one reason we call the police. And that's where I wanted to get back to because if you think about it, You know, i talked about the fact that umm um I think we have to recognize the state by nature is evil, and we can talk about demonic influence on that. But at the same time, you do have to have the rule of law.
00:30:31
Speaker
And I think, and this is only in part, it's not exhaustive, but the the rule of law so that we can live peaceably with one another. And I said earlier, government protects us from predators.
00:30:44
Speaker
and There are predators out there. And one of the things that the Bible very clearly talks about is the sinful nature of human beings. Total depravity is is a good phrase to throw on the table. We're born dead in trespasses and sin.
00:31:00
Speaker
Total depravity doesn't mean we're as sinful as we can be, but it means we're sinful in every aspect of our being, and we can't do anything um but sin until we come to and love the Lord Jesus. Even when we do good things, in terms of what God thinks about it, it's sin because we don't give glory to God before we come to know Him by grace.
00:31:21
Speaker
So... Because of the fallenness of the world, um and we I think we have this God-given right to self-defense, that means that by extension, and I'm just drawing a conclusion here, we can enlist the help of others for our self-defense.
00:31:42
Speaker
There go a police force. yeah And, of course, you know, it's the police. there There can be bad actors on the police force. We understand that. And government overreach, we understand that. That's we to be leery of the state and and and continue to propagate that Christian worldview, mainly so that people will be saved.
00:32:03
Speaker
But also, as Paul says, he says, pray for your rulers. Right. Why does he say pray for our rulers? He says what you said a minute ago, that it might go well with us. i mean Because again, like I said earlier, putting in perspective of first century Rome, Paul's writing this to Christians who are going to be praying for leaders that are not very nice. Yeah.
00:32:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. To say the least. Yeah, that's right. um So, yeah. So I i think but but I started with with talking about the the individual and yeah and you know me, I love to talk about liberty a lot.
Liberty and Christian Principles
00:32:42
Speaker
because liberty is rooted in a Christian worldview. Sure. There are other people who are not Christians who believe in liberty, but it's because they've been influenced by a Christian worldview. Knowingly or not. latin Exactly.
00:32:56
Speaker
Sharia law is not rooted in liberty and justice for all. Right. And, you know, so we don't want Sharia law in the United States. We want liberty.
00:33:07
Speaker
Now, we can talk about, again, Well, what do people have the liberty to do and what do people not have the liberty to do in civil society? You don't have the liberty to murder somebody. Otherwise, you wouldn't have a civil society.
00:33:19
Speaker
And this is where the whole self-defense and enlisting others with that defense and and the rule of law and all of that. So there's a sense in which we can say what a lot of others have said, your liberty ends where my liberty begins, or my liberty ends where your liberty begins. you know And I think that's that's the case. So, yeah.
00:33:43
Speaker
Yeah. I think if we're going to do part two, this might be a good place to cut it. I don't know if you think that way. I'm following your Well, the only reason I say that is because we've covered one issue and there's four to go. Sure, sure. So do you want to say anything before we go?
00:34:05
Speaker
No, I think, again, like said, we're just wading out
Nation's Prosperity and God's Glory
00:34:08
Speaker
into this. We're laying it out. Yeah. But... that as we're going to talk about more in our next episode, we want to do what we can for the benefit of the community that God's placed us in, remembering that that is all divine sovereignty. We've been placed where we are for a specific purpose, and that purpose is wrapped up in His glory and the advancement of the gospel.
00:34:35
Speaker
And so we want to do these things for the good of our neighborhood, our community, our home, our family, um our nation, ah because that is part of God's sovereign plan to help the gospel advance and to put his glory on display.
00:34:54
Speaker
When things are going well, when when the nation is prosperous and and all of these kinds of things, um it's for
00:35:04
Speaker
ah Because it puts God's glory on this display. Yeah. Because that is a reflection of his character. Yeah, that's it. Well said. And we'll talk a little bit more about it next time. All right. Right on Answering Pilot. Answering Pilot.
Podcast Wrap-up
00:35:20
Speaker
The Answering Pilot Podcast is a ministry of Randall House Church in Greer, South Carolina. You can learn more at www.randallhousegreer.com slash church. You can also find on Facebook and Instagram at Randall House Church.
00:35:34
Speaker
Don't forget to like and subscribe, and we'll see you next time.