Inherent Rights (and wrongs.)

On Facebook, someone posted a venn diagram that determines how conservative you are. It contained concentric circles that define what you think the government's role is. The circles got progressively smaller. I realized, that I was in the smallest circle. Apparently, I'm a minarchist. I hadn't heard that term before so I looked it up on Wikipedia. What I found was that a minarchist is basicly a libertarian. Yeah. That sounds about right. The circle said that the government's job is police force, courts, law, and order. That's the bare minimum. Admittedly, this ought to also include dealing with other countries, but that wasn't on any of the lists. So, we'll assume it's implied. I was tempted to go to the next circle up because it contained fire departments, but I don't even think that's the government's job. That could easily be a private company. Why not simply pay a monthly flat rate that guarantees protection by the fire department? No need for the government to get involved.

As a minarchist, my basis for judging law is whether it comes down to a matter of faith, or a matter of life and property. I personally believe that the government's job is not to define morality for its citizens, but to protect its citizens. This means, giving them the right to do as they please as long as they are not infringing on another's rights. Such as if one wanted to smoke weed. My assessment would be this; I personally don't think they should be doing it. It's wrong. (UPDATE: This does not include medicinal marijuana. I see no problem with a doctor prescribing it for medicinal purposes.) However, in a free society they should be allowed to do it and suffer the consequences of their actions. Ultimately, every man will answer to God for his actions. Now, if he were to go out and drive high, that I would have a problem with. At that point, he is a danger to others and is violating their rights to life and property.

This is not to say that there isn't an all encompassing morality that every man is bound by. My point is that it should be binding upon a man not because the government says so, but because of his own conscience. Laws do not change men's hearts. The Lord does. For there to be true morality, God's law has to penetrate to the core of a man. This is the role of the church and the Gospel - to change men's hearts. If the government's goal in outlawing weed, tobacco, alcohol, pornography, video games, etc, is to change men's hearts, then it is usurping the role of the church. The State's job is not to spread the Gospel but to provide a stage whereby God can bring about His plan of redemption. In short, if the State is stepping in to legislate morality, then the church is falling down on the job. I want to reiterate that by morality here, I mean, things that are personal lifestyle choices, moral or immoral, that do not infringe on other's rights to life and property. Things such as homosexuality. In no way am I saying these things are good and wholesome. Quite the contrary. It is the condition of man that sin has pervaded every part of his being and a pragmatic approach to politics needs to understand that. How can we expect the non-Christians in our land to act like Christians if God has not changed them? In a country with such diverse people groups, it's simply not feasible to enforce a single morality on a widely varied population. Why are we causing them resentment by legislating their lives? Instead, we should be reaching out and praying for them. Preach the Gospel and pray for God's healing on their hearts. THAT is what truly transforms someone's morals. No law in the world can what God does.

I'd also like to briefly address the topic of abortion. Many libertarians are pro-choice (pro-murder, in more accurate terms) because they feel it is a matter of personal liberty. If you consider it however, abortion violates a child's right to life. That is a human being who has inherent worth and has a right to life. It is not in the same category as fornication. It's murder. And murder must always be against the law because it is the most fundamental evil that the State is in place to combat. I just wanted to diffuse that potentially volatile situation.

In short, the government needs to stay in it's place. That is, it must guard and serve it's people's inherent rights, but no more. The Church's job is to change hearts. That's the mission of the Church because it is the visible manifestation of Christ's kingdom. Christ came to redeem a people and conform them to his image. He doesn't accomplish this by a government, but by his work on the cross. The Church, permeated by the Holy Spirit, is how Christ applies this work and it's benefits to mankind.

God Bless,

Stanley