Comments on: Religious Roots of Liberty http://libertarianchristians.com/2009/09/04/opitz-roots/ The State is not the Kingdom of God. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:54:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Libertarians are Cool http://libertarianchristians.com/2009/09/04/opitz-roots/comment-page-1/#comment-1280 Libertarians are Cool Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:53:23 +0000 http://libertarianchristians.com/2009/09/04/opitz-roots/#comment-1280 [...] Religious Roots of Liberty Liberty rests upon the belief that all proper authority for man’s relationships with his fellow men comes from a source higher than man — from the Creator. Liberty decrees that all men — subject and ruler alike — are bound by this higher authority which is above and beyond man-made law; that each person has a relation to his Maker with which no other person, not even the ruler, has any right to interfere. In order to make these conceptions effective for liberty, they must be deeply ingrained in the fundamental values of a people. That is to say, they must be part of the popular religion. There was one people of antiquity for whom this was true, the people who gave us our Old Testament. It was among the ancient Israelites that the conviction took hold and emerged into practice that there was a God of righteousness whose judgments applied even to rulers. [...] [...] Religious Roots of Liberty Liberty rests upon the belief that all proper authority for man’s relationships with his fellow men comes from a source higher than man — from the Creator. Liberty decrees that all men — subject and ruler alike — are bound by this higher authority which is above and beyond man-made law; that each person has a relation to his Maker with which no other person, not even the ruler, has any right to interfere. In order to make these conceptions effective for liberty, they must be deeply ingrained in the fundamental values of a people. That is to say, they must be part of the popular religion. There was one people of antiquity for whom this was true, the people who gave us our Old Testament. It was among the ancient Israelites that the conviction took hold and emerged into practice that there was a God of righteousness whose judgments applied even to rulers. [...]

]]> By: Rod Smith http://libertarianchristians.com/2009/09/04/opitz-roots/comment-page-1/#comment-1276 Rod Smith Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:16:24 +0000 http://libertarianchristians.com/2009/09/04/opitz-roots/#comment-1276 Er, I meant 'friends' in that last line... sounds kinda funny how I wrote it! Er, I meant ‘friends’ in that last line… sounds kinda funny how I wrote it!

]]> By: Rod Smith http://libertarianchristians.com/2009/09/04/opitz-roots/comment-page-1/#comment-1275 Rod Smith Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:15:28 +0000 http://libertarianchristians.com/2009/09/04/opitz-roots/#comment-1275 Wow, excellent post. So many great quotes, I don't even know where to begin. I'm sort of stuck on this one... "Men whose personal experience convinces them that they are creatures of God will not become willing creatures of the state, nor attempt to make creatures of other men. For them, God is the Lord, whose service is perfect freedom; and Caesar is the ruler, whom to serve is bondage." It always saddens me when people who call themselves Christians so willingly become creatures of the state, scheming to get the government guns pointed at their neighbours for reasons that seem justified to them. It would seem natural to me that 'men whose personal experiences' lead to an experience of personal liberty in Christ should be repulsed by any venal impulse to enslave their own friend... but in real life it appears to happen regularly. Thanks for all the good posts Norman... keep it up! Wow, excellent post. So many great quotes, I don’t even know where to begin. I’m sort of stuck on this one…

“Men whose personal experience convinces them that they are creatures of God will not become willing creatures of the state, nor attempt to make creatures of other men. For them, God is the Lord, whose service is perfect freedom; and Caesar is the ruler, whom to serve is bondage.”

It always saddens me when people who call themselves Christians so willingly become creatures of the state, scheming to get the government guns pointed at their neighbours for reasons that seem justified to them. It would seem natural to me that ‘men whose personal experiences’ lead to an experience of personal liberty in Christ should be repulsed by any venal impulse to enslave their own friend… but in real life it appears to happen regularly.

Thanks for all the good posts Norman… keep it up!

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