Living as a Christian in a Non-Christian World

A LAWYER BY PROFESSION AND A CHRISTIAN BY CITIZENSHIP

My study of the Bible tells me that as a result of my having accepted Jesus as my Savior, I am a citizen of heaven. The Bible also gives me rules or laws by which I am to live my life. These rules are very clear and they go far beyond those that are imposed by any earthly government. I am told by the Bible that I should follow these rules for two clear purposes, one, that which I believe is the lesser purpose, is to avoid the discipline of the Father into whose family I have been adopted, and two, that which I believe is the greater one, so as to show my Father that I love him.

I cannot love my Father in a way that pleases Him without following his rules or laws. Jesus very clearly taught that if you love me, you will keep my commandments. The most important of these commandments, according to Jesus, is to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and the next is like the first, in that I am to love others as I love myself. My translation of these commands is that I am to love God with all of my being. This includes my emotions, my learning, and my actions. In other words, I am to immerse myself in my God. To love others like myself is to say that I try to see that others are fed, clothed, loved, mentally healthy, and are taught about the God that I so love. Clearly, those are big commands that speak to every part of our day.

As a human being still living on the earth, I have a job and a family and live within a community, state and nation. Outside of the commands above, my Bible also tells me that I am to abide by the laws of where I am currently residing. There are laws by which I abide that have absolutely nothing to do with the laws I am given in the Bible other than this. One simple example is that I have a part of my front yard fenced. However, the fence at the very front of the property does not extend to the street because there is a law that says such a fence must be set back from the street a certain distance. There are also two reasons that I abide by this law. The first is that I do not want the local authorities to come and tear my fence down. The second is that the Bible tells me to abide by the laws of the land in which I live. Again, the second is greater than the first. It does not make me a better person, or Christian, to have my fence several feet away from the street but it does make me obedient to scripture and to the local authority.

Laws such as a set back law do not affect how I practice my faith in any realistic way. There are in reality many such laws and it should not bother me in any way to abide by those laws fully. If the government were to pass a law prohibiting prayer or worship or doing good deeds, then I would not abide by those laws, and if they wanted to punish me for that, I would hope that I would pray for those that sought to punish and witness to them all the way to my death. That is what the Bible teaches me to do. It is what Jesus, most of the apostles, and many other Christians throughout time have done and continue doing. It is a hard reality, and until and unless I am called upon to deal with this situation, I cannot answer for my ability to do so, but it is definitely what the Bible teaches.

By profession, I am an attorney at law. Through training and experience I am taught to understand, explain, and argue the meaning and application of laws to everyday life. I have taken an oath to defend the Constitution and laws of both the United States and the State of Arkansas. This means that guilty and innocent persons deserve certain rights allowed by the laws and the constitutions in criminal circumstances, and that both sides of disputes that are not criminal in nature should have the opportunity to be heard and have those disputes decided by unbiased judges or juries. These people include persons of the Christian faith, but also those who hold other beliefs or no beliefs at all. All of these various people groups are the same in the eyes of the law, and all deserve the same rights and privileges under the law.

Current controversies in the United States have very much blurred the lines between the laws that I am to follow as a result of my Christianity and those which the government under which I live require me to follow. Many argue that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and as such the laws imposed by the government should reflect a Christian reality. However, as a lawyer, I can read in the Constitution that we are commanded to not allow the government to impose any type of religious beliefs upon the citizenry. This becomes extremely difficult when my belief is that the laws that I am advocating protect an innocent life that cannot protect itself. How can one who claims Christianity and is commanded to protect widows and orphans stand aside and let those commands not be followed?

I absolutely believe that there are ways that the Christian community can advocate and help to protect those that are helpless, but we must be careful to assure that we follow Biblical mandates in doing so. First, we must seek to assure that our motives are pure. Jesus commands that we first remove the log from our own eyes before instructing others on getting the splinter out of theirs. Am I truly seeking to protect life, or am I trying to achieve power and prestige? Am I living out Biblical mandates in my own life, and willing to admit when I do not before trying to counsel others on their failures? When I approach others with disagreement, do I do so in love and gently, or do I do so in a way that sets myself up as head over them? As a general rule, I can find nothing Biblical about Christianity seeking to rule in this life. Jesus clearly said that His kingdom is not of this world, and I believe it is sinful to try to make it so.

Secondly, we must understand that non-Christians are not bound by Biblical mandates. It means absolutely nothing to tell an atheist that God has commanded something. If a Christian wants to make laws for an atheist to live by, it will not validate your argument to say, “God said.” In fact, in doing so, the Christian alienates the atheist and harms their ability to bring the atheist to faith so that they are then under Biblical mandate. There is no scriptural authority to impose faith or Biblical mandate on unbelievers. Scripture actually teaches that to the unbeliever, all of this is nonsense. If the Christian wants to engage the atheist or any other unbeliever on laws to which they should be subject, then make the argument one that the unbeliever can understand and advocate for. Maybe even better, do some learning and engage them with the reason for the hope that is in the Christian and follow the Great Commission.

Finally, make certain that if you claim to be “pro-life” that you really are “pro-life.” In 31 years of practicing law, I have seen more mean, angry Christians than non-Christians. I have seen more professing Christians that seek to rule than seek to serve. I have seen more Christians who seek to hoard wealth and validate their own rights, than seek to serve and give. I have seen Christians use their children in divorce cases and take advantage of neighbors. I have seen preachers who sexually abuse children and adults and church members that refuse to believe it, even after confession, because “he just wouldn’t do that.” Maybe as offensive as anything else, I have seen social media pictures of Bibles with guns sitting on them. If Christians believe this is how to spread the word of God, then maybe there is something I am missing.

The bottom line is that no amount of lobbying and legislating will ever stop man from being evil. People will be hurt, robbed and defrauded as long as man exists. That is not to say that Christians should not be involved in the process, but it should not be the primary process for changing the world. The way to change the world is the same as it was 2000 years ago. Change hearts one at a time, by living out the gospel and being ready every day to love others and take the love of Christ to others. Keep my own life as pure as I can, with the help of the Spirit, and ask forgiveness and admit when I have not done so. Hold other Christians to the same high standards and when they fail, approach them Biblically, lovingly and in a way that seeks to restore. Understand every day that the greatest blessing that I can ever receive is the presence of the Spirit in my life and the ability to serve God with all I have. Give everything I have to Him and if he wants me penniless, so be it. Only then, will we really have credibility and start to be listened to by others, and even then, many will hate us. That’s ok. All my life is for an audience of one, and I will not be truly happy until I go to a place with an absolute ruler where He owns everything and all I do for eternity is simply whatever He wants.