Democracy or Theocracy?

I’ve been doing some thinking on spiritual authority… and it seems as though we live in an era where Judges 21:25 is more prevalent than ever - when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes”.

If you ask 10 different people on the street the question; “what are your religious beliefs”, it’s probable that you’re going to get 10 different answers… once you go a few steps deeper than ‘I believe in (a) God’ of course. What is even more frightening is that you’re likely to hear 10 different reasons of why.

Sometimes I wonder if the same issue exists within the walls of Jesus’ church. I know we all believe in and serve the same God - but when it comes down to how we devote our lives to Him, things begin to look a lot different.

It’s almost as if we’re viewing ourselves as being autonomous (self-law), with no higher authority than ourselves… making it all up as we go along, depending on what we feel is right and what serves our lifestyle best.

I would call this Relative Morality - the opposite of Absolute Truth.

Now, it is pretty evident in the current season of our American Presidential elections, that we live in a Democracy - a system where we can vote in and out our highest leadership and government. A system that essentially allows us to put people into leadership that we believe reflect OUR values and beliefs… people that will fight for what WE think is right.

I think this is a great system for politics.

I don’t think this is a great system for spiritual development and discipleship.

What if we treated God how we treat politics? Would we ever vote God out of being God? I know that in the past, churches have voted their lead pastors out of the pulpit. What if we’re fighting harder for what is more important to US than what is right?

If you read 1 Samuel 8, you’ll find Israel pleading with Samuel for a King… and their reasoning was culture based. They said they wanted to be like all the other nations who had a king to rule over them as well. Essentially, they rejected what God had for them, to embrace what the latest trends were in the local cultures. God told them He would be their King, and that He would do a much better job than any man ever could.

But - they wouldn’t listen. Their ‘democracy’ overruled His ‘theocracy’.

Culture won out over Conviction.

Looking across the cultures of our world, there isn’t a uniform concept of right and wrong. For example, some cultures out there practice polygamy, while others endorse monogamy. Some cultures consider it a moral obligation to give one of their children to an infertile couple, while others, such as certain Eskimo groups, practice euthanasia and infantacide. Among the Auca Indians of South America, treachery was considered to be virtuous. In fact, after sharing the Gospel with them, the missionaries were shocked to learn that they saw Judas as the hero of the Gospel, not Jesus! What the natives of Polynesia considered wrong is wild - despite the fact that women had much freedom in the area of sexual relations, it was ‘taboo’ to eat a meal with someone of the opposite sex.

Wow.

If that was the case here, I would be going to hell on a rocket ship. OK, don’t get bent out of shape here… stay with me! I just wanted to get you smiling =)

But, seriously - in view of such moral diversity, we should be scared to base our beliefs on what our culture says is right and wrong.

Unfortunately, this more ‘enlightened’ way of viewing morality causes its very foundation to be set on a moving target… if we let culture define our morality and convictions, we push God and His truth out of the picture, ultimately letting go of any true standard binding us to a higher way of living.

We, just like Israel, push our spiritual democracy through, and reject His theocracy.

I guess we could call that rebellion… and to rebel is to set up a counter authority.

So next time, or maybe even today, as we’re establishing our boundaries, our convictions and our values, let’s all remember that you are either UNDER authority or OPPOSING it. Let’s remember to follow what Phillippians 2:12 says: “…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Let’s remember to put what God wants for us before what we want for ourselves.

That’s enough writing for today =)

JJ.

~ by jeffjohnston on February 28, 2008.