A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR CHRISTIANITY

A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR CHRISTIANITY

Instead of attacking Christianity, the world should be praising it. To understand why let’s look at one reason by going back in world history as well as taking a look at today.

In most ancient civilizations, religion was all wrapped up in the state to the extent that the Roman emperors were regarded as gods and they themselves claimed to be divine. Emperors often occupied the high and exalted position of Pontifex Maximus, the most important position in the ancient Roman religion. Not to be outdone, earlier in the history of the ancient world, the pharaohs of Egypt claimed to be gods without whose daily prayers, the sun would not rise.

In Islam, Mohammed was not only a prophet, but he was also the head of the state. Thereafter Islam has always fused the state with religion. At no time has there been a version of Islam that is separate from the state.

Enter Christianity. With one sentence, Jesus stipulated the separation of church and state: “Render to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.” The rest of the New Testament further explained this revolutionary teaching.

Paul commanded obedience to the state, saying that Christians were obligated to obey the laws of the Empire in his classic text of Romans 13. Peter instructed his readers to do the same in I Peter 2, beginning his explanation with the word “Submit.”

But in Christianity, the state is not absolute. If the state commands a Christian to violate a command of God, then there is to be no obedience to that law. And it is noteworthy to mention that when Peter was commanded by the state not to mention the name, “Jesus,” if he were to obey that directive, it would force him to disobey the Great Commission. The state had overstepped its bounds.

It is also important to note that neither Christ nor the Apostles advocated the overthrow of the state; instead, when they were viewed as breaking the law, even though it was a law that transgressed the authority of the state, the Apostles always took the punishment. The early church was not made up of anarchists, no matter how corrupt the government and its psychopathic emperors.

When the state and the religion combine, the result has often been tyranny and the people suffer, bled, and die. But with one sentence of Christ's16 words, the separation of church and state was born.

The world owes Christianity a round of hearty applause.