How to Vote 4: The Ideal Christian State

I suppose the ideal Christian state would be a theocracy, where God ruled us directly. He would be the judge and police of all matters, and He would set the laws.

I suppose we have a phrase for this concept: the kingdom of God. This kingdom has begun, but it is not fully here. After the judgment, we who are in Christ will see this kingdom, and it will be wonderful!

But apparently it is not something that we can set up on earth with absolute success. Consider

1. The closest we seem to have come was early ancient Israel and perhaps the earliest church (all possessions in common, etc). But the theocracy under Moses and Joshua did not change the human condition. The period of the judges is not particularly an example for us to follow (cf. the less emphasized aspects of Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, etc). And the early church clearly had its problems as well (conflicts between Peter and Paul, Aramaic and Greek speaking Jews, etc.).

The problem is again the human condition. This condition not only includes the ever present power of sin in the world but also our fallen minds. Unless God appears directly to all of us, His will always comes mediated through human beings. The Bible is no exception since there is no interpretation we might have that does not pass through our minds. Calvin's Geneva thus turns out not to be a true theocracy, but the imposition of his interpretations on Geneva.

2. A second consideration is the fact that this is not how God himself set up the world. He set up the world with the possibility to reject His will. When the kingdom arrives, all those that are a part will be those who willfully submit to His will. Those who choose otherwise will not be a part of the governed in the kingdom. In the meantime, He apparently gives us the choice of disobedience.

The question is thus how our Christianity might reinforce, replace, supplement, or correct the scheme we suggested in the previous entries (sic, o mysterious one). The system we have suggested from a non-Christian view does not seem totally bad, for it aims at maximal happiness. And surely our happiness is in general a worthy goal, although perhaps not the only goal, especially if God's nature is love. Yet there are probably inappropriate means of happiness that we will want to consider.

Let's explore this question in more detail next entry. How should our Christianity affect the system we have outlined? We do not have the luxury of starting from scratch. In our democracy we can modify our laws, we can certianly supplement them. Some of our consideration is thus only theoretical--we cannot just throw out our current system and replace it. But if we could do anything, would we affirm it as it is, supplement it, correct it, or replace it?