CHURCH VERSUS STATE

If Jerry Falwell were to have his way - If every line of U.S. Law and Constitution were made up entirely of God's Law and nothing else, would we have justice in America? Would it result in utopia. Would every conflict be settled fairly as if God Himself were on the bench and in the White House?

Here's another bunch of related questions: Should Christians look to the nation's laws and courts for justice at all? How important is the law of the land in the Christian's life? When she's wronged should she exercise her rights as a citizen and press charges? Should she sue if she's taken advantage of? Can Christians be lawyers? Judges?

These are just some of the questions I've been wrestling while studying 1 Corinthians chapter 6 for this Tuesday's ikon. William Barclay gives this partial answer in his commentary on Paul's letters to Corinthian Christians:

"To go to the law at all, and especially to go to the law with a fellow Christian, is to fall far below the Christian standard of behavior. Long ago, Plato had laid it down that the good will always choose to suffer wrong than to do wrong. If Christians have even the remotest tinge of the love of Christ within their hearts, they will prefer to suffer insult and loss and injury rather than try to inflict them on someone else - still more so if that person is a fellow Christian... [Christians arrange their dealings] according to the spirit of love, and the spirit of love will insist that they live at peace with one another, and will forbid them to demean themselves by going to the law."

What do you think? Come talk about it with us at ikon this Tuesday around 8PM at the people's church in Franklin, TN.