| This thought-provoking article introduces the reader | | | | the case of lesser crimes, those who commit them |
| to various applications of the Christian worldview to a | | | | should either be fined, or beaten with stripes |
| host of political, social, theological and economic | | | | (whipped in public), or both, as the magistrate shall |
| issues. Seat belts are required for this ride.The issues | | | | determine (but never exceeding 40); both the |
| chosen represent a selective sample from Carson's | | | | amount of the fine, and number of stripes should be |
| studies. The Mandate aims to provide something of | | | | determined by judges upon conviction by a jury. In |
| an overview of what a Christian nation would look | | | | the case of capital crimes, the death penalty is |
| like; for "righteousness exalts a nation," and "blessed | | | | warranted. In no case should anyone ever be |
| is that nation whose God is the Lord." Boy, is this | | | | sentenced to an extended stay in a prison.Prisons |
| going to be controversial or what.1. National | | | | only punish innocent taxpayers for the offences of |
| Covenanting.The Law of God requires the conjoining | | | | criminals and dehumanize those so incarcerated. The |
| of U.S. churches and citizens into a National Christian | | | | prison system is inherently unjust and inhumane, |
| Covenant with Almighty God, to honor the Person, | | | | therefore, and ought to be abolished altogther, |
| Redemptive Work (Gospel), and Law, of the Lord | | | | except for cells used as temporary detention devices |
| Jesus Christ -- as the only proper foundation of law | | | | for suspects awaiting trial, or for those convicted of |
| for this land. All other religions [meaning false religions] | | | | capital crimes who await execution. For it is written: |
| are thereby to be banned from the public realm; yet | | | | "...that you should not go beyond what is written."6d. |
| they may be practiced privately without hindrance | | | | Personal Medicinal Liberty. The law of the Lord |
| from the civil authorities. Although it is sinful at all | | | | permits no government to ban the sale or purchase |
| times to practice false religion, yet not all sins are to | | | | of any pharmacological substance or medical |
| be outlawed. Thus, although it be detestable idolatry, | | | | equipment of any kind, except those used to |
| yet the Word of God permits that any person may | | | | promote any sin (such as "birth control"). |
| legally practice PRIVATELY whichever religion(s) he | | | | Nevertheless, anyone found guilty of killing another |
| will in his or her own home. Nevertheless, none may | | | | human being -- even though accidentally -- while |
| publicly promote any religion other than the faith of | | | | intoxicated or inebriated, because of the effects of |
| Jesus in any way, nor attempt to provide any good | | | | some induced substance upon the killer's faculties -- |
| or service to aid and abet the unlawful promotion of | | | | the guilty party shall face the death penalty for |
| false religion.2. National Sovereignty. Because the | | | | negligent homicide, which is the same as |
| divine law recognizes nations and their leaders as | | | | premeditated murder in the eyes of God. As it is |
| ordained of God's providence, nations therefore | | | | written: "You shall take eye for eye, tooth for tooth, |
| possess legitimate authority with the right of | | | | life for life."6e. Biblical Medical Practices.The psychiatric |
| self-government, and all those other rights necessary | | | | industry, based as it is upon so many counter-biblical |
| for the establishment and maintaining of good order | | | | (false) assumtptions that it offers no real help, and |
| in society delineated in the holy | | | | does much harm, to persons of all sorts -- should be |
| Scripture.Consequently, this mandate rejects the | | | | abolished by law -- as ought also alleged professional |
| alleged authority of any proposed international CIVIL | | | | counselors and psychologists.Most "mental problems" |
| government -- whether formed by way of contract, | | | | are in fact secondary effects of real physical |
| covenant, league, or other means -- as an attempted | | | | conditions improperly diagnosed (or undiagnosed) by |
| usurpation of the Crown Rights of Jesus Christ the | | | | medical practitioners. Those in genuine need of sound |
| Lord. For it is written: "but the Lamb shall overcome | | | | counseling should seek the advice of the wise elders |
| them, for HE is Lord of Lords and King of kings." | | | | of a church adorned by sound doctrine and good |
| Therefore, multi-national empire-building is unlawful | | | | works. The Bible is sufficient for all matters of faith |
| under the New Covenant, to all but the Lord Himself, | | | | and practice, such that he who understands it well, |
| to whom the nations were given by God (Ps. 2: Matt. | | | | and obeys it, is fit to counsel others. The wicked do |
| 28:18)3. Public Reverence for God.3a. In accord with | | | | not meet these qualifications -- even if licensed by |
| the second commandment, no business should be | | | | some board or other -- and are therefore not fit to |
| allowed to produce pictures, movies, films, statues | | | | counsel anyone. It is written: "Blessed is the man who |
| (or images of any kind) which aim to portray any | | | | walks not in the counsel of the wicked..." (Ps. 1:1).7. |
| false deity [idols], nor of any one of the three | | | | The Holiness of Marriage as a God-given |
| Persons of the most holy, Triune God of the Bible | | | | Institution.This Mandate stands opposed to all sexual |
| [the One True and Living God].3b. No business may | | | | sin, including birth control (except in cases of undue |
| lawfully import such products (idols of any kind) to | | | | health risk to one's wife). It especially repudiates the |
| offer these for resale to the public in this country. | | | | detestable practices of sodomy, adultery, and the |
| For it is written: "You shall make for yourselves no | | | | unlawful making or annulling of marriage vows. For it |
| carved image, nor any likeness of anything that is in | | | | is written: "You shall not commit adultery," and again, |
| the heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or that | | | | "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God |
| is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow | | | | in vain."7a. Sexual Purity. All fornication (including |
| down to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord your | | | | prostitution) should be outlawed, including all forms of |
| God, am a jealous God...".3c. Lawful Oath-taking. All | | | | the public display of sex acts, and sexually suggestive |
| oaths must be taken publicly, in the Name of the | | | | material; all obscene and/ or sexually explicit langauge |
| God of the Bible, as in "God the Father, Son, and | | | | used in public places, and/ or in print, and/ or by way |
| Holy Spirit," (or some approximation thereof | | | | of any public medium (such as radio or television).8. |
| approved by the Christian Church) and in that most | | | | Honest Money.The law of God requires that nations |
| holy Name only. No oath taken in the name of any | | | | provide 100% collateral against their national |
| other so-called "god" should have any legal authority | | | | currencies, and forbids "fractional reserve" banking, |
| to oblige others to any belief or act; indeed, any such | | | | and the printing of paper money "at will." It is written: |
| a blatant attempt to promote false religion should be | | | | "You shall not steal." Thus, the United States of |
| punished severely by the civil magistrate. As it is | | | | America should cancel all unsecured debts incurred |
| written: "You shall take your oaths in the Name of | | | | against it by debtor nations, returning promptly to a |
| the Lord." And again, "Let not the name of other | | | | precious metals currency standard.8a. Lawful Taxation |
| gods be upon your lips."4. Sabbath-Keeping. No | | | | and Payment. This Mandate proposes the abolition of |
| person or business may lawfully perform commercial | | | | all unlawful forms of taxation (e.g. personal, federal |
| labor on the New Covenant Sabbath Day (Sunday), | | | | income tax and property tax) and the reduction of all |
| except for the causes of mercy or necessity. But all | | | | taxes combined to an amount totaling not more than |
| persons must work diligently (as unto the Lord, and | | | | 9% of a workers gross income, just as the divine |
| as God enables) on the other 6 days, to meet their | | | | law says. Minimum wage laws must be abolished, and |
| own needs, and those of others. For it is written, | | | | all employers must either pay their laborers wages |
| "Six days shall you labor and do all your work." And | | | | daily, or else (if agreeable to the workers) the |
| again, "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it | | | | employer must add 20% to the principal owed for |
| holy."4a. No professional sporting event should ever | | | | each night he withholds the worker's wage, according |
| be held, or be permitted to transpire, on the Lord's | | | | to the Law of the Lord.8b. The Abolition of |
| Day (any Sunday). No professional sporting event | | | | Entitlements. As God calls civil authorities ONLY to |
| that requires, or deliberately promotes, violence | | | | punish evildoers (as defined by His law), the causes |
| against others may lawfully be held at any time, | | | | of mercy and charity fall to the jurisdictions of the |
| including boxing, American football, kickboxing, the | | | | churches, and private enterprise. Thus, the U.S. |
| type of melodramatic "wrestling" popular on TV, or | | | | government (at all levels) should abolish welfare, |
| other like "sports." No for-profit television | | | | eliminate or sell the public education system, and |
| programming may lawfully transmit on the Lord's | | | | cause to cease all other forms of entitlement |
| Day, nor any commercial, nor any advertisement for | | | | programs. As it is written: "He [the civil magistrate] is |
| any goods or services.4b. Environmental Responsibility. | | | | God's servant." And again, "Do not add to the words |
| The law of God requires that the land be allowed to | | | | of the Lord, lest he rebuke you, and prove you a |
| rest fallow 1 year in 7 (whether done on a rotational | | | | liar." The considerable money thereby saved to the |
| basis or all at once). Moreover, the Bible commands all | | | | government's budget should be refunded to all |
| men to manage wisely the resources God has placed | | | | taxpayers.8c. As it is not the proper domain of the |
| under their authority. To that end, this Mandate | | | | federal government, the U.S. government should |
| supports environmentally sound projects, the clean up | | | | abolish all tariffs and import taxes. These unlawful |
| (and prevention) of environmental damage, the | | | | taxes only serve to harm U.S. business interests |
| preservation of wildlife, smog reduction, and biofuels | | | | abroad, and tend to cause international economic |
| (and/ or clean fuels) as a replacement for the use of | | | | instability (e.g. trade wars).8d. As it is not the proper |
| fossil fuels. For it is written: "The earth is the Lord's | | | | domain of any government to sponsor sporting or |
| and the fullness thereof."4c. Charity. The Bible | | | | cultural events, The U.S. government should withdraw |
| requires that we seek to bless, protect, and help the | | | | all funding (and sponsorship) of any endowments for |
| weakest members of society: the infirm or injured, | | | | the arts, olympic games, and the like, leaving such |
| the elderly, the poor, widows, immigrants, orphans, | | | | pursuits to private interests.9. Antirealism |
| the handicapped, and the very young. For it is | | | | (Instrumentalism) in the Theoretical Sciences.Unless |
| written, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."5. | | | | the central claims of a theory can be tested |
| Biblical Child-rearing.Parents ought to catechise their | | | | OBSERVABLY, there is no way of knowing whether |
| children with the standards given them by the | | | | or not they "refer" (point to) extralinguistic entities. |
| Church, as well the Scriptures. Moreover, parents | | | | The usefulness or predictive power of any model has |
| must (when necessary) enforce their God-given | | | | no bearing upon its truthfulness, as utility and veracity |
| authority by either sharply reproving their children, or | | | | are unrelated attributes. Science history affords many |
| by spanking them aggressively on the butt until those | | | | examples of successful theories presently judged |
| so disciplined acknowledge their sins, apologising for | | | | "false" by their respective scientific communities. This |
| them as directed by father or mother (or both). God | | | | shows that NO scientific way of determining "truth" |
| regards failure to do so as the hatred of children, | | | | apart from a biblical warrant for knowledge exists. As |
| which he strictly forbids. As it is written, "He who | | | | it is written: "All the treasures of wisdom and |
| spares the rod hates his son." Moreover, it is the | | | | knowledge are hid in Him [Christ]" (Col. 2:3).9a. Biblical |
| duty, both of the elders of the Church and of the | | | | Creationism.I. No observable evidence exists for the |
| civil magistrate, to aid and abet parents in the sacred | | | | popular-but-silly claims that life evolved from non-life, |
| duty of discipling their children, insofar as each office | | | | intelligent life from unintelligent, or that amoral animals |
| permits, and with the permission of the head of the | | | | evolved into humans. If that WERE true, if things |
| household only.5a. Male Headship. The Law of God | | | | "somehow" become their opposites, this would show |
| charges that only men may hold public office, | | | | that the world is magical, undermining the |
| whether civil or ecclesiastical, and that the husband is | | | | assumptions that make science possible. Moreover, |
| the head of the wife in each family. The Bible thus | | | | the interdependence of the organs of organisms and |
| opposes the holding of any public office by any | | | | animals renders evolution an "all-at-once" or else |
| woman, regardless of her intelligence, skills, or alleged | | | | "never-at-all" proposition, since changing one organ |
| fitness for office based on the appeal to some other | | | | would require CORRESPONDING changes in the other |
| attribute. Both women and men may vote at the age | | | | organs to retain the viability of the organism or |
| of 20 years, if they do and can prove that they own | | | | animal in question.Evolutionary theory is therefore: |
| real estate in the U.S.; this is the same age at which | | | | Scripturally false; logically impossible; biologically |
| men may enter military service. The military may not | | | | unprovable, and hostile in principle to the scientific |
| impose any draft to induce unwilling participants to | | | | enterprise.II. This Mandate stands opposed to |
| fight for a cause of which they disapprove. No | | | | "scientific creationism," which seeks to turn the |
| woman may serve as a combatant (soldier) in any | | | | infallible Word of God into the fallible (and often false) |
| branch of the military, but she may serve the military | | | | words of men (i.e. scientific models). This would rob |
| in a medical capacity, or in some other needed | | | | the Word of God of its ultimate authority, foolishly |
| support role. For God has appointed men to serve | | | | subjecting God's surely-truthful claims to man-made |
| women as protectors and leaders. Just as it is | | | | (and erroneous) tests for credibility. It is written: "You |
| written: "But I would have you know that the head | | | | shall not put the Lord your God to the test."9b. |
| of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman | | | | Biblical Education. The public education system should |
| is the man, and the head of Christ is God."6. The | | | | be rejected as a competitor to the biblical educational |
| Right to Life for Infants, and All Other Innocent | | | | model (discipleship). OGC favors private education |
| Persons.This Mandate stands opposed MOST | | | | offered from a thoroughly Christocentric perspective |
| EARNESTLY to the detestable execution of prenatal | | | | in: Biblical theology, literature and languages; logic and |
| infants under the guise of "abortion rights," or | | | | critical thinking; English; math; history; political science; |
| "embryonic stem cell research," or under any other | | | | the physcial sciences; foreign language studies; |
| guise. For it is written: "You shall do no murder."6a. | | | | economics; computer science; philosophy, and all |
| Just Foreign Policies.Nations may lawfully wage | | | | studies preparatory for real-life occupations.Parents |
| defensive wars only, and only against those directly | | | | are to play a vitally central role in the rearing of their |
| responsible for acts of war. The U.S. has cause | | | | children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord, |
| against Al-Qaeda operatives and conspirators, whose | | | | and must oversee the education of their children, |
| involvement in the "9/11 attack" can be proven in a | | | | whether directly or indirectly. For it is written: |
| U.S. court of law. Saddam Hussein has not been | | | | "Fathers, teach your children;" and again, "Be fruitful |
| implicated by any such evidence to date. Iraq thus | | | | and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it."10. Fiscal |
| falls outside the proper domain of U.S. jurisdiction. The | | | | Wisdom.The law of the Lord permits no form of |
| Bible implies therefore, that the President of the | | | | gambling to the public. This includes all forms of |
| United States, the honorable George W. Bush should | | | | "wagering," or the use of machines or animals to bet |
| order an immediate, yet orderly and convenient, | | | | upon or put money in; all attempts to generate (or |
| withdrawal of the U.S. military from Iraq; publicly | | | | receive) random payments for money wagered |
| apologize to God, the world, and the people of Iraq | | | | should be outlawed. This does not include prize |
| for this sin; and to repay the Iraqi people double the | | | | drawings as incentives to purchase goods and |
| market value of the damages caused by the recent | | | | services, where one wagers no money or capital for |
| U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. For it is written: | | | | the opportunity to win -- as any person has the right |
| "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin disgraces any | | | | to give away his money or property however (s)he |
| people."6b. The Death Penalty for Heinous Crimes.The | | | | may choose.Finally, no casino should be permitted to |
| law of God condemns to death some 30 kinds of | | | | operate, for it is written: "You shall not covet." |
| criminals, after a full investigation and jury find the | | | | Nevertheless, all forms of trading and investing are |
| suspect "guilty as charged" by the testimony of 2 or | | | | lawful, whether it be the trading of stocks, futures, |
| 3 credible witnesses [The witnesses cannot | | | | options or any other lawful product or service -- |
| themselves be guilty of the crime in question.]. No | | | | tangible or intangible -- including all tobacco and alcohol |
| suspect of a capital crime may be convicted upon | | | | products. Yet all tobacco and alcohol products should |
| circumstantial evidence only, nor acquitted by reason | | | | display clear warnings on their labels as to the |
| of insanity.Upon conviction, the magistrate must carry | | | | potential health hazards of overconsuming such |
| out the penalty stipulated by God (stoning) or its | | | | products, and the magistrate may properly restrict |
| cultural equivalent (firing squad), immediately and | | | | smoking to private places, according to the sixth |
| publicly. In a few cases (such as adultery, or | | | | commandment.Carson Day has written some 1.3 |
| kidnapping where the victim survives), the law of | | | | gazillion articles and essays on a host of topics, which |
| God allows the victim to waive or mitigate the | | | | aim to glorify God and truly help people by passing |
| stipulated sentence, depending on the nature of the | | | | on thought-provoking insights and more efficient |
| crime.6c. Just Criminal Punishments (Judgments). In | | | | ways people can live wisely and well. |