“My body, My choice” is typically the mantra for those who seek and support the immoral act of taking the life of another. Yet, these words are ones that we as Christians can affirm as well. In today’s post, I want to flesh out this concept because not only is it undermined by Marxism, it is being undermined by the coercive actions imposed by the government currently in regards to the V.
“My body, my choice” has at its root the belief that we have autonomy or self-governance. Before we go any further, there are two things we need to do. Indeed, this is something we should do when we discuss any topic. First, we need to define terms. Second, we must determine whether the concept is truly biblical. We want to align to the truth – and God’s Word is truth. So, let’s quickly define autonomy or self-governance. Simply put, it is the act of exercising control or rule over oneself. If the scriptures properly inform your mind, you will feel a bit of tension here. That’s good. Keep that tension there - you’ll find out why as we read further on. Having defined our term, let’s now ask, “Is this concept biblical?”. I genuinely believe that a case can be made for it. And there are at least three lines of reasoning.
I think it’s safe to say that self-governance is a biblical concept. We have indeed been given the right to make decisions and exercise control over our own bodies. But remember that tension I mentioned earlier? Well, we are about to dive right into it. We are not radically free to make decisions for ourselves without consequence. We are under the sovereign rule of our creator, and he has set moral parameters that we are not to cross. Innately we know these parameters because God has written the law on everyone’s heart and given to each person a conscience. If it is clear, working and trained, the conscience tells us when we have trespassed over God’s moral law. When we trespass these parameters, we are rebelling against God and invoke judgement upon ourselves. So, though we can make decisions for ourselves, we are not free from their impact on our lives. Therein lies the limit to self-governance. As Christians, we should be even more aware of this. Though the saying, “My body, my choice,” is true, it is far more accurate to say, “God’s body, God’s choice.” Listen to what Paul says, “or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1Cor. 6:19-20). Notice a couple of things there. It’s still our body, it’s still our choice, but our choice has been made because our body belongs to God. We live our life in subjection to the sovereign authority of God. We are not free to do whatever we please. As Lord Acton once said, “Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.” This statement draws us back to the moral parameters that God has set in place. Now, within these constraints, there is much freedom. God is good, and He has given to each individual certain inalienable rights that we are free to exercise and enjoy. So, again, before we go any further, let’s define terms. What is a right? It is a freedom given to us by God that is protected and secured by Him. Such freedoms include the right to:
This list is not exhaustive. Other rights have been given to us by God that we are free to exercise no matter what others may think, say or do. This stands in stark contrast to Marxism, which seeks to create a classless, egalitarian utopia by abolishing personal property and removing individual rights (such as the right to own property). They do this in three different ways – by force, by fear or by an exchange. You may be familiar with those three ways. It’s precisely what our government is doing today. They have used the “health crisis” to put the nation in a place of fear and panic so that they may exchange their rights for safety. They are now using coercive measures to make the rest comply with their dictates. But I digress. Marxism is an atheistic philosophy that rejects any notion of God. Since they reject God, they reject the source of our rights and freedoms. That’s a big problem! If God isn’t the one who gives them to us, who does? There can really only be one answer – the state. The state takes the role of God and determines what we are free to do. That’s scary! “My body, my choice” is scrapped, “God’s body, God’s choice” is ridiculed, and in their place is the philosophy “My body, the state’s choice.” This isn’t liberty; it is tyranny.
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Welcome to Biblical Sociology 101. Picture God's creation as a tapestry. Each element, like a string, is beautifully woven into place so that it comes together to display a beautiful design and function as it was intended to. Got that in your mind? Good. Marxism seeks to unravel that tapestry, and one way in which they do so is by doing away with the hierarchical structures.
According to Marxist philosophy, hierarchies (ie. chains of authority) are oppressive because they view them as the result of unjust and unequal distribution of power (and wealth). Since they deem them oppressive, they must be dismantled. Marx, and later his followers, believed that not until a classless society (with no hierarchical chain of command) is formed can the world be free of injustices and inequalities. Classical and cultural Marxists seek to create a egalitarian utopia where everyone is equal in all aspects. Mind you, they want equal outcomes for unequal efforts (but that is something we will tackle in another post). Originally Karl Marx wanted to push against the abuse of authority he saw between employers and employees. We need to be mindful of how people operate within their roles. Due to sin (which is the great equalizer - Rom. 3:23), sometimes people abuse their role and overreach. Isn’t this what we are seeing with our government today? We need to speak out against it and call them to submit to God’s design when this happens. However, unlike what Karl Marx and his followers suggest, we must not dismantle the hierarchical structures. Why? Because God is the one who designed and instituted them. And He has done this for our good and for His glory. I want to give you a brief overview of the chains of authority that God has put into place. In future posts, I will break down each hierarchy, explain how Marxism attempts to destroy it, and why we must resist. So, where do we start? We could begin with the overarching authority – God – for from Him, all authority is delegated. But let’s come back to that one. A society is formed up of individuals. To each individual, God has given them the right to govern themselves and exercise certain God-given rights. Such rights include exercising dominion over the earth/animals, working and providing for one’s life, marrying and raising a family, and worshiping God according to conscience (Genesis 1). Now when it comes to individuals, God has designed an orderly way in which we are to function together. In the sphere of family life, God has given the husband authority over his wife as head of the home to lead, protect and provide for her (Genesis 2; cf. Ephesians 5:22-33; Colossians 3:18-19). God has also given parents, especially fathers, the authority over their children to raise, teach, discipline, and require obedience (Ephesians 6:1-4; Colossians 3:20-21). In the sphere of the workplace, God has instructed the employee to obey his boss. In this sense then, we see a hierarchical structure implemented where the employee submits to his boss and where the employer is charged with the responsibility to lead and care for his workers (Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:22-4:1). In the sphere of the church, God has given elders the authority to lead, teach, discipline, and care for the souls of those within the gathering (Hebrews 13:17). To add to this, God has given the church the authority to carry out the great commission regardless of what other governing authorities may impose. In the sphere of civil affairs, God has delegated authority to the government over those in society to punish lawbreakers, protect the innocent, and uphold the God-given rights given to each individual (Genesis 9; Romans 131:-7; 1 Timothy 2:2). As we can see, built within the design of God’s creation are hierarchical structures. That is something we need to come to grips with. God, who is all-knowing, understands that for his creation to operate optimally, there needs to be an order. If there was absolutely no authority, society would unravel and there would be absolute chaos. It would be a free-for-all with nowhere to turn for help. Everyone would do what seemed right in their own eyes. God, who is good, righteous, just and caring, understands that for the good of society there must be an order where some are delegated specific roles with delegated authority to lead, protect and provide for others. By seeking to undermine and destroy the hierarchical structures that God has instituted, Marxism can only achieve the total collapse of society. Go back to the analogy of the tapestry. If you start pulling out the string, the tapestry falls apart. And you are left with a mess. God created hierarchies, but he has put each beneath His authority. We are created by Him, and for Him, and thus we are subject to Him. How we function within these hierarchical structures he has established must therefore be in complete accordance with God and His Word. As I mentioned, this would be a brief overview of the chains of authority God has set up. Next week we will begin looking closer at each one. As we look at each one, I hope you see how good God is and why these structures are vitally important in society. Now, to leave you at this point without a word of encouragement would be a disservice to you. So let me encourage you by this truth. Though Marxism seeks to unravel the beautiful tapestry God has designed, God will not permit them to destroy it. Psalm 110:1 teaches that God will put all enemies under Jesus feet - that includes Marxism. So, let's pray that we see that happen here in Canada, as we stand and proclaim the truth! Recently I have been apple picking two days a week. It’s physically demanding work; however, it’s not mentally engaging. I found this a blessing because it allowed me to listen to several podcasts over the last couple of weeks. As I listened to Christian men and pastors preaching and teaching about what has been happening in North America, it has encouraged me to tackle a subject we as Canadians need to quickly learn – Marxism.
The Gruber brothers from Carpe Fide have a convicting and eye-opening episode on this subject. You can listen to it here (episode #24). One convicting thing in that episode was a quote by Martin Luther. He said that we could preach all the Bible that we want, but if we aren’t preaching into the specific issues that are most relevant in our culture, we aren’t doing our job as pastors. I think that this can apply to those who aren’t pastors as well. We need to confront the pressing issues in society – and Marxism is at the core of many of them. So, over the next month or so, I want to explore, expose, dissect and wrestle with this subject and the inroads it has made. So that we are all on the same page, I want to give everyone a brief history of Marxism and a summary of its core arguments. I understand that some people have written much better articles on this topic than myself, but writing has always helped me learn. So here we go! The philosophy began in the 19th century with atheists Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels. They believed that the history of all societies is the history of class struggles. Classical Marxism was a socio-economic philosophy that sought to oppose capitalism in favour of communism. Marx defined class as something which existed in hostility because of the relationship between the factory owner (ie. the bourgeois) and the factory worker (ie. the politariat). He believed that those who own the means of production suppress those who don’t own the means of production and must sell their labour to survive. His philosophical solution to this supposed issue was to do away with hierarchical structures and personal ownership making everyone equal in status – even if it meant to destroy the already established system. Everywhere that his communist philosophy has been implemented has led to that country’s disaster. Classical Marxism morphed into cultural Marxism after World War 1, under the influence of Antino Gramsci and Georg Lukacs. They had thought that if a war broke out, the working class would rise against the bourgeoisie and lead a communist revolution. When this failed to happen, Gramsci theorized it was because the bourgeoisie had created cultural institutions to maintain power in capitalist societies. This is the theory of cultural hegemony or what is today called Critical Theory. He theorized what needed to happen was for these cultural intuitions (eg. Schools, judicial system, church) to be overthrown so that there would be no suppression of the masses. Lukcas believed that if the family unit and sexual morals were eroded, society could be broken down and reshaped. Other Marxist philosophers religiously took Marx’s ideas and applied them, particularly to culture. This group, referred to as the Frankfurt School, rejected absolute truth and aggressively criticized all aspects of life and society through the lens of class struggle. Many in this group were Jews. When the Nazis rose to power, they moved to New York City and were welcomed by Columbia University. From here, cultural Marxism would flourish and begin to invade American culture. Fast forward to the 21st century, and we are now living in a heavily Marxist-influenced culture. That’s a quick summary of the history, and as you may have noticed, there are some underlying arguments or philosophies.
So that’s a brief look at classical and cultural Marxism. Starting next week, we will look at specific areas that Marxism has infiltrated our country and what the Bible has to say about it. Written by guest writer - edited by Church Awake
As a teenager, I became interested in politics, so much so that I became a political party member. I often had strong opinions about political issues – some that I didn’t fully understand and would later regret. I still have strong opinions on political matters. However, as I have grown up and spent time in God’s Word, my motive has changed, and my worldview has become biblically informed. There is an attitude that is prevalent in the church that is antithetical to the Bible. It’s the belief that as Christian’s we shouldn’t care or get involved in politics. I want to give you some reasons why we should care about politics as Christians.
Hopefully, these points help you understand what is happening politically and why we should care about politics. |
AuthorHello! I'm glad you found my blog. My name is David Hanson, and I am a concerned Christian who desires for the church of North America to become aware and begin to think biblically of what is happening around them in society. It's time for the church to awake and speak into the current events of the day. We alone have the truth to navigate life effectively. That truth is the Word of God. Archives
May 2022
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