ACH Study Groups
Ben & Fran Gilmore – Cofounders
7659 Gingerblossom Drive
Citrus Heights, CA 95621
916-722-2501 histbuff@garlic.com
www.ACHStudyGroups.com
April 24, 2017
This is a letter to our friends –
The nature of things
I know of only three human organizations that God created in the Bible: Family; Church; State. The family is the building block of every society, Christian and non-Christian. Every society has a vertical relationship with some sort of higher power. We call that relationship between families and God (or a god) Church. We call the horizontal relationship between families and families State.
Jesus Christ was asked about the most important commandment. “And he answering said, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.’” [Luke 10:27]
Again – The vertical and the horizontal relationship. Throughout human history the quality of the vertical relationship in a society has always determined the quality of the horizontal relationship. Never the other way around. This holds true in families, churches and civil governments.
Family, church and state are governmental organizations. That is – They need direction regulation, control, and restraint. The best set of rules by which to govern families, churches, and civil governments are found in the Bible. I agree in advance to accept a better more proven and reliable set of rules when they are found. Not to do so would be foolish and absurd.
But what rules governed before the Bible? They are called, “The laws of nature.” Things were “good” or “bad” long before the books of the Bible were written. Further – something is not good or bad because the Bible says so. The Bible says something is good or bad because it has always been so.
The founding fathers understood that, when they referred to “the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” in our Declaration of Independence. The laws of nature are called, “Natural Law”. The laws of nature’s God are called, “Revealed Law” and are found only in the Holy Scriptures.
Natural laws are discovered by observation and reason. “Even a dumb dog don’t kiss a hot stove twice!” Revealed law is learned by study and prayer. Natural and Revealed Law will never be in conflict because they were both created by God. However, Revealed Law is infinitely more authoritative than Natural Law. Revealed law was “dictated” by revelation by God. Natural Law is discovered by human observation and human reason, both of which are imperfect.
Natural Law predated Revealed Law by thousands of years. Sir William Blackstone speculated that because man was too dumb (my words) to reason it out, God in His benevolence gave us the Bible to help us understand how to love Him and love one another.
It is so simple it becomes profound – Our whole purpose is to learn to love God and to love one another. God even took the form of a man, Jesus Christ, to demonstrate how it is done. Then He came again as the Holy Spirit to guide us.
Think about it. The infinite first cause of everything wants to teach you to love Him and others. He has done and continues doing everything possible, short of violating your will, to get your attention.
These columns are archived since 12/10/09
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