Overreaching Government

"Contending against an overreaching civil government is integral to a comprehensive Christian evangelistic effort because one of the prime competitors to biblical religion today is the religion of the state. The state is seen by many as the source of absolute power and lawmaking authority. Ultimately, if the state chooses not to actively control some part of life, it is merely because it would be an inconvenience to do so, not because of any limit on its jurisdiction imposed by a higher power. Not even salvation is outside its purview...

...Christians must stand against the aggrandizement of the state, wherever it appears. This means protesting not only where Christians are prevented from assembling for worship, or where a Christian family's educational choices are limited by the state, but at any point at which the state has overstepped its bounds. Our evangelism must challenge the idolatry of statism as it would any pagan image-worship." - Dr. Timothy Terrell

Timothy D. Terrell is an assistant professor of economics at Wofford College, a member of Woodruff Road Presbyterian Church in Simpsonville, SC, and director of the Center for Biblical Law and Economics (www.christcollege.org/html/cble/).

This quote is from an article titled, "Christian Evangelism Against Statism," and was originally written for the Chalcedon Foundation webpage, but is also found in the National Reform Association's Christian Statesman.