Christ being taken out of our government and decisions is exaclty what the problem is.  When you take Him out, when you take out the fact that there are absolutes, that we DO NOT have to be tolerant of sin (was Christ ever tolerant of sin) well….it ends us up right where we are.

There was a reference made to “sin nature”…this is a subject I am currently studying…so I won’t say too much about it.  But I will say this…did our nature change when sin entered the garden?  God created us in His image…before God allowed Satan into the garden we did not have a sin nature…so did it change when Adam and Eve chose to sin?  If so, does that nature change when we accept Christ as our Savior and Redeemer?  These are just some thoughts I am pondering…..

And you are right about laws and “legislating morality.” Thanks for the clarification.

And RoomTempJ, thanks for the comments. And the joke wasn’t that bad. I’ve given my share of bad jokes, so I feel your pain.

Llroomtemp needs to understand the nature of man better. Would he work for $50 a day if someone was willing to give him $60 for not working?? That, my friend is the “welfare state”  ….it takes the sin nature of man and produces irresponsibility by taking from the productive and giving to the deliberately non-productive.  Perhaps 90% of the “welfare state” are there because of poor, irresponsible choices.  And we, the productive ones, aid and abet that lifestyle through the welfare state.  Think about it.

I’m glad that we agree on many points. I don’t know how to respond to your claim about conservative economics having a history of being more effective than liberal economics, because i’m not knowledgeable on the topic…but i’m certain that a staunch liberal would find that statement to be debatable. (aren’t we always debating about which president is responsible for economic upswings? and arent’ there always valid arguments that can be made for both sides?)

you said:
“On economics, that is a subject where I am probably rather weak. But I do not believe Christ’s teachings fall in line with modern Liberalism. (i.e. a welfare state.) He did teach us to care for the poor and sick, and the widows, etc. but that does not mean it is the governments job to do it.”

Here is where you and I have appropriately identified a major difference to our approaches to economics. I don’t think that welfare/medicare/medicaid are by any means perfect systems, but i do believe them to be necessary. I find that we often make judgements of these systems based on the extreme cases of abuse. Imagine if all Christians were judged by the actions of certain heretical and ungodly leaders.

I believe that there is a need for a “welfare state” because without them, people would go hungry, be homeless and die from curable diseases. The governemt by far and large funds a lot of things through our tax dollars. I don’t think that we should cut their economic intervention short when it comes to aiding those in need.

But regardless of our views on what we should do with our government, it’s good that we can come back to rest on God’s word and it’s authority.