Astronomy and Politics Through the Lens of Epistemology
How do We Know What We Know?
What is Our Method of Evaluating Truth?
Christian Epistemology
Evangelicals and Donald Trump’s Popularity (continued)
Superseding Biblical Value of political freedom versus slavery
This study began when someone claimed in our discussion, “you right wingers (his or her term) are always denouncing a decline in political freedom, when you in fact, have no Biblical basis to support the preoccupation and concerns about “freedom”. For that reason, I looked in a book where I remember 4 or 5 references for that and found nothing. So, I decided to do my own study on the mater including a word study on the words “freedom”, “liberty” and related derivatives. But when I did, I suddenly found myself in the largest Bible study I had ever embarked on. You will not find the term “political freedom” in the scriptures, but God’s response to the opposite of political freedom – that is slavery, is addressed extensively by God in His law to the Hebrews. Since God severely curtailed slavery for His followers, He was therefore centrally interested in the time of their freedom. One reason for this is the fact that a state of slavery for His Hebrew followers impacted their ability to corporately worship Him. Corporate worship is a command in both New and Old testaments. Of course, His laws did not apply to the surrounding pagan nations because they did not follow God or His laws to begin with. Therefore, God’s concern about value of freedom applied exclusively to the people who revered God.
For that reason, this study project of mine contained both symbolism of the freedom from sin as well as freedom from political tyranny where sometimes the distinction is unclear. This means there is a relationship between the freedom from physical slavery and spiritual freedom from sin. For that reason, I will be deliberately using the term “political freedom” in this blog to distinguish it from spiritualized freedom with respect to sin. Again, the Bible clearly and explicitly lays out God’s response to political slavery in both His repeated works rescuing His people from it and within His laws to the ancient Israel and Judah. Therefore, if God has major restrictions and reservations regarding slavery, physical freedom is logically His primary and eventual concern.
For example, The Bible has been constantly maligned by the supposed fact that God endorses or even invented slavery. In fact, slavery was an institution in all ancient countries of that time. In the Bible, God neither endorsed or banned slavery, He regulated it to death! Those regulations put a strict time limit of 6 years for temporary slavery and terminating on the beginning of the 7th year.
Ex 21:2-3 "If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. "If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.
This temporary slavery was an answer to what we call bankruptcy today. Both Israel and Judah were farming economies with periodic crop failures and resulting national famines and starvation. In the midst such a famine, a farm worker could “sell himself and his family” to his landowner in exchange for free labor for 6 years.
Le 25:39-40 'If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave's service. He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee.
Another mechanism by which God demonstrated his concern for the political freedom of the slaves was that they must be freed every 50 years. This time for freeing the slaves applied to the slave masters regardless of whether or not the six year time limit expired well after the jubilee. If so, that would place a further limit on the time of 6 years served as a slave. If anyone in the community did fail to free their slaves then, they would stick out like a sore thumb to the Levites who monitored such work agreements.
Le 25:10 'You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.
God also strictly limited any ill Treatment of these slaves for the reasons He cites.
Le 25:42-43 'For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. 'You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God.
The landowner then also had the additional responsibility to financially care for the entire family including children. Upon the beginning of the 7th year, the landowner was then commanded by God to free the both the man and his family so they would “go out as a free man without payment”. It did not matter how much the man owed the landowner, all costs of any kind were waved at the beginning of the 7th year.
Those are examples of how much God valued the eventual political freedom of the slaves .
Obviously political freedom is not an explicit phrase in scripture. But the implicit logic is inescapable since physical slavery is the precise and exact opposite of political freedom. Therefore, if God then puts severe time limits on slavery, his priority is the potential slave’s eventual freedom in a political context.
Yet, in light of the fact that most Jewish clerics and rabbis have itemized 613 laws in the Tanakh or Christian Old Testament a possible question here can be raised. When either Jews or gentiles look at God’s law from that perspective just what kind of priority to God were the laws regulating slavery? Were these specific laws on slavery toward midpoint of those 613 laws or at the bottom near the 600th law in term of priority? This question was clarified when God pronounced sentence on the leadership of the ancient government of Judah and its King for their near-habitual failure to free their slaves in the 7th year.
Jer 34:13 "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,
Jer 34:14 "At the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you." But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear.
Jer 34:17 "Therefore thus says the LORD: 'You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,' says the LORD-'to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth. (NKJV)
The rest of Jeremiah spells out the details of how God dealt with Judah’s refusal to free their slaves at the end of His specified time limit. After King Zedekiah’s burned all the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah in an act in defiance to God (Jer 36: 22-27), God gave the victory over Judah’s defensive war against the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Then Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled the God’s prophetic word (Jer 34:1-6) first by killing many of the king princes in front of King Zedekiah. Then the King of Babylon killed all of Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. Next, Nebuchadnezzar gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze chains eventually dragging him over 500 miles across the desert to Babylon where Zedekiah would die as old man in prison (Jer 52:8-11). While Zedekiah suffered a fate worse than the slaves illegally kept Judah, most of the southern Kingdom would be carried off and dispersed far from Judah or Israel in an event known as an early part of the Jewish diaspora.
Therefore, was the slavery and the lack of political freedom one of the preeminent concerns of God in the list of his laws and commands?? From these passages, it is easy to see that freedom of all kinds are one of God’s top priorities. Given God’s proven interest in political freedom for all of us, it should be our primary concern in all government we support. Our politicians should be debating any compromise of our freedom in every law or bill they pass. Likewise, political freedom should be our primary concern regarding the people we vote for.
A serious question at this point
If God so transformed the institution of slavery or being a servant (KJV), why did He just ban slavery outright and give it some other seemingly less oppressive name?
I believe this is because God wanted to use it for a lesson in New Testament revelation thousands of years later. As I described previously, there was no way under this covenant of God for a slave-master to require permanent slavery without incurring the wrath of God. However, there was a way a slave could make such a request. Why would anyone in the right mind do that? The passage below makes the point crystal clear.
Ex 21:5-6 "But if the servant plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,' "then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
For any slave-master to own what here are called bond-slaves was a status symbol to be sought. Who would be so just as to have slaves voluntarily bind themselves to such a righteous loving master? On the other hand, the bond-slave had real advantages over all other free-men of the land. All other men had to toil from sunup to sundown to make ends meet. They also had to fear their futures, given the frequency of crop failures and famines. The bond-slave, on the other hand, had no such concerns, because the masters of bond-slaves had to provide every single need of the bond-slave’s family. What could instill more of a sense of freedom than that? This was real freedom in every since of the word, where all cares the bond-slave would ever have are fulfilled by his beloved master.
That is the perfect picture of real freedom we have in Christ. Not just freedom from the curse of the law, but freedom from all cares in life if we just trust in Him. This is the reason the author of the book of Jude said in his introduction, “Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and a brother of James,” (Jude 1:1 NKJV). Furthermore, all the apostles address themselves and slaves or servants depending on the translation.
Donald Trump both campaigned and enacted an executive order to promote religious freedom on a number of fronts impacting both individuals and churches 7. He has also promoted freedom on a number of fronts and White House actions. Donald Trump’s commitment to freedom is roughly proportional to the time he spends on that subject in speeches around the world and here at home. With that assumption, Donald trump mentioned the word free or freedom 36 times in his speech in Poland 8, 14 times before the South Korean assembly 9, 22 times before the UN 10, and 15 times in his State of the Union speech 11. Need I say more?
The Future of Donald Trump
It is highly significant to me that Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn likens Donald Trump King Jehu. Jehu led quite a movement to restore righteousness to Israel after the disastrous reign of King Ahab and Jezebel. However, as I mentioned at the beginning of this essay, in the latter half of his reign, Jehu backslid into his own form of evil reign. Can this happen to Trump? The sobering reality in my mind is that Christians would be naïve to think this is impossible. Christian Trump supporters dare not blindly Trust in Trump.
On the other hand, Trump opponents who are quick to point out the Jehu comparison, also are similarly blindly forecasting the worst. Yet, there is a second possibility they either ignore or discount. Donald Trump is quicker than any other President to ask for prayer and frequently submit to the laying on of hands. Many critics will point out that this is likely just to secure the evangelical vote, which is possible. But regardless of that possibility, God is the one who declares through the apostle Paul that all kings, governors and authorities that exist are appointed by God for His reasons (Romans 13:1, 2). If that is true, a second possibility is that Donald Trump will repent of his past life and become a genuine follower of Christ. Wouldn’t that be a blast? How can so many Trump objectors discount this possibility when so many of them have repented of the same exact sins? Either way, we must follow scripture to, “Honor the King” (1st Peter 2:17 NKJV), and wait for God’s plan for Donald Trump to be revealed.
Recognition of Religious & Political Diversity
Now that does not mean that I do not fully recognize that there are Democrats that accept the biblical concept of evil behavior or that there are Democratic positions some Christian share. I both recognize and respect both of those facts. Yet, there are a lot of issues out there I cannot answer in a short overview of this nature. But, dealing with evil is one of the most important doctrines in scripture with respect to the role of government. It is also a critical presupposition to the doctrine of salvation and to victory over sin. For that reason, Christians are commonly loyal to Trump given his powerful recognition of good and evil, his commitment to freedom, despite his past lamentable behavior and even many of his actions much assailed while in office. Since the election, I have been blown away and surprised at how powerfully Trump recognizes good and evil and how willing he is to apply these values in his governmental reasoning and policies. While the media howls at his lack of legislation, what they do not report in summary is how much evil he has stopped while in office.
There can be no compromise with the fact that the “Great Commission” is the most import calling in Christianity (Matt 28:16-20). Yet a subordinate priority for Christians is to be salt and light in the world around them (Matt 5:13-16). I believe our influence on government is part of that responsibility. I believe those are important reasons for many Christians (not all) who do actively support Donald Trump.
Conclusion
1. Trump’s pro-life policies have permeated all of his legislative and executive efforts.
2. Trump stands for freedom of church organizations to be free from rules to force them to pay for abortions
3. Trump stands for freedom of religion and for Churches to endorse political candidates if they wish
4. Trump recognizes and uses good and evil in many of his speeches
5. Trump neither endorses or refers to any optimistic views of human nature and refers to “bad people”. If you don’t believe it, google it.
6. Trump neither endorses or refers to social justice in a good light, or socialism for that matter.
For those reasons and others, Trump’s popularity supersedes or transcends the media onslaught of criticism.
Bill Anderson
See also links below for directly or indirectly related to this subject.
Politically Conservative Christians, Jews & the Presidential Election
Testimony and Bible Study on Dealing with Fear--A Gospel Introduction
A Personal Relationship With God
Bill Anderson
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