Tag Archives: Rushdoony

Christianity

The Ten Fundamentals of Modern Statism by RJ Rushdoony

1. The first duty of every state is to protect the state, not the people.

2. Other states are occasional enemies; the people are the continual enemies.

3. The purpose of taxation is confiscation, control, the redistribution of wealth, control, the support of the civil government, and control.

4. All steps to increase state power must be done in the name of The People, but the people are to be used and stripped of freedom in the process.

5. Freedom is dangerous; controls are good.

6. Freedom must be redefined; it is a right to be morally loose and irresponsible, but Christian morality is social slavery.

7. Children are the property of the state.

8. The two great sources of evil are the church and the family.

9. The only world is the world; there is no God, no heaven, nor hell.

10. Anything the state operates or does is good, in any and all spheres: education, war, peace, spending, and so on. What is “public” or statist is good; what is “private” is bad.

Abolish The Police, Christianity, Theonomy

I Found a Better Rush

I grew up listening to Rush Limbaugh. I learned a lot from him. The issue I see now, is that he talks about freedom and limited government, but doesn’t call for the end of public school and Social Security, etc. He doesn’t make any mention of the Bible’s teaching on these subjects. But pastors don’t either.

R.J. Rushdoony (the better Rush) figured out what the Bible teaches on so many topics of life, and wrote tons of books. I’ve thought about some of what he’s saying here, and it’s good to know I’m not the first Christian to ever think about these things. There were probably thousands of Christians in the early church, and then Rush and then me. Here’s the quote referring  to early Christians, and their employment under Caesar:

As Christ’s servants or slaves, bought with a price, they could not voluntarily enslave themselves to men.

As a result, while Christians could be office-bearers under Caesar, they were servants of Christ alone. They could not, unlike modern office-bearers, see themselves as servants of the people, or servants of the state. They were Christ’s servants, “bought with a price.”

The early church had serious weaknesses which far surpass those of the church today, but its strength was far greater. There was a reason for this. First as Williams has pointed out, the faithful were a community, and a responsible community. Second, the early church was aware of its conflict with the world; now, there is little sense of conflict. It would not occur to a church, its officers, or its members today to raise such questions as these: Is a judge who does not challenge the humanistic law which is taking over our country faithful to Christ? Is he the servant of the people, or the state, or is he Christ’s servant? Is a union member who does not work against the humanistic and coercive tactics of the unions faithful to the Lord? Can employers and workers disregard Ephesians 6:5-9 and be counted as godly? We do not yet accept pimps and prostitutes into church membership, but can we legitimately accept antinomians who assume that a verbal profession of faith can replace a disavowal of Christ in their works?