Joint Efforts – The Law of God and Public Policy

Joint Efforts
The Law of God and Public Policy

Christians can work together to express their views.

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deuteronomy 6:6, 7

Christians should also think about meeting together to discuss matters of public policy, creating specific strategies for using available media to express shared views. This was an approach to public policy-making which colonial Americans used to great effect by organizing Committees of Correspondence up and down the Eastern seaboard prior to the Declaration of Independence. These Committees were local groups who gathered for study, conversation, and local action in an effort to preserve American liberties against what the colonists regarded as increasing British tyranny.

I once moderated a writer’s group which included, as part of its regular meeting, a session in which members shared their writing goals for the next month. When people commit to one another and pray for one another, we discovered, they are more likely to achieve their writing goals. This group was meeting at a time when websites were just beginning to be used; nevertheless, our writers managed to publish several columns and letters to the editor in the local newspaper of a major market.

No one is going to publish the wisdom and knowledge of God’s Law for us. We must be wise as serpents and harmless as doves as we seek to persuade others of the benefits to be enjoyed within the context of the wisdom of God, I’ll have more to say a bit later concerning the language we should use in this effort. For now, suffice it to say that, if we hope to make a long-term contribution to the shape of public policy in this nation, we must explore every available outlet for putting the wisdom and understanding of God’s Law before the eyes of those who are engaged in making public policy, beginning with “we the people.”

Visit our website, www.ailbe.org, and sign up to receive our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell, featuring writers from the period of the Celtic Revival and T. M.’s reflections on Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition. Does the Law of God still apply today? Order a copy of T. M.’s book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, and study the question for yourself.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.