Bryan Fischer
America's public policy: all we need is Genesis 1 and 2
By Bryan Fischer
The Founding Fathers grounded this nation in a profoundly religious concept: that there is a Creator and that we have been all created in his image and therefore have equal rights to life, liberty and property.
Where did they get this idea? That's easy — from the first page of the Bible. Their view of public policy was shaped and molded by the Judeo-Christian tradition, beginning with the very first verse of the very first book of the Scriptures.
Even a cursory read-through of Genesis 1 & 2 indicates that these two chapters are just about all we need to formulate sound public policy in the nation left to us by the Founders. Here is a brief list, for starters, of the number of issues for which Genesis provides answers and direction.
Origins: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). The Founders are right, and Darwin is wrong. All things came into being through the work of a Creator God. They did not come into being through blind chance and the random collision of atoms. Even science says that matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed. By scientific definition, then, both had to come from some source outside the universe. The teaching of origins in all our educational institutions should reflect this, and explore the implications for society if elected officials believe Darwin (survival of the fittest, might makes right, eugenics, Planned Parenthood, Adolph Hitler, six million dead Jews) rather than Moses.
Evolution: According to Genesis 1, both plants and animals are said no less than eleven times to reproduce "according to their kind." This is confirmed by everything we know about genetics. Evolution — that is, the genetic migration of one species into another — has never been observed. Never, not one single time. Evolution is false, genetics is true. Like begets like, always has, always will. The flat contradiction between everything we know about genetics and the gibberish that is taught as evolution should be part of every course of instruction on the origin and development of living things. Even if scientists were able to genetically create life in the lab, that would simply confirm what the Bible teaches: it takes both intelligence and design. Plus, we would have to spot the scientists the genetic material with which they worked. Where did that come from? Hmmm? The Bible is right, evolution is wrong.
The sexes: Two and only two, not five, as our LGBT friends would like us to believe. There is no "third" sex, or fourth or fifth. "[M]ale and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27). Any public policy that suggests that there is some kind of "sexual orientation" other than male and female is profoundly wrong and rooted in error. Their are only two kinds of "gender identity," male and female, and both are fixed at the moment of conception. Our public policy should reflect that, and never should recognize alternative forms of gender identity or give them special recognition and protection in law. To do so is to depart from science and biology and plunge our culture into the realm of mindless and dangerous subjectivity. A boy is born a male, and will always be a male in the DNA of every cell in his body until the day he dies, no matter what kind of surgical mutilation he might undergo along the way. Our public policy should never be to accommodate such sexual and gender confusion but rather help such an individual reconcile his psychological identity with his God-given biological one.
Environmentalism: Man is not an intruder, a noxious weed or a parasite, but rather God's vice-regent, acting with his delegated and rightful authority over all the environment. "[S]ubdue (the earth) and have dominion over the the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Gen. 1:28). When man converts natural resources to human use, he is doing a good thing, not an evil thing, as the Al Gores of the world would have us believe. This understanding of man's relationship with the environment should govern all our environmental policy, our energy programs, and the work of all federal agencies that deal with environmental policy. Environmentalists want to restrict and remove man's footprint on the earth; the Judeo-Christian tradition wants to expand it, in ways that are responsible and represent good stewardship. We do not worship Gaia, we worship the Creator of the earth.
Work: Work is a noble thing and is not a consequence of the fall, as many Christians erroneously believe. God put man into the garden "to work it and keep it" (Gen. 2:15) before sin entered the human race. Our public policy should reflect the nobility of work, should expect able-bodied people to work with their own hands to supply their own needs and the needs of their families.No able-bodied person who can work but will not should be extended help through any of our welfare programs.
Population: Leftists say there are too many people on the earth; the Judeo-Christian tradition says there are too few. "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (Gen. 1:28). The goal should be for each set of parents to have at least three children, for if parents have just two, they aren't multiplying, they're only replacing themselves. Population growth is a good thing, and should be encouraged by our public policies and by elected officials. Russia, most Europeans countries, and Japan are now experiencing the devastating consequences of fertility rates that have been below replacement levels for decades. According to demographers, Japan's population is declining so rapidly that the last Japanese will be born before the end of this millennium. By the year 3000, there will be no Japanese anywhere.
Marriage and sex: Marriage is the union of one man and one woman, period. "Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24). Sex is good, but is to be reserved exclusively for marriage. Our public policies should not recognize any counterfeit unions such as domestic partnerships and civil unions, and should give such unions no special recognition, privileges or rights. Nor should public policy subsidize any kind of sexual expression outside of marriage, by, for instance, awarding taxpayer funded welfare benefits to women who have children outside of wedlock (dealing with such situations should be left to families, the church, and private charities). Marriage should be protected, encouraged, and given a privileged place in public policy since healthy families are the foundation and cornerstone of any healthy society.
Two short chapters in the Bible shine a powerful light that illuminates the path for America to return to sane, rational and sound public policy. Secular fundamentalism, with its belief in evolution, environmentalism, population control, sexual promiscuity, sexual deviancy, and welfare for people who don't work, is about to bring America to its knees.
Secular fundamentalism is the problem and the Judeo-Christian tradition is the solution. Will America and its elected officials wake up in time to save what is left of the greatest nation on earth?
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
January 27, 2011
The Founding Fathers grounded this nation in a profoundly religious concept: that there is a Creator and that we have been all created in his image and therefore have equal rights to life, liberty and property.
Where did they get this idea? That's easy — from the first page of the Bible. Their view of public policy was shaped and molded by the Judeo-Christian tradition, beginning with the very first verse of the very first book of the Scriptures.
Even a cursory read-through of Genesis 1 & 2 indicates that these two chapters are just about all we need to formulate sound public policy in the nation left to us by the Founders. Here is a brief list, for starters, of the number of issues for which Genesis provides answers and direction.
Origins: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). The Founders are right, and Darwin is wrong. All things came into being through the work of a Creator God. They did not come into being through blind chance and the random collision of atoms. Even science says that matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed. By scientific definition, then, both had to come from some source outside the universe. The teaching of origins in all our educational institutions should reflect this, and explore the implications for society if elected officials believe Darwin (survival of the fittest, might makes right, eugenics, Planned Parenthood, Adolph Hitler, six million dead Jews) rather than Moses.
Evolution: According to Genesis 1, both plants and animals are said no less than eleven times to reproduce "according to their kind." This is confirmed by everything we know about genetics. Evolution — that is, the genetic migration of one species into another — has never been observed. Never, not one single time. Evolution is false, genetics is true. Like begets like, always has, always will. The flat contradiction between everything we know about genetics and the gibberish that is taught as evolution should be part of every course of instruction on the origin and development of living things. Even if scientists were able to genetically create life in the lab, that would simply confirm what the Bible teaches: it takes both intelligence and design. Plus, we would have to spot the scientists the genetic material with which they worked. Where did that come from? Hmmm? The Bible is right, evolution is wrong.
The sexes: Two and only two, not five, as our LGBT friends would like us to believe. There is no "third" sex, or fourth or fifth. "[M]ale and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27). Any public policy that suggests that there is some kind of "sexual orientation" other than male and female is profoundly wrong and rooted in error. Their are only two kinds of "gender identity," male and female, and both are fixed at the moment of conception. Our public policy should reflect that, and never should recognize alternative forms of gender identity or give them special recognition and protection in law. To do so is to depart from science and biology and plunge our culture into the realm of mindless and dangerous subjectivity. A boy is born a male, and will always be a male in the DNA of every cell in his body until the day he dies, no matter what kind of surgical mutilation he might undergo along the way. Our public policy should never be to accommodate such sexual and gender confusion but rather help such an individual reconcile his psychological identity with his God-given biological one.
Environmentalism: Man is not an intruder, a noxious weed or a parasite, but rather God's vice-regent, acting with his delegated and rightful authority over all the environment. "[S]ubdue (the earth) and have dominion over the the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Gen. 1:28). When man converts natural resources to human use, he is doing a good thing, not an evil thing, as the Al Gores of the world would have us believe. This understanding of man's relationship with the environment should govern all our environmental policy, our energy programs, and the work of all federal agencies that deal with environmental policy. Environmentalists want to restrict and remove man's footprint on the earth; the Judeo-Christian tradition wants to expand it, in ways that are responsible and represent good stewardship. We do not worship Gaia, we worship the Creator of the earth.
Work: Work is a noble thing and is not a consequence of the fall, as many Christians erroneously believe. God put man into the garden "to work it and keep it" (Gen. 2:15) before sin entered the human race. Our public policy should reflect the nobility of work, should expect able-bodied people to work with their own hands to supply their own needs and the needs of their families.No able-bodied person who can work but will not should be extended help through any of our welfare programs.
Population: Leftists say there are too many people on the earth; the Judeo-Christian tradition says there are too few. "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (Gen. 1:28). The goal should be for each set of parents to have at least three children, for if parents have just two, they aren't multiplying, they're only replacing themselves. Population growth is a good thing, and should be encouraged by our public policies and by elected officials. Russia, most Europeans countries, and Japan are now experiencing the devastating consequences of fertility rates that have been below replacement levels for decades. According to demographers, Japan's population is declining so rapidly that the last Japanese will be born before the end of this millennium. By the year 3000, there will be no Japanese anywhere.
Marriage and sex: Marriage is the union of one man and one woman, period. "Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24). Sex is good, but is to be reserved exclusively for marriage. Our public policies should not recognize any counterfeit unions such as domestic partnerships and civil unions, and should give such unions no special recognition, privileges or rights. Nor should public policy subsidize any kind of sexual expression outside of marriage, by, for instance, awarding taxpayer funded welfare benefits to women who have children outside of wedlock (dealing with such situations should be left to families, the church, and private charities). Marriage should be protected, encouraged, and given a privileged place in public policy since healthy families are the foundation and cornerstone of any healthy society.
Two short chapters in the Bible shine a powerful light that illuminates the path for America to return to sane, rational and sound public policy. Secular fundamentalism, with its belief in evolution, environmentalism, population control, sexual promiscuity, sexual deviancy, and welfare for people who don't work, is about to bring America to its knees.
Secular fundamentalism is the problem and the Judeo-Christian tradition is the solution. Will America and its elected officials wake up in time to save what is left of the greatest nation on earth?
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
