Responsibility

Our society doesn’t want to call this word to mind, let alone discuss it today. Why? We hear endless talk about rights, but almost nothing about the responsibility coming with them. The big question comes down to who is responsible for society? There are only two choices, either us or government. That’s it, and this is today’s topic.

What is Responsibility?

Before we go further, let’s first define responsibility. It is simply moral duty or trust. Responsibility complements rights. Remember a right is a specific capability we claim on the basis of just or moral grounds. Rights concern our ability to make decisions and act. Duty shapes the actions we decide to take—often their impact on others. Take stewardship as one example of duty. Stewardship concerns caring for something entrusted to us that we do not own. We have a moral right to use it, and we incur a moral responsibility not to do harm to it or with it.

It once again comes back to love. Our natural rights are almost exclusively negative; they concern the things we are to refrain from doing. Those things include stealing, killing, lying, dishonoring others, committing adultery, and rebelling against God. The things we are to refrain from doing are all bad—evil. If we are not to do evil; we therefore must do good. Those are the only choices. And God is not only good; He is the source of all good. God is only good; He is love. By doing good, we become good—more like God. That is our purpose.[1]

By accepting our God-given rights, we incur the moral obligations coming with them. We cannot legitimately separate them as we try to do today. This leads us to the last principle in this series.

Biblical societies recognize their God-given (natural) rights and accept

the responsibilities coming with them.

Hell’s Counterfeit

For everything existing in heaven, Satan has created a counterfeit structure in hell. This is one reason we must learn to discern between good and evil—between the true and the false. Because the imitation may appear to look like the real thing, even if its core is hollow or rotten.

In heaven there is alignment with God. God is one. He has Being, Essence, Nature. He is a combination of transcendence and immanence. God has been described as a single essence containing three persons. Those persons being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.[2] This relationship can be depicted as shown below.

There is family and love between the persons of God. There is also the relationship of Spirit (Father), Soul (Holy Spirit) and Body (Son). Christ is the Son.

Man was made in God’s image. Part of that image is family. Man’s family is husband, wife, and child; spirit, soul, and body. When man is aligned with God, there is also alignment between man’s family and God. Together, the spirit and soul instruct the body. For that to happen, there must be marriage between spirit and soul; there must be unity of purpose. If there is no unity between husband and wife, differences exist between spirit and soul. The child becomes confused. The family becomes only a shell of what it should be. A corruption.

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Church and State

It is no different with the church. The Church is to align with God. Christ is its head. The spirit and soul teach the child—the Church’s body, in a word, us. For that to occur there must be unity between the Church’s spirit and soul. It’s beliefs, words, and actions. Otherwise the child becomes confused. Isn’t that what we see today? The Church says one thing, but does another. Or it treats one person in a particular way, and another person differently. It gives absolution for something, but doesn’t require change. It accepts something that it denies in another.

This is a sign of hell’s counterfeit presence within the Church. And here’s the proof. Man cries love me the way I am. I have no reason to change. On the other hand, God says I love you too much to leave you the way you are. He desires we become what He’s called us to be—someone much greater than we can ever become on our own. This can only happen when God moves us. Hell’s counterfeit presence occurs when man moves us. See the difference?

We see the same counterfeit corruption present in government today. Government gives us the equality act. God desires we recognize our equal nature as beings created in His image. Man says we each define our gender. God created us male and female. Government says look at gender, race, ethnicity, age, and the like. God says consider the human race. The first leads to division, envy, distrust, and unrest. The second to unity, truth, trust, and peace. The first derives from institutional decision making ordering society. The second from our decision-making ordering society. It couldn’t be any clearer.

What is the Answer?

The choice is ours, and always has been. Obedience or rebellion. We plant the seeds of our own harvest through our words and actions. Do those produce fruit, or are they like the withered fig tree? Paul wrote,

And you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). Eph. 2:1-5

As Christians, we have the answer. There is no place where God’s message does not apply. We can also ask, “Is there any place where God should be excluded?” The answer is no. Church and government are made of men and women, not institutions. We are all to align with God. Spirit, soul, and body. Husband, wife, and child. People, Church, and Government. We cannot repent until spirit and soul are married. On earth as it is in heaven. That is Man’s duty, his responsibility and it derives from the inalienable natural rights God’s blessed each one of us with. All we need to do is choose, stand, and act. As long as there is breath, it is never too late. But first we must awaken.

Biblical Societal Principles

Below are the Biblical principles underlying society developed in this series. It is not a complete list, but serves as society’s foundations.

Society recognizes who God is, His sovereignty and authority.
All human beings share a common kinship and nature.
Natural rights form society’s foundation.
Natural rights lead to primarily relying on natural law.
Individual decision making orders Biblical societies, leading to greater freedom.
Justice exists only in societies recognizing God’s natural rights.
Man’s dominion of God’s creation comes with the moral duty of stewardship.
Biblical societies embody God’s charity.
Wealth’s purpose is supporting the common good.
They recognize the natural right of education, and accept its obligation.
Biblical societies strive to understand and attain God’s truth.
Biblical societies recognize their God-given rights (natural rights) and accept the responsibilities coming with them.