In the beginning, God told Adam to take dominion and multiply, specifically to subdue the Earth. This mandate is very familiar to most Christians, but we must be willing to see it in new ways. Many times, as readers of the Bible, we can insert concepts or words into a verse or passage in a systematic theology type of way. Where we have a bigger system that we assume is true, and thus, our brain fills in the gaps. I preface this blog with this observation and warning because since the commandment to take dominion was so simplistic, we can oftentimes read our common, modern societal system back into that more simplistic command. In other words, I preface this blog beforehand to put your mind in one of those places where you’re destabilizing curiosity instead of being an intellectual autopilot.
So, in God saying be fruitful and multiply, we see the only structure and society that may, that structure being the family. I want to be really clear; this means that the structure that God intends to use to raise humans to be fully self-governing is the family, not the government. The government does not teach positive rights or dignity. At best, the government can assume and respect the dignity, value, and worth of the individual human. The government, at best, protects us from those who would step out of God‘s call train of young people to self-govern in such a way that they attempt to govern others.
I say all this to say that the best possible world is a world where everyone is fully committed to the responsibility to govern themselves. And yes, positive self-government is their responsibility. We libertarians like to focus on the right to be left alone or, as the quail it up snake axiom says, ‘Don’t tread on me.’
The good news is that God built us with an innate ability for self-government. He did this through making us in his image, a.k.a. the imago Dei. Even people who aren’t saved have the image of God, even though the reflection of the image of God or depiction of that image has been marred by sin. There is enough of God’s image leftover, specifically God’s wisdom and conscience, to justify arguing that they have the capacity to govern themselves.
Application
So when you’re discussing politics and government with your non-libertarian Christian friends, you can make the presupposition argument that I just made with them. You can tell them that we as Christians, have the Anthropological grounds for self-government. The non-Christian libertarians, on the other hand, do not; they have either survival of the fittest (which leads to the desire to rule over others, examples of this are dictators, alpha animals in packs, and slave owners) or they have human flourishing (which is also not compatible because it chooses groups of people’s wellbeing over others, which manifests in ideas like “the greater good of society” or a small group of people governing a large group of people). Neither of these gives you self-government. Both of them think it is better for the individual to be governed by others instead of governing themselves.
Tim Bankes II
Tim is a Christian author. His worldview that informs his writing is Calvinist, Baptist, and Libertarian. His main series is his Christian picture book series, "About God for Kids", where he discusses the attributes of God in a way kids can digest. He also wrote a Christian Romance novel, libertarian book for beginners, and Christian coloring books. He graduated with a Bachelor's in Biblical Studies from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He has written a book on freedom called “Are You Free” (If you are into listening to books I have it in audio also, Are You Free Audiobook )and he has written multiple children’s books about God. Be Sure to check out the podcast version of the blog, Labor for Truth Podcast. And check out “The Truth About” Youtube Channel. You can find his works at his amazon author page, https://amazon.com/author/timbankes. He even has a free digital ebook on how God is the creator. Get your free copy today at, Greater Creator .Also If you are into Christian Fiction, he has made his first book in his Futuristic Christian Fiction series free, Her Dying Wish
Some of my other favorite books on these subjects that are great for beginners to the liberty movement are:
Free to Choose by Milton Friedman (Major Economist)
Basics of Economics by Thomas Sowell (Major Economist)
Called to Freedom by Elise Daniels (Christian Perspective)
Faith Seeking Freedom by Norman Horn, Doug Stuart , Kerry Baldwin, Dick Clark (Christian Perspective)
The Libertarian Theology of Freedom by Edmund Opitz (Christian Perspective)
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