Tucker Carlson has been one of the few conservative commentators with a clear enough understanding of the Constitution and the courage to actively refute the narrative that the government has the authority to close the churches, or to deny the right of the people to assemble as churches. A mere emergency does not nullify the Bill of Rights.
Those of my friends that collapsed from historic conservatism to being statists should think long about how easily they folded their long held convictions. All it required was a little fear and a war of words.
Now, as we move toward the goal of reopening the country more and more conservatives (less liberals) are moving toward the fundamental truth that the amount of risk that an American citizen is willing to bear in the exercise of their constitutionally protected freedoms is not measured by bureaucracies but by personal wisdom.
We have the right to decide the level of danger we are willing to bear to increase the well being of ourselves and our families. We are a free people and let us never be reduced to statist servitude. We believe in freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and freedom of commerce. A free market, a free economy and freedom of contract.
Remember what this feels like.
As the food reserves grow short and the lines grow long remember that the states closed the farms, the processing plants, transportation and that they thought food magically appeared from the air instead of through the hard work and diligence of We the People.
Supply lines require the constant vigilance of thoughtful people that plan long in advance toward the successful realization of their goals. That's what makes them productive persons. The state can't match the ingenuity of a single motivated person of good will.
Let's move forward, carefully, but quickly, before all is lost, because bad people are quick to take advantage of our national suffering so that we might serve them.
And a Christian, if they can manage it, should be free. Free from bondage, free from fear, and free from the entanglements of an autocratic state. Free from oppression, free from violence, and free to worship their God in spirit and in truth, according to the measure of holy scripture and a good conscience.
Because of the peculiar and special status of the church on Earth the churches have the authority to remain open or close and will do so according to a greater wisdom than that of mayors or a city council.
If it's a freedom we can keep.
Now many have said, and it’s a valid concern, what about the possible endangerment of others, don’t you have a concern for the safety and well-being of your neighbor?
That is true, and there are legal measures that are to be taken against a person that willfully or neglectfully endangers or harms their neighbor.
That’s in the Bible and it’s in both the civil and the criminal law.
All of this is true.
But it is a peripheral moral and legal issue that can only exist as a response to a moral error. It is never the primary moral or legal rule.
The elimination of the possibility of the moral error through the destruction and erasure of human rights, especially those enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, is not the right answer to that problem.
Here we have a situation. Where 330 million people have not harmed or endangered their neighbors and are being punished regardless.
To be morally culpable the person must have acted knowingly, willfully, with a reckless disregard for human life and I don’t see anyone doing that.
But even if some were to act that way, the state and even the church would be called to intervene in the ways open to each of the institutions.
To call people guilty before a trial and a showing of guilt is a different moral error we find in scripture, the one we call slander and false witness.
More, as uncomfortable and unpopular as it is in American culture at this time in history, our duties are first and primarily to God and if we want to see God bless our people and heal our land, we’d better be faithful to his laws and his statutes first
And we should always obey God before we obey men
Thank you for listening
Rev. Christopher Neiswonger
Graceview ARP
Graceviewchurch.org
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