Many Christians have no idea what they are fighting for. They claim to reject all forms of theonomy, and that they want total religious freedom for everyone, but then they would fight for the government sanctioned public display of the Ten Commandments. Do they not see that there is no such thing as the "Ten Commandments" in the abstract? What are these ten commandments? If they are fighting for the right to display two tablets of stone with ten Roman letters engraved on them, then they are not fighting for the biblical ten commandments at all. They frequently speak of how our laws are based on "Judeo-Christian values." But there are no values in "I, II, III, IV…."

The Ten Commandments are not just the words "Ten Commandments," but there are actually ten commandments that God revealed to Israel in the midst of a spectacular display of his power and glory. To cite only the first commandment would be sufficient to make my point: "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). To fight for the government's permission or sanction to publicly display the Ten Commandments is not to fight for the right to display two blank tablets of stone or the words "The Ten Commandments," but the actual ten commandments, including this first one. To fight for "Judeo-Christian values" is not to fight for a meaningless expression, but to fight for the moral laws revealed in the Bible, including the first commandment.

What is the meaning of all this? It means that if you are fighting for the Ten Commandments as a mere abstraction, instead of fighting for the government's sanction to declare and enforce the actual ten commandments, then it is not worth the effort, since you are fighting for a cause that is without meaning and without content, and that has nothing to do with Christianity.

On the other hand, if you are demanding the government to sanction and sponsor a public declaration of the Ten Commandments as the actual ten commandments, beginning with "You shall have no other gods before me," then understand that you are not just fighting to make room for Christianity as one option among many, but you are fighting for the right – by the government's sanction, on the government's property – to publicly condemn all non-biblical religions, all non-biblical philosophies, and all their adherents, and to exalt Christianity as the only true religion and the only legitimate basis for human civilization. Now this is a cause I can support.

For the government to admit that it is founded on Christian principles is also to declare that its very foundation condemns all non-Christian ones, as such a condemnation is fundamental to Christianity. And although such a government might not actively persecute them, all non-Christians living under it are nevertheless regulated and judged by explicitly Christian principles. This is what we demand our government to tell the world when we call for it to acknowledge its Christian roots. And what a grotesque monster our government would seem, if from Christian roots it grows not only Christian, but also Muslim and Buddhist fruits. The Bible is sufficient and profitable to build a nation, and if the foundation is truly Christian, then exclusion must be part of this foundation.

(end of series)

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