God, Law & Liberty Podcast

David takes today’s episode to develop a historical context for next week’s discussion of neo-Baptist engagement with law and politics. Without this context, the Gnostic nature of that form of engagement will be less clear. David uses the work of 18th-century Scottish theologian, Thomas Boston, and the Apostle Paul's first letter to Timothy to explain the role of law in non-Gnostic terms.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are you part of the neo-Covenantal tradition or the neo-Baptist tradition when it comes to law and politics? Today, David defines these two groups based on 30 years of dealing with Christians in the legal and policy spheres. In this episode, though, he explains why the neo-Covenanters are Gnostics and would have Calvin and Kuyper rolling in their graves.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David begins his examination of what he considers the two predominate views among Christians on law and politics, those he calls the neo-Covenanters and neo-Baptists, with how he realized he read the Bible like the legal positivist, Jeremy Bentham, and why reading the Bible that way is gnostic, not Christian. Is being a heretic easier than ever before? The answer may surprise you.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Common law authority William Blackstone said that man “must in all points conform to the will of his nature,” and this will was called the “natural law.” Today, David explains how he overlooked the most fundamental law of human nature because he read the Bible like a disciple of legal positivist Jeremy Bentham. From his experience, David offers a proposition about the state of evangelicalism in America.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Evangelicals of all stripes want to live in a country that has righteous laws or, we might say, law in accord with God’s law. And to that end the debate rages among those voting for Trump because they are evangelicals and those not voting for Harris because they are evangelical. The recent comments of David French and the formation of “Evangelicals for Harris” and the evangelical rejoinder to them quickly come to mind. Today, David launches a short series that talks about the evangel of righteousness that seems to have been lost in the din of politics.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week David shares four statements by Jonathan Burnside, Professor of Biblical Law at the University of Bristol (England) Law School, about how the Bible presents “Biblical law” that came flooding back to his mind when, last week, he read a conversation God said Jeremiah would have with those of God’s people who did not like his prophecies. Would we, like them, say, “How have we forgotten your law?”Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At a recent gathering of political and legal advocates from around the nation, most of whom were Christians, these questions were asked: “What keeps you up at night?” and “What is most urgent to you?” David uses an excerpt from C.S. Lewis’s The Weight of Glory, an excerpt from John Owen’s Christologia, and Hebrews Chapter 4, to provide insight into what the questions and the way they were framed says about our understanding of the Gospel.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s episode will spring from the relationship between Dionysius’s table depicted at the Olympics and common Christian wisdom about political engagement. David will apply thoughts drawn from observations made by Abraham Kuyper, John Owen, Jeff Shafer, Jason Farley, and the prophet Jeremiah to offer what he thinks should be the first step in a truly Christian response to the Republican Party’s Platform and future political engagement.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After the events of the last 10 days, some Christian policy organizations are circling back to how Christians should respond to the new Republican Party Platform. Today, David uses Isaiah and John Owen to probe whether observations made by one prominent national organization go deeply enough in explaining how 45 years of work were, in its words, “wiped out in hours.”Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Changes in the Republican Party’s platform’s planks regarding abortion and marriage riled Christian political advocates who actively sought a minority report with different language. But did they read the Preamble? Today, David explains why he thinks its provisions represent the best of humanistic hubris and explain why abortion and marriage were left to walk the proverbial plank.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In his discussion of the ruler’s function, Peter tells persecuted Christians to “do good.” Is that limited to doing good deeds, or can his exhortation apply to how one does politics and drafts legislation? David says it includes the latter and gives real life examples from the last few years to demonstrate what the “good” is and isn’t in relation to a Biblical anthropology.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As noted last week, the metaphysics of law and sin are first seen in the opening chapters of Genesis and more clearly revealed in Romans. But what are we to make of the exhortations by both Paul and Peter to overcome evil rulers by doing good? Are these exhortations the eternal word of God or mere artifacts of a different time in history? In other words, now we need organized political effort that give us the power to enact better laws.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Apostle Peter gives us description of rulers that helps us evaluate those who hold office in all three branches of our civil government. The result isn’t pretty. But his recommendation for how to respond to “ignorant fools” in public office seems wrong and is at odds with what we think and do today. But if God’s word is true and eternal, does that mean we’re missing something? Is it in our understanding of how the Bible speaks of law and sin?Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Al Mohler said this week that there will be “two rival understandings of reality facing off” in the November elections. Is that true? David asks and answers several questions about the nature of law that probe the accuracy of Mohler’s assessment. More importantly, is there evidence that evangelical Christianity doesn’t even present a rival understanding of reality to that held by the Democratic and Republican parties.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The conviction of former President Donald Trump generated lots of comments about the rule of law. Some said it was the end of the rule of law and others said it was demonstrative of the rule of law. What if neither observation is correct? David uses the thoughts of Lord Henry deBracton, the father of the common law, to examine rule of law and in what sense, if any, it exists today.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David recounts a recent conversation with a member of Congress on pending legislation that demonstrates what happens when Christians are not discipled well in the faith and in the law respecting their office. No “Christian America” will come from such leaders. But it will come if Christians understand what Ezekiel 36 teaches about how God brings a once-Christian nation not just from captivity but to restoration and advancement.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Theonomy is predicated on the Triune God but it pertains to a certain cosmology. So, how are Christians to think of theonomy and its application in relation to a legal system the structure and content of which are now divorced from both its history and the cosmology that gave rise to it? David tackles that subject with a new two-part thesis for “applied theonomy.”Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christians who have been unengaged in politics are now beginning to engage. So, why would the host of one of David’s favorite podcasts suggest many of them are “mucking up everything?” David provides an answer by explaining a key issue period in Medieval Christendom discussed in that podcast and by tying it to a key U.S. Supreme Court decision, and to observations about law by Hale Institute director Jeff Shafer.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A recent interview of an evangelical pastor disappointed by his friend, Virginia Governor Youngkin, signing a same-sex “marriage” bill into law reveals how Christian discipleship falls short, not just with those wanting to hold office, but often with the pastors and policy organizations supporting them. David explains why what may sound and look good to many people in the pews too often turns out so disappointing.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The floundering of the pro-life movement since Roe v. Wade was reversed provides the context for David asking in today’s episode, “What makes for a Christian community, state, or nation, and where in that process do righteous civil laws come into play?” In answer, David offers for consideration a thesis drawn from a re-examination of the Great Commission in Matthew 28.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, David talks about how discipling a nation (Matthew 28:19) might look different from what is being done today in law and public policy. He uses a statement made on the Tennessee House floor this week by an influential Christian Republican to show what he thinks is missing. He also offers part of a speech he recently gave to a group of Christian lawyers and policy leaders as a way forward.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

God promised “nations” would come from Abraham and Jesus told his disciples to disciple the nations. With that in mind, David uses scripture and some observations from Choc Knox and Jason Farley (Knox Unplugged) to explain how this kind of “nation building” is influencing the focus of his work in law and politics.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many Christians, including preachers, politicians, and policy organizations, seem bent on “saving” America from further ruin by various means. Is that really the purpose for which the mystery of God was revealed in the person of Christ? Does the covenant with Abraham, illuminated by the new covenant in Christ, suggest a national purpose relative to law and civil government that Christians have not considered? And what kind of politicians and policy makers (and preachers) would we need, given our present ones seem to have failed us. Join David as he works through these questions.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eric Metaxas’s new book, Letter to the American Church, Biden’s use of the image of God in proclaiming Transgender Awareness Day, and 29 years of direct legal and policy advocacy have brought home to me with increasing urgency observations made about Christianity and society by Abraham Kuyper in the 1890’s. Is Christianity and the work and activism of most Christians in law, civil government, and public policy Christ-less? How does it matter? John Owen’s Christologia provides a needed answer.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.