Rushdoony notes on Decentralization and Moral Responsibility

The Church and State are not meant to both be power-filled institutions. The people is where the power should be coming from. The Church dumbs down the individual once that person enters the church. They sit there and shouldn't have any opinion on any of the message, but rather they are there to provide money for the church. The modern State also seeks to gain complete control over the people in the name of one class or party when in reality they seek it for themselves. We know we are not to place our trust in men though. Power belongs to God. When any group on earth gains power, they use it to gain dominance over men, but not to distribute mercy, which is God's attribute. Mercy and justice are out-pourings from God's power. They are like a triangle, all connected and vital. Apart from God, there is no mercy, justice, power, or humanity. The tower of Babel was an attempt to escape God, and it became as nothing. The State is becoming the source of law. Law apart from God is cruel and evil, but still limited. When things go wrong, the individual will get in trouble, not the State, because that would decrease the power of the State. There has always been a will to be god...a will for centralization: tyrannical fathers, churchmen, and politicians. God does not associate or identify Himself with any office or institution. The king is to be reminded that he is speaking for God to the people...that does not make him God however. The Holy Spirit will work through the most humblest servant; for he does not need to wait on institutions to have his needs met. We are commanded to do God's will...not an institutions. Faith means sound morality, godly charity, and members one to another. We cannot ignore these things and claim faith. There is a need for moral responsibility when there is a culture strayed from God. The godly people are required to stand strong, so when the culture falls, Christianity is there to build it up again; when there is no hope. When Rome fell, everything did not collapse because Christianity was there to support it. An economic and monetary collapse is inevitable in a falling out of a nation. We must always be prepared for the inevitable fall of a pagan culture. We must have everything ready in advance.