Page:The Net of Faith.pdf/471

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE ORIGIN OF STATE SOVEREIGNTY

(: However, in restraining the evil-doers the state has to resort to the evildoers technique which is bad and un-Christian.The State Maintains Itself by an Un-Christian Ethic Those who work for the sovereignty of the state are not without sin. The Christians should have nothing in common with the pagans and the pagans nothing with the Christians except the living together. The pagans depend on outward authority, while the Christians depend on goodness and love which come from the inner life. Chelc̄icky̍ finds this authority of the 'inner man' even in the Old Testament:)

The Jews, having been brought into the Promised Land, lived safely under the protection of God and His laws,The Origin of State Sovereignty According to the Old Testament living in perfect freedom and having no temporal lord with authority to rule over them and no one to whom they were obliged to pay taxes. And they remained in this freedom for four hundred years, as can be found in the Scriptures. But later, through Satan's insinuations and through their own sins having rejected their Lord God and

131*