"The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Amendment 1 and Civil Overreach into Other God-ordained Jurisdictions"
by Dr. Patti Amsden
All four God-ordained governments, which are self, family, church, and civil, are granted authority by God to perform tasks in their prescribed jurisdictions. To exceed the limitations of the boundaries of an assignment and to confiscate either the responsibilities or rights of another sphere is tyranny. Tyranny is the arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power, the despotic abuse of authority, or the overreach of one jurisdiction into the boundaries of another jurisdiction. One must look to scripture to discover the legitimate responsibilities, rights, and limitations of civil government.
Reformation lens #1 – Historically, the civil realm is the most likely government to be guilty of tyranny.
The business realm, which is an extension of the individual and family jurisdiction, includes the practices by which men co-operate as they work together to fulfill the original Genesis 1:26-28 mandate to be fruitful and fill up the earth. Business or the marketplace is the engine of dominion. Business practices involve issues concerning private property, use of resources, cost of discovering and developing resources, reaping of the reward for investment, and the ability to make private contracts. Right to Work and union discussions must be viewed in the light of the realm of business and the management of personal assets.
Reformation lens #2 – Private property is boundaried, and the administration of that property is the right of the owner.
Individuals or corporations may make private contracts with other individuals or corporations as a means by which both parties advance their goals for using their assets. Contracts define the specific private property that each party voluntarily brings to the agreement, the delineated responsibilities, and the distribution of rewards. Because private property is boundaried and may only be used at the discretion of the owner, no one may coerce another party into the creation or regarding the content of a private contract. The civil realm may not pass laws that favor or empower one party in the contract over another party.
Reformation lens #3 – The civil has no God-given mandate to engage in economic engineering, which is the introduction into the market of artificial indicators by bureaucrats in an attempt to bend the market in the way they deem beneficial or expedient or in keeping with their ideologies.
As Reformers, we must understand that an individual or a group of people have the God-given right to negotiate the terms of a contract. Fraternal groups, at times identified as unions, may be voluntarily formed by either side to help influence the outcome of the negotiations. No coercion may be applied by either side because coercion is a form of theft. The civil realm should not league with either side as the threat of punishment by the law introduces a form of coercion. All forms of coercion in free-will exchanges are forbidden, according to the scriptures. Commandments six through ten require honor of the individual freedom of one’s neighbor to make his or her choices and profit or suffer as a result of those choices. Interference into the sovereignty of one’s neighbor is forbidden, even if that interference comes through the collective vote of a citizenry. The role of the civil realm is to execute judgment against either party that violates the free-will contract. Forced fraternity imposed by bureaucratic laws deprives people of free-will.
Reformation lens #1 – Historically, the civil realm is the most likely government to be guilty of tyranny.
The business realm, which is an extension of the individual and family jurisdiction, includes the practices by which men co-operate as they work together to fulfill the original Genesis 1:26-28 mandate to be fruitful and fill up the earth. Business or the marketplace is the engine of dominion. Business practices involve issues concerning private property, use of resources, cost of discovering and developing resources, reaping of the reward for investment, and the ability to make private contracts. Right to Work and union discussions must be viewed in the light of the realm of business and the management of personal assets.
Reformation lens #2 – Private property is boundaried, and the administration of that property is the right of the owner.
Individuals or corporations may make private contracts with other individuals or corporations as a means by which both parties advance their goals for using their assets. Contracts define the specific private property that each party voluntarily brings to the agreement, the delineated responsibilities, and the distribution of rewards. Because private property is boundaried and may only be used at the discretion of the owner, no one may coerce another party into the creation or regarding the content of a private contract. The civil realm may not pass laws that favor or empower one party in the contract over another party.
Reformation lens #3 – The civil has no God-given mandate to engage in economic engineering, which is the introduction into the market of artificial indicators by bureaucrats in an attempt to bend the market in the way they deem beneficial or expedient or in keeping with their ideologies.
As Reformers, we must understand that an individual or a group of people have the God-given right to negotiate the terms of a contract. Fraternal groups, at times identified as unions, may be voluntarily formed by either side to help influence the outcome of the negotiations. No coercion may be applied by either side because coercion is a form of theft. The civil realm should not league with either side as the threat of punishment by the law introduces a form of coercion. All forms of coercion in free-will exchanges are forbidden, according to the scriptures. Commandments six through ten require honor of the individual freedom of one’s neighbor to make his or her choices and profit or suffer as a result of those choices. Interference into the sovereignty of one’s neighbor is forbidden, even if that interference comes through the collective vote of a citizenry. The role of the civil realm is to execute judgment against either party that violates the free-will contract. Forced fraternity imposed by bureaucratic laws deprives people of free-will.
