God, Law & Liberty Podcast

In this episode, David examines a court ruling from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and their understanding (or misunderstanding) of biological sex. In legal practice, we have learned through the years to manipulate the law to fit are arguments when perhaps the truth is not on our side. But what is the law for then, if not to determine and/or protect the truth?

The ideological battles of today are no different than the battle that has been raging for centuries. And that is the rejection of God and the elevation of humanistic philosophy. Theologians and political theorists have always posed these questions regarding the evolution of society as to whether or not God is the head of it all. Perhaps the fight for religious liberty is not the point at all, but simply the declaration that God is the beginning and the end.

Can Christians take on the principles of liberalism, denying God's relevance to the social order, and serve the cause of religion and freedom? David will discuss the idea of principle versus moderation and tolerance.

Continuing to look at Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's speech to Harvard in 1978, and the prophetic nature by which he spoke of the unrest in our Western society and just how easy our entire culture falls into despair. Without God, hope is a frivolous venture when it is dependent on an economy or the whims of the media. Quite incredible that where we were in 1978, seems to be right where we are in 2020.

Often times when voting for a political effort, there is a feeling that we must resign ourselves to voting for the lesser of two evils. And that is a terrible outlook on politics. But when two conservative candidates run television ads going for the jugular in order to get ahead in the polls, one is left considering, what really makes a good, or a Godly candidate? David takes a look into a 1978 speech from Alexander Solzhenitsyn and dives into that question.

David discusses the Tennessee Governor's current use of the state's emergency powers statute and takes a look at how that applies to the separation of powers. Also, you might know that we are in the middle of the primaries for the U.S. Senate seat. And, you might have seen some negative ads going back and forth between two candidates in particular. Is this politics? Is this what the voters expect? Better yet, how should two men who confess to be followers of Christ engage in political debate as candidates?

Many know that Tennessee has been embattled over the last 2 years in passing meaningful legislation in our state dealing with abortion. And while members of the pro-life community have been split on how to get this done, we remain united in the mission to protect life in the womb. Now that we have passed the Governor's heartbeat bill, it is up to the courts to decide how much, if any, of our law will remain enforceable as it will inevitably go head to head with the precedent set by the Casey decision and the viability standard. In this episode, we are taking a look into how court opinions should and should not inform how these proceedings play out.

Supreme Court decisions regarding family, life and religious liberty issues have been coming fast and furious in recent weeks. And while we have had some victories and have reason to be hopeful, we are also hesitant to see these wins as but a momentary reprieve from a very tumultuous and uncertain future. These rulings have to do with laws and statutes that can be changed with the rising and lowering of the tide. Some are also based on regulations in which a sitting president has the power to continue or restrict. All in all, our Constitutional rights are not being upheld by the Court in a manner that guarantees them or preserves them for future generations. But if 2020 has taught us anything, a sure thing is just wishful thinking.

We continue our discussion from last week regarding man's true nature of depravity and how that influenced our Founder's thinking in creating a government of law and order, checks and balances and a separation of powers. From the Federalist Papers and even a letter written by George Washington, these men knew that crafting a governmental structure made for liberty was going to be hard-fought not only to create but also to keep. And this week, on this nation's 244th birthday, we still find ourselves grappling with these ideas and on the verge of tyranny while holding loosely to the ideas that continue to preserve our liberties to this day.

With cries around the country to "defund the police" and replace our law enforcement agents with social workers, it is more clear than ever that many are deceived by one prevailing thought of the age, that people are inherently good. We even here this in churches despite the Gospel's clarity regarding our sin nature and our need for redemption, our need for Christ. We will begin to take a look at man's true nature of depravity and how this truth impacted the Founder's thinking in structuring our government.

What a disappointing week. We'll talk about two decisions that came out of the U.S. Supreme Court and a shocker from Justice Gorsuch. But also here in Tennessee, we lost the battle for a solid constitutional argument to protect the life of the unborn. The news will make its rounds and Tennessee GOP lawmakers will pat themselves on the back about how pro-life they are leading into the November elections. And, major conservative news outlets will shout, "victory!" But don't be fooled. Nothing special happened here in Tennessee. We just did what everyone else has already done and the bill will soon be headed towards another bitter defeat in the courts. It could have all been so different.

Our nation is in turmoil. Our cities are being burned. And where is the church in all of this? Where can we find the truth necessary to bring clarity and healing to a nation so overtaken by brokenness? May we submit that in order to find the right solution to a problem, we need to first ensure that we are asking the right questions. But it seems the left already has all of the answers. And as history tends to repeat itself here in America, the church simply follows the cues of a broken culture.

Church leaders across America were disheartened, and some outraged at the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding Gavin Newsome's (Governor of California) restrictions on church gatherings due to COVID-19. In a 5-4 decision, Chief Justice Roberts sided with liberal justices upholding the Governor's order as constitutional. The question we are asking here is, do we want to be ruled by the courts or do we believe in federalism and state's rights, even when we don't get our way? It is a worthy conversation and one that Christians must pay attention to closely.

On Wed, May 27th, David had the opportunity to testify before the Tennessee House Public Health Subcommittee regarding two abortion bills in Tennessee, one being the Rule of Law Life Act. While both bills might have the goal of protecting the life of the unborn, we believe that only the Rule of Law Life Act makes a strong enough constitutional argument to the have the potential of overturning Roe v Wade in the Supreme Court. Why? Because we are arguing for the common law absolute right to life based on the 9th Amendment of the US Constitution, outside of the precedent of the 14th Amendment rulings of Roe v Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992).

We've said it before and we'll say it again. Words matter! And time and time again, we find court opinions wrought with confusion on how to apply the meaning of words in light of prior rulings and the Constitution, in many cases, words which are all together clear and unambiguous. It is bad enough that courts are confused on the meaning of words like life and liberty. But we find now that even words like man, woman, husband, mother and biological simply don't seem to ring true anymore in the court of law. When a judge feels he or she has the liberty reinterpret a statute simply be redefining a word, we have lost the ideas of separation of powers and federalism altogether.