Citizenship, Value, and Systems
Any creed, ideology, or theory that purports to assign value by melanin content, sex, experience, or location (country of origin, in/ex utero) is arbitrary and from the pit of Hell.
Each of us has corrupted ourselves and tarnished God’s image by rebelling against Him. We may find it convenient to blame the Inaugural Pair who declared independence from their Creator by breaking the only rule He gave, imagining they could reinvent themselves apart from Him. Yet we have all walked in the same pride.
The pride in all of us is power-seeking. The Preacher in Ecclesiastes declares:
“Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor.” (4:4)
“Again, I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.” (4:1–2)
“All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.” (8:9).
Over the millennia, some have proven themselves more shrewd than others at accumulating power to themselves by various means. But these power deltas do not mark a difference in essence between emperor and peasant. God is not impressed with either; He breaks every emperor and empire in His due time, and rescues the afflicted and fatherless. Some former emperors go to their grave shaking their first at God; others repent and humble themselves. Some orphans enter the love they’ve been offered; others remain bitter and ungrateful. The penitent, rebellious, joyful, and embittered all share the same Maker and His Image. There is no “system” that makes them otherwise. Each of us is confronted with our own sins, each of us has a choice of reconciliation with our Originator. Each of us — all the many billions of us through the epochs — will answer to God.
God needs no theories to sort through the mess we’ve created. He has provided 1500 pages enumerating the problem (sin) and the solution (Christ’s sacrifice). Any theory that ascribes power structures and oppression to anything other than sin is also from Hell.
People create systems. Systems do not create people; the “Creator” spot is already taken. People have inherent and intrinsic value; systems are utilitarian and are subject to the changes imposed on them, good or bad.
To be sure, sinful humans create sinful systems, and these need to be broken where they merit breaking. Let us consider, however, what we want to break, and why. Those systems that account for humankind’s corrupted nature are those best suited for preserving our peace and liberty. Alternate system brochures that proclaim some form of redemption apart from the Gospel are those most likely to oppress the most, regardless of sex or melanin content, at the whims of the fewest.
The Constitution, while providing for the separation of powers among sinners and groups of sinners, had a racist, evil flaw in the 3/5 Compromise, by which slaveowners were given extra power based on the dehumanization of darker-colored people in their custody.
Much blood was shed to rub out that flaw and gain the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. But that wasn’t enough, because changing the system didn’t change the hearts of those who devalued others based on color. The Gospel was not applied; no repentance ensued. No amount of Federal troops deployed through a Reconstruction of any length, curtailed or not, would have sufficed to bridge that gap.
Shall we assess then, that the Constitution is inadequate to rectify oppression? Yes! Because we shouldn’t expect systems to create people. People create systems. Would we imagine that a Socialist construct would do better? Slavery was a Socialist construct, in which a few elites “owned” the means of production (their fellow humans, marked only by color) and all the resources, and the oppressed proletariat labored for bread and board at the owners’ unchallenged discretion. People make systems, but some are worse than others.
We should view the Constitution (as amended) for what it is: the best system on earth for sinners to operate within, that precludes any particular person or group from getting and keeping too much power for too long. We should also recognize what it is not: it offers no path to repentance before a Holy God or reconciliation with our fellow humans. We should recognize the same about capitalism. It’s the best system for rewarding the labor of sinners; better than its competitors, but nothing more.
I am first a citizen of Heaven. Not by merit, nor by birth, but by adoption and rebirth through the sacrifice of my Elder Brother, Jesus the Christ.
I am a member of the human race, and like all my fellow travelers on this earth, I was created in the image of God. The human race is the only race the Bible acknowledges, and we all derive our value from His handiwork in our creation, whether we believe in Him or not. Christ bridged the gap between Jew and Gentile (see Ephesians 2), and even this gap was one of revelation and access, not ethnicity. David’s secret service detail and several of his “top 30” mighty men were converted Philistines.
I am a citizen of the United States, not by merit, or creed, but by the Providence that places every individual in his / her country of origin.
I am under oath to defend the Constitution, a voluntary obligation I took freely, without mental reservation, because it provides a framework for peaceful disagreement among fallen humans, instead of relying on brute power, mob rule, or an aristocracy exempt from responsibility.
Yet my hope is all in Christ and His Church. He alone transforms, and His Kingdom alone will stand at the end of the age.
Quinn Skinner is a retired naval officer. None of the content in this piece reflect the positions or opinions of his past or present employers.
