RUNNING HEAD: SYNTHESIS PAPER
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Shanelle Redden
Liberty University
Synthesis Paper
July 12, 2020
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This paper will explain how five biblical concepts: Inalienable rights, natural law, institutional
separation of church and state, covenant/federalism, and sin/crime distinction, contributes to what the
bible says about the role of government. The policy issue to be addressed in this paper will be “Welfare
Drug Testing” and each of the mentioned biblical principles will be broken down to express how they
could help explain the government approach on the mentioned issue. Three types of powers given by the
Constitution will also be elaborated on, and a compare and contrast on how Biblical Christianity,
Modernism, and Postmodernism would define the role of government and other actors in policy solutions
will be discussed.
Inalienable Rights
According to scripture, we are all made in God’s image or like God. It was intended for us to live and
abide by his authority. God gave us all characteristics of him which could not be changed or altered by
anything or anyone else; these are known as inalienable rights.
Inalienable rights are “rights that are inherent to our personhood” [ CITATION Kah13 \l 1033 ]. These
rights cannot be stripped away or given away. Examples of inalienable rights are property, liberty, and
life. Our inalienable rights are protected by Government Structure, Criminal Justice Implications, and
Policy Implications[ CITATION Kah13 \l 1033 ].
Natural Law
All laws today derive from God’s original laws. God laws are the source of all laws made by man.
Natural law in simple terms is just tradition; an “inherent standard of right reason”; an explanation of right
and wrong [ CITATION Kah13 \l 1033 ]. Any injustices are the result of State not abiding by God’s
original laws and/or not being subservient to God as overall authority when making decisions.
Institutional Separation of Church and State
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Manmade polices will fail every time spiritual components are left out of the issue at hand or ignored.
God’s principals or “church” should also have an active role when proposing a solution for mankind.
When the State overrides the Church, oppression rises [ CITATION Kah13 \l
1033 ].
Covenant/federalism
Romans 13:1 says “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority
except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” God put in place the government to
help protect our inalienable rights, but we are to remember that he allowed this to be and his laws
should not be ignored. The bible also says that the power should be divided or shared by all as God has
the ultimate authority anyways. Federalism is the shared powers of State and Government. It allows for
State to keep its biblical idea of covenant while recognizing it as more than just administrative in nature
[ CITATION Kah13 \l 1033 ].
Sin/crime Distinction
All crimes are sins, but not all sins are crimes; if that makes sense. Crimes are sins that interfere with or
violates our inalienable rights and are punishable by State to hold the criminal accountable. Sins on the
other hand, are just acts that aren’t favored by God. Examples of sin would be: sex before marriage
(fornication), gluttony, greed, or same sex relationships.
Although these sins are foul and not favored by God, they are not necessarily crimes and wont land you in
jail.
The policy issue I chose, is Welfare Drug Testing. The purpose of the Welfare Drug Testing
would be to alleviate all of the waste of money on people who are underserving of Government help.
Those who fit this category would be people who are lazy and do not seek employment at all, people who
sit around and use illegal drugs all day, and obviously those who defraud the system. Government
assistance is meant to be temporary and not a permanent
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solution to hardship. Policy makers are still in limbo whether or not to implement drug testing for welfare
recipients. Polls are surfacing and more than not, voters are more leaning towards making this a thing
(McLaughlin, 2013). Let’s breakdown how this policy issue could be explained with the help of the
mentioned biblical principles. As mentioned earlier, inalienable rights are our lives, property, and liberty.
By testing those on welfare at random, we would not only be removing undeserving people from the
program, but we would be protecting their lives, as addictive/destructive behaviors are a violation of their
own inalienable rights, it goes against God’s natural laws restricting us of being intoxicated on any
substance, and it is a crime to abuse illegal drugs which is also sin when we fail to obey laws prohibiting
the use of illegal drugs. As it relates to covenant/federalism, federalism allows for State to remain
relevant, keeping the biblical idea of covenant” [ CITATION Kah13 \l 1033 ] and work together with the
Government in making decisions. State will play a part in determining whether or not this policy will be
implemented in the future. If the policy issue were to be addressed without using God’s principals or
including the church, then the solution/intervention would fail.
The three types of powers given to the national government by the Constitution are implied
powers; inherent powers; and delegated powers, known as enumerated powers.
Enumerated powers are granted to the federal government and gives it the authority to regulate commerce,
coin money, maintain our military, create a post office and to declare war as necessary, for the most part.
The Constitution grants the federal government 22 additional powers [CITATION Ind19 \l 1033 ].
The three world views discussed in this course are Biblical Christianity, Modernism, and
Postmodernism. How do each of these world views define the government? Well, Christianity world
view believes in a self-government or limited government. This is because this group does not trust
human to be completely rational and believes in the ability to master sin in the power of God. They also
believe that we have freedom and responsibility to take care of
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ourselves as we are all made in God’s image. Contrary to this groups belief, modernism world viewers
favor more expansive role meaning that they believe in the most brightest in the room can solve all of the
world problems and they should be given the opportunity to do so. They fully put their trust in to a
bigger government. The Postmodernism group may or may not have identical views on government as
either of the two other groups exactly, however, they tend to lean more towards the overall Modernism
views on government. According to the presentation, there is no definite answer how they view the
government (Fischer, K, 2013).
In conclusion, this paper discussed the three world views on government, touched briefly on the
three powers given by Constitution, and related a current political issue with the five bible concepts.
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References
Fischer, Caleb. Worldview Implications for Policy Analysis. Liberty University, (2013).
Fischer, K. (2013). Biblical Principals of Government. Liberty University.
Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia. (2019). American Government. Retrieved from
UShistory.org: https://www.ushistory.org/gov/3a.asp#:~:text=Delegated%20(sometimes
%20called%20enumerated%20or,to%20establish%20a%20Post%20Office.
McLaughlin, Brianna W. “Drug Testing, Welfare, and the Special Needs Doctrine: An Argument in
Support of Drug Testing TANF Recipients.” Cleveland State law review. 61.2 (2013): n. pag. Print.
