MWOG Chapter 3 - Civil Government

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

- President James Madison, as quoted in “the Firm Foudnation for a New Beginning” (Plymouth Rock Foundation).

Notes based on Mr. Rose's ACE and Ruth Smith's TMWOG.

1. God knew that families would live together in cities, states and nations.

2. People would need a way to protect themselves and their property.

3. The civil government was ordained by God to make laws to protect the people and their property. (Genesis 9:6; 1 Peter 2:13-14; Romans 13:1-4) . It is for our good.

4. Biblical purposes of civil government

a) Being the “minister of God” - a servant of God - “to thee for good”, not our harm. (Rom. 13:4)

b) Valuing and protecting individual God-given life, liberty and property so we can prayerfully “lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty..” (1 Tim. 2:1-3)

c) Executing “wrath upon evil doers” and administering the death penalty upon convicted murders in civil society. (Rom. 13:4; Gen:6)

5. God planned for these laws to be based upon the Bible. Men did not always have the Bible so they did not know what God had planned for civil government.

6. God planned for the people to direct or control their own civil government. They should choose who to rule over them.
   
   

7. People (individual citizens) are hence responsible for the quality of the administration of those men in civil government. These are the men who exercise the God-given authority to fulfill God's purpose for civil government.
   
   

8. Civil government can be called Christian if the form  of its functions is Biblical.
   
   

9. Even if “born-again” Christians exercise the functions of government - legislative, executive, judicial- the consequences of their administration may not be Christian unless the individual is governed by the Biblical idea of God, man and government.
   
   

10. Civil government is certainly Christian if the participants - citizens and officials- express Christian self-government, character, stewardship of property and voluntary union, and relate these principles to their political decisions and action.
    
    

11. If each person has more self-government, he will need less civil government.

12. If a person does not control his own actions, he will need more civil government.
    
    

Based on the above notes, I will include the following 4R activities.  

Reflection and Reasoning

1. Review the definition of government.

2. What is self-government

3. What is civil government?

4. Why do we need a civil government? Whose idea was it?

5. What authority does the civil government have?

6. On what should the laws of the civil government be based?

7. What does the Bible say are the functions of civil government? Look at relevant scriptures.

8. Who should give the civil government the power to rule the city, state or nation?

9. Are we to obey the laws that are made in our land? Why?

10. How can rulers be sure to make good laws?

11. Think of the civil government during the time of Moses. Was that good or bad? Why?

12. Think of countries whose Christians are being persecuted. How would you describe those kinds of government where people have no freedom to worship God?

13. In our nation, the USA, we have great liberty. Why?

14. Review “internal is causative to the external idea” from past lesson.

15. Review how when we have little self-government, we will require greater external government and vice versa.

Reading, Relating and Recording

1. Read pages 7 and 8.

2. Draw concentric circles showing the city in which we live in in relation to the state, the nation and the world.

3. Find out the population of the city/state/USA...consider the many families in the USA.

4. List some personal property. List brother's property.

5. List some property belonging to the family.

6. List some areas of liberty/freedom.

7. Relate self-government and family government using charts.

8. Relate self-government and civil government using charts.

9. To relate “Bold Believers in China” - a Link International Activity Book (VOM) to the study of civil government. We are doing this book with a group of oher home schoolers once a monh. Thought I could review what we're done so far. Also we have a lot of VOM magazines we can read through to see what is is like in other nations.

Notes for notebook

1. God has a plan for civil government.

2. The individual is reponsible for civil government.

3. Civil government controls and directs men in cities and nations.

4. If each person has more self-government, he will need less civil government.

5. If a person does not control his own actions, he will need more civil government.

I have Ruth C. Haycock's Encyclopedia of Bible Truths. Her chapter on Government is quite comprehensive! I shall incorporate some of the ideas as I teach this chapter on Civil Government.....

General Knowledge Activity

(I'm still not sure about this...but thought I could include it here just in case).

Describe briefly how the government works.

This link has cute illustrations. The following descriptions are taken from the website.

a. Over 200 years ago, our Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution. The Constitution is a basic design for how our government should work. The Constitution divides the government into three branches. They are the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

b. The legislative branch makes laws for the nation. The main lawmaking body of this branch is known as Congress. Congress is made up of two parts, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Congress meets at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

c. The executive branch makes sure people follow the laws that the legislative branch makes. The leaders of this branch are the President and Vice-President. When making important decisions, the President often asks for advice from a group of 15 helpers, known as the Cabinet. The President lives at the White House in Washington, D.C.

d. When people are unsure about the meaning of a law, the judicial branch listens to many opinions and makes a decision. The judicial branch is made up of courts. The highest of these courts is the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is made up of 9 judges. They meet at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.