Who is the Lord of Laurens County?
Introduction
Recently, The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent the Laurens County Council a letter demanding the county remove a plaque displaying the Ten Commandments from courthouse property. Apparently, an atheist resident of Laurens saw the plaque in the courthouse and reported it to the FFRF. If Laurens county is like the diamond in the Bible belt, we’re getting ready to see if we’re a real diamond secured on the belt with metal clasps or if the diamond was the misfortunate consequence of a nine-year old bedazzling her dad’s wardrobe. We’re getting ready to see if Laurens County believes the Ten Commandments are commandments from God or a fad from yesteryear. My point with this little blog is to encourage Christians in Laurens county to believe in the God of the Ten Commandments even if our elected representatives do not.
The Myth of Neutrality
Modern secular society would have you believe we live in a neutral world where everyone can believe what they want to believe without any real conflict.[1] “A Christian, an atheist, and a Hindu walk into a bar” says the secular comedian. Once upon a time most Americans laughed at these jokes because the proverbial bar was neutral territory. But while the Christian and Hindu were making fools of themselves for the sake of a good punch line, the atheist bought the bar and called the police. Now the Christian and Hindu find themselves trespassing on the athiest’s private property.
For the past few decades, Christians have been living like the eleventh commandment was, “be nice or you may offend someone.” This unbiblical belief cost us much. While we obeyed commands not in the Bible so we wouldn’t offend, non-Christians were offended by what’s actually in the Bible—the Ten Commandments. The FFRF said as much in their letter when they said the Ten Commandments “needlessly. . . offends residents”
We write to inform the Council that it cannot display the Ten Commandments on public property. Displaying the Ten Commandments in the county courthouse is not only an unconstitutional display of favoritism towards religion, it needlessly alienates and excludes county residents who do not share the religious beliefs that the Ten Commandments embody and represent.
Now, if the placement of this plaque offends this one resident, won’t the removal of the plaque offend many other residents who actually believe, love, and cherish the Ten Commandments? Yes, but the FFRF doesn’t care about offending Christians. The FFRF wants Christians in Laurens County to believe we live in a neutral world where beliefs are personal and don’t affect civil law. They want us to believe in neutrality so that they can then betray that neutrality enforcing their own laws and beliefs. It’s not whether people will be offended, it’s which people will be offended. Since obviously people in Lauren’s Country find themselves offended, the question is who decides which offense is legitimate, moral, righteous, and true. If rebellious Johnny gets arrested for stealing $1,000 worth of twinkies from Mr. Smith’s convenient store, both Johnny and Mr. Smith find themselves offended. Johnny dislikes wearing handcuffs and Mr. Smith hates losing $1,000. But we as a society usually point to standards outside of each individual’s personal opinion when making moral choices. And for centuries of western civilization that standard was God’s word. Since our trust in God’s word has eroded, The FFRF believes they are in position to command the elected representatives of Laurens with the looming threat of litigation which could cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars because they believe they can do a better job than Scripture. The FFRF wants to tell the people of Laurens County which people will be offended.
You see, atheists and pagans want to erase the Ten Commandments from our courthouses, not so the courthouse walls will remain empty, but so the space can be filled with another set of laws. Remember, the god of society always gives the laws for society. If Laurens County continues to turn away from God, their new god will provide a new set of laws. And if Laurens County bends the knee to an offended atheist, that atheist now gets to rule and hand out those laws. For the sake of illustration, let’s call this offended atheist the crazy cat-lady. And after talking to her cats about her new-found authority as the commander of Laurens, she discovered she has seventy-eight commandments for the residents. Let’s be real, we all know when the cat lady gets permission to tell everyone what to do, she won’t stop at ten commands. She’ll forbid men to wear beards and command women to dye their hair pink. And she will finally be able to create a two-tiered society where dog people are the new crazy cat-people. It’s not whether a people worship a god and follow his laws, it’s which god they worship.
Up until five minutes ago, the god most of us in Laurens Country worshipped was the One True God. He loves people, so He prohibits murder (Exodus 20:13). God wants people to be joyful, so He prohibits covetousness (Exodus 20:17). God wants carpenters to build high-quality cabinets without fear of his neighbor stealing his saw blade, so He prohibits theft (Exodus 20:15). God gave marriage nuclear power over society, so He prohibits Chernobyl-level sins like adultery (Exodus 20:15). God loves your reputation that you’ve spend years protecting, so He prohibits false testimony (Exodus 20:16). Because God wants to protect you from evil, He gave you parents to nurture, protect, and guide you, therefore you should honor them (Exodus 20:12). God obviously cares more about you than this secular sate does, you should then worship Him alone (Exodus 2:3), instead of drugs, ideologies, and other man-made things (Exodus 20:4-6). Because Jesus rose from the grave defeating slavery to sin, God gave you a day of rest to worship Him as free people (Deuteronomy 5:13-15). Since God is so good to us, we should honor his name (Exodus 20:7), which includes rejecting the argument of anyone who wants to erase His name.
Clearing up a Misunderstanding
At this point, your public-school religious training should be kicking in and you’ll be wondering, “What about the first amendment?” Despite what liberal judges say or angry atheists write, the First Amendment doesn’t free America from the Christian faith. The First Amendment frees the federal government from a particular Christian tradition. For example, in the great state of South Carolina, its 1778 constitution declared the protestant religion the established religion of the state.[2] If you look at other state constitutions from that era, you will discover similar positions. My point isn’t that South Carolina should establish a protestant denomination as our established religion. My point is that anyone who says the American founders wanted a non-Christian nation is either ignorant or lying.
You Become What you Worship
I’m not surprised the FFRF wrote their little letter. However, I am curious how the Laurens County Council will respond. But I promise you, the manner in which they respond will show us who they really worship. You become what you worship.
If elected officials in Laurens worship money, eventually they will become paid mercenaries against the people who elected them. If conservatives in Laurens worship the spineless Republican party, eventually they become beached jellyfish whose only defensive mechanism requires you to step on them first. If Evangelical Christians in Laurens worship the nostalgia of decades gone by, eventually their churches become mausoleums.
Conclusion
The FFRF may simply be saying the quiet part out loud. Residents in Laurens have already rejected the Ten Commandments in spirit. The increased crime, the decreased work ethic, and the rampant hopelessness characterizing this county come from somewhere and it’s not, “love your neighbor as yourself.” The hopelessness comes from citizens of Laurens worshipping gods they made with their own hands rather than the God who came down to bring hope. His hands were pierced for us transgressing His law so that we would walk by faith, hope, and love—each step in obedience to His law (Isaiah 53:5; Titus 2:11-14). The FFRF wants you to forsake the God of the first commandment, the God who died for you, in exchange for their god who hides behind a first amendment while ironically erasing any speech they don’t like. But rest assured, God is not mocked.
Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Psalm 2:1–4
So, don’t fret, He who sits in heaven laughs. I recommend making sure He isn’t laughing at you.
[1] For more on the idea of a neutral world, see Aaron Renn’s article at First Things, https://www.firstthings.com/article/2022/02/the-three-worlds-of-evangelicalism.
[2] “Constitution of South Carolina – March 19, 1778” https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/sc02.asp, Accessed March 16, 2023