Ex Nihilo
Puritan Board Senior
You can talk to them about obeying God's Holy Law, they will laugh in your face. The Commandments mean nothing to them outside of Regeneration. Why would they care if they are in depravity (and worse) like it that way?
This is again not true. Ungodly men are created in the image of God. If the church refuses to demand that God's law be enforced on all men, then YES, they will begin to mock God's law and refuse to obey. However, once the gospel infuses the society to which it comes, men are no longer allowed to mock God's law. They may do so in their hearts, but when they run their businesses, and social lives in accordance with divine law. If they don't, they will find that their lives and their goods may be at stake. This, my friend, will silence their mockery, if even in public. This will drive the bestialist back into the closet, rather than him pushing for a constitutional right.
Why are the wicked so bold? Because the church has refused to take public sin seriously. "Oh well, boys will be boys". This is likewise related to views on covenant, old testament law, and eschatology.
Cheers,
Adam
I agree. We have to distinguish between whether unbelievers will follow God's law for its own sake (which they cannot do) and whether unbelievers will (usually) follow God's law when there are penalties. It seems to me that the purpose of human law, after the fall, is to restrain an individual's behavior more than he can restrain himself. An unbeliever cannot do good out of a desire to be righteous, but, through pure selfishness, he can refrain from evil because he wants to avoid punishment.
I guess the next question is whether is it really valuable to restrain unbelievers' behavior if their motivation in following the law is selfish. I think it is, for two reasons: First, this restraint protects others and preserves order -- this is especially true of laws regulating violence and protecting property. Second, we can use our laws to constantly remind people that sin is sin, thus showing them their need for the gospel.
Of course, when it comes to the situation with McDonald's, McDonald's certainly isn't violating any law by supporting homosexuality. But I think similar reasoning applies: We should hold them accountable for the behavior their support, if only out of our duty to preach sin as sin. We obviously shouldn't be surprised when they don't uphold God's law, but that doesn't mean we should be silent.