On the way home today, my son asked me a question about the government, so I took the opportunity to explain government to him. He already knows that God is Trinity, so I started there.

Just as God is Three-in-One, He has given us three forms of government: the family, the church, and the state. God has delegated authority to fathers to lead their families, and He has given the responsibility to families to teach their children, train and discipline their children, and provide for their children. God has delegated authority to the elders to lead their churches, and He has given the responsibility to churches to administer the sacraments of baptism and communion and to care for those without families, i.e. widows and orphans. God has delegated authority to the state to administer justice and provide for the common defense.

He then asked me, "Dad, what would happen if someone bad came into the state and tried to take the power from the families and churches?"

I almost laughed, "Son, that's exactly what has been happening. I don't know if they are intentionally bad, but that is what they have been doing. The state now runs public schools, teaching the children. They hand out welfare to care for the widows and orphans. And they try to tell churches what they can and cannot preach."

"That's really bad," he said. The other day we talked about the Ten Commandments, and that the reason God told the people they should obey the Ten Commandments was that He was the Lord and had delivered them from Egypt. "If the state were to 'save' us by taking care of us, we should obey the state. That means the state is trying to be God."

Then I tested his understanding, "Son, what would you think if someone were to run for president and say that the state should make public schools allow prayer and Bible-reading. That public schools should teach creation as well as evolution?"

"That's not any better," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because God told the parents, not the state, to teach the children. And churches don't need the state to tell them what to do. God will tell them what to do. The state should mind their own business."

"Yeah, son," I said. "You get it."