Deep Dive: Proverbs And the Hidden Design For Righteous Government

WEBVTT
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Let's deep dive and conversate about the scriptures.
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When you hear the word justice today, uh what is the very first image that flashes into your mind?
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Yeah, that's a really good question.
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I mean, for most people, it's probably something pretty loud.
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Right.
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Very loud, very public, and you know, highly reactive.
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Aaron Powell Exactly.
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Like you might picture a megaphone or maybe massive crowds in the streets, you know, holding up cardboard signs.
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Aaron Powell Or even the opposite of that, like a very stark, very quiet courtroom where uh a heavy wooden gevil finally slams down.
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Aaron Powell Yeah, the classic TV courtroom scene.
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Aaron Powell Exactly.
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Because we tend to think of justice as this um this cosmic ledger being balanced.
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You know the formula, right.
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You do wrong, you pay the price.
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Aaron Powell It's highly transactional.
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It functions almost entirely as an equation.
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Trevor Burrus, Jr.
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Right.
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An eye for an eye.
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Aaron Powell An I for an eye, a dollar for a dollar.
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It's really all about settling accounts.
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Aaron Powell And I feel like the underlying assumption in our modern culture is that once that specific account is settled, like once the fine is paid or the sentence is served, we just sort of declare that we've successfully achieved justice.
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Aaron Powell You check the box and move on.
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Right.
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Which, you know, when you step back and really look at it, it's a profoundly reactionary way of viewing the world.
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Aaron Powell It really is.
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We're basically always waiting for the system to break so we can rush in and like apply justice like a bandage.
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Yeah, a bandage on a broken arm.
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But then, you know, you encounter ancient biblical philosophy.
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And when you look at how the ancient texts actually define this concept, that whole transactional ledger thing, it just gets completely thrown out the window.
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Oh, absolutely.
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We are looking at a framework for justice today that is honestly kind of terrifying if you actually understand the implications of it.
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It really is the absolute definition of uh be careful what you wish for.
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Yeah, because if you demand pure justice, you might actually get it.
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And you probably won't like what it looks like.
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Exactly.
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And that is exactly where we are heading today.
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So welcome to the deep dive, everyone.
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Glad to be here.
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Today we are opening up a really fascinating, deeply thought-provoking source text.
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It's a detailed sermon by Elder Michael Tolliver.
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And it has a very straightforward title, right?
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The Christians and Politics.
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Yes, very straightforward.
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But the content is anything but simple.
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Our mission for this deep dive is to explore this ancient, purely biblical framework for civic duty, for the role of government, and you know, the administration of justice.
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And we want to take this ancient architecture and see exactly how it maps onto the responsibilities of the modern citizen, meaning you, the listener.
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Right.
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And the primary lens we are going to use to look at this, which is, you know, the same lens the source material relies on, is the book of Proverbs.
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Now you might be used to thinking of Proverbs as uh just a collection of quaint inspirational quotes.
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Yeah, the kind of stuff you see stitched on a pillow.
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Exactly.
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But as Toler's analysis reveals, Proverbs is actually fundamentally a manual for rulers.
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A manual for rulers.
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I love that framing.
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Yeah, it's a structural blueprint for how to govern a society without tearing it apart.
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Now, um, before we go a single step further, we really need to issue a very crucial disclaimer.
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Let's just put all our cards on the table right here at the starting line.
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Good idea.
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The air needs to be cleared on this.
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Definitely.
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The source material we're examining today deals with themes that are, to put it mildly, incredibly politically charged.
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Very much so.
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We're talking about government authority, voting, the justice system.
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Aaron Powell The philosophy of punishment, basically, literally the exact topics that start shouting matches at Thanksgiving dinner.
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Yeah, the exact things you're told never to talk about.
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Right.
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So we want to assure you, the listener, right up front, neither of us is taking a side today.
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Aaron Powell Not at all.
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That is totally not the purpose of this analysis.
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We are not endorsing any political party.
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We are not pushing a specific political agenda, and we are absolutely not taking a stance on the modern political spectrum, whether that's left, right, or center.
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Our mission here is strictly to act as a neutral lens.
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Yeah.
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We are going to impartially report on Elder Tolliver's ideas and convey the underlying philosophy contained in this original text.
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Aaron Powell We are basically stepping into the shoes of like architectural inspectors, just exploring the structural integrity of his argument.
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Aaron Powell That is the perfect way to frame it.
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We are here to understand the what, the why, and the how of this specific philosophical framework.
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We're not here to tell you who to vote for.
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Exactly.
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Our goal is to synthesize the historical and theological information so you can clearly understand the perspective being presented, regardless of whether you agree with it or not.
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Okay, let's unpack this.
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So Tolliver starts his entire message by confronting a very popular cultural rallying cry.
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You have definitely heard it.
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It is chanted in the streets all the time.
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No justice, no peace.
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Right.
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It's a demand for absolute fairness.
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But Tolliver comes right out of the gate and argues that most people do not actually realize what they are asking for when they demand pure, unfiltered justice.
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Yeah, he takes that champ and really flips it on its head.
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He does.
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Tolliver's architecture suggests that if humanity experienced pure divine justice, meaning, you know, if a holy standard handed out exactly what everyone actually deserved based on every single one of their actions, thoughts, and flaws, no one would be saved.
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Not a single person would be that standing.
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It would be a complete wipeout.
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And that introduces a stark paradigm shift right away.
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The text draws a really sharp line between worldly justice and biblical justice.
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Trevor Burrus, Jr.
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Because worldly justice, like we were just talking about, is primarily a mechanism of the state to maintain basic order.
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Trevor Burrus, Jr.
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Right.
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It's that top-down thing.
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Yeah, a man-made, top-down system of punishment and reward designed to just keep society from devolving into chaos.
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But biblical justice, according to Tolliver's reading of the text, is something entirely different in its DNA.
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He describes it as a holy blueprint.
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Let's hold on that phrase for a second.
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A holy blueprint.
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Yeah, it's powerful.
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Because that implies that it exists before the building is even constructed.
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Exactly.
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In the ancient biblical sense, the word justice isn't just a reaction to a crime.
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It means to prescribe the right way.
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It's proactive, not reactive.
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Right.
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It is God prescribing the exact right path for human flourishing.
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It's a divine frame of reference for how life is meant to be lived before anyone even does anything wrong.
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And Tulliver argues that this kind of justice doesn't act as like a cage that crushes human freedom.
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Quite the opposite, actually.
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Trevor Burrus, Jr.
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Which is counterintuitive for a lot of people today.
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Totally.
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But he posits that it actually protects freedom because true freedom requires accountability, it requires an affirmation of equality, and it calls every citizen to a baseline of responsibility.
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It acts as the spiritual and ethical load-bearing wall of a society.
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Yeah.
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Without it, the roof caves in.
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And this leads right into a pairing that Tolliver introduces, which is absolutely crucial to understanding his entire framework.
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If you miss this, you basically miss the whole sermon.
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It's the core of his argument.
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He pairs justice with righteousness.
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He argues that in this biblical paradigm, they are inextricably linked.
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They have to walk hand in hand.
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They're two sides of the exact same coin.
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The logic of the text dictates that you simply cannot have one without the other and expect a society to function.
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So let's visualize this.
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Think about it like you are building a custom home.
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Justice is the clueprint.
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Right.
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The architectural drawing sitting on the table.
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Exactly.
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It's the city building codes.
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The blueprint tells you exactly where the load-bearing walls need to go, how deep the concrete foundation has to be poured, and what the mathematical standard is so the roof doesn't collapse on your head.
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It is the rule.
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It is completely objective.
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But you cannot live in a blueprint.
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A piece of paper will not keep the rain off your head or keep you warm in the winter.
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A blueprint is just potential until someone actually picks up a hammer.
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Yes.
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And that is where righteousness comes in.
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If justice is the blueprint, righteousness is the actual physical labor.
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It's the sweat equity.
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Right.
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Righteousness is pouring the concrete, swinging the hammer, framing the walls, putting up the drywall.
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Justice sets the standard.
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Righteousness is the grueling daily act of living out that standard.
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As Holliber puts it so succinctly, justice is the rule.
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Righteousness is the relationship.
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I really like that distinction.
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Yeah.
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Justice tells you mathematically what is right, but righteousness is the moral energy that empowers you to actually do what is right.
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And the text argues that when those two things finally synchronize, when the perfect blueprint meets the faithful building of it, society doesn't fracture, it becomes a fortress.
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Now, if we take that architectural analogy and run with it, it inevitably forces a massive transition in how we view civic duty.
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Because someone has to be the builder.
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Exactly.
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If justice is the blueprint, the natural, unavoidable question becomes who is responsible for building the house?
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Who actually wields this justice?
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And this moves us out of the sterile realm of abstract philosophical definitions and throws us right into the messy, complicated reality of human government.
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We have to talk about who wears the crown.
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Yeah.
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To illustrate exactly how heavy that crown is, Tolliver shares a fascinating anecdote about Dr.
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Bruce Waltke.
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Oh, this is a great story.
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It really is.
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Yeah.
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So Dr.
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Walty is a highly renowned Old Testament scholar, formerly the head of the department at Dallas Theological Seminary.
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The story goes that Dr.
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Walkie used to sit his three kids down and teach them the book of Proverbs.
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But he didn't teach it the way most people read it today.
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No, not at all.
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Most people read Proverbs like a collection of fortune cookie wisdom, you know, like nice little moral sayings to put on a coffee mug.
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Or a bumper sticker.
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Right.
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But Dr.
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Walchy taught it exactly the way King Solomon originally intended it to be consumed, as a father preparing his son to inherit a throne.
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Which completely changes how you digest the text.
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It's a totally different genre when you read it that way.
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Exactly.
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We have to remember the historical context of the ancient Near East.
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In ancient cultures, whether you are talking about the Code of Hammurabi in Babylon, the pharaohs in Egypt, or the kings of Israel, the training of the crown prince was the most critical national security issue of the era.
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Right, because if he messes up, everyone dies.
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Yeah.
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Proverbs is not just good advice for a peasant, it is elite administrative training.
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It's written for princes.
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It is quite literally a sitting king training the next king how to render judgment, how to spot a liar, how to manage the economy, and how to govern an entire nation in righteousness.
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But, and this is where Tolliver introduces a massive philosophical twist for the listener.
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He takes this ancient autocratic context and crashes it directly into our modern reality.
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This is the part that gave me pause.
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Because think about the era of King David or King Solomon.
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Authority was completely 100% centralized.
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You had one guy.
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One guy, one king set the national direction, he established the moral standards, and his armies enforced the law.
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The total burden of the crown rested on one human head.
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If the king was righteous, the entire nation thrived and experienced peace.
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And if the king was wicked, the entire nation suffered the consequences of his corruption.
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It was a single point of failure.
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Right.
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But then Tolliver points out the obvious.
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In America and in modern democratic republics around the world, we don't have a king.
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We operate under a system that is, you know, of the people, by the people, and for the people, so the script completely flips.
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It does.
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And the implications of that flip are staggering if you really sit with them.
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In a democratic republic, the singular heavy burden of the crown hasn't disappeared.
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It hasn't.
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No, it has simply been shattered into hundreds of millions of pieces and distributed equally into the hands of the citizenry.
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Okay, let me stop you there and push back on this premise because I think a lot of people listening might feel a disconnect here.
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Sure.
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Go ahead.
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If this ancient text explicitly says that the king is the one responsible before God to punish evil and reward righteousness, but we don't have a king, and I'm certainly not a king, doesn't that mean modern citizens are somewhat off the hook?
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That's the temptation to think that way.
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Right, because doesn't the massive bureaucratic machinery of the state just sort of run itself at this point?
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We just pay our taxes and let the machine do its thing.
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That assumption that the machine runs itself and we are just passengers is exactly what Tolliver is trying to dismantle.
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The logic of his argument points to the exact opposite conclusion.
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We are absolutely not off the hook.
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So we're still on the hook.
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In fact, the responsibility rests entirely, squarely on us.
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We, the collective people, choose the leaders.
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We vote on the referendums that set the direction.
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Therefore, we bear the ultimate moral weight of that civic stewardship.
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Wow.
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Talrer's point is that if Proverbs is the divine manual for the ruler, and the citizens are the ultimate rulers who select the temporary government, then the citizens themselves must sit at the feet of Proverbs to learn how to rule.
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He makes a very stark, very sobering statement here.
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A nation cannot rise higher than the character of the people who choose its leaders.
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A Dacian cannot rise higher than the character of the people who choose its leaders.
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That is a really heavy pill to swallow, because what it really means is that you can't just sit on your couch and blame the politicians for the state of the country.
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You have to look in the mirror.
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Yeah, the politicians are just a reflection of the people who gave them power in the first place.
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Exactly.
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So if we bear this burden, what does a righteous government actually look like in practice?
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Tolliver lays out three fundamental assumptions or pillars about government based on this biblical framework.
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And the first pillar directly confronts a huge cultural bias.
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He says that righteousness in government is fundamentally for the good of the governed.
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Which is necessary to point out because it refutes what Tolliver calls the killjoy myth of morality in government.
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Yeah, let's talk about the killjoy myth.
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I think a lot of people, when they hear the words righteousness and government in the same sentence, they instantly picture the DMV crossed with the worst homeowners association on the planet.
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Oh man, that is a nightmare combination.
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Right.
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They picture a bunch of puritanical bureaucrats whose only job is to measure the length of your grass, hand out fines, and basically make sure nobody is having any fun anywhere.
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That is the exact stereotype.
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There is this deeply ingrained modern assumption that if a government stands for righteousness, its primary goal is just to restrict personal freedom, police private behavior, and generally just make life miserable.
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But Tolliver points out that Proverbs paints a completely counter-narrative to that.
00:15:19.970 --> 00:15:29.410
The text assumes that the primary purpose of government is to promote righteousness, precisely because righteousness is the only environment where humans actually flourish.
00:15:29.649 --> 00:15:36.690
The text quotes Proverbs saying, When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.
00:15:37.090 --> 00:15:38.129
A people groan.
00:15:38.290 --> 00:15:40.530
You can literally feel the physical weight of that word.
00:15:40.850 --> 00:15:41.570
You really can.
00:15:41.730 --> 00:15:45.970
It's not just annoyance about high taxes, it is systemic suffering.
00:15:46.290 --> 00:15:51.410
It is the groaning of a society that is being crushed by corruption and injustice.
00:15:51.810 --> 00:15:56.050
Tolliver is arguing that true righteousness isn't a burden that makes you groan.
00:15:56.210 --> 00:15:59.090
It is the structural integrity that makes a city exalt.
00:15:59.170 --> 00:16:01.810
It brings safety, fairness, and flourishing.
00:16:02.129 --> 00:16:04.050
Now, moving to the second pillar.
00:16:04.370 --> 00:16:10.450
Righteousness in government is not just good for the citizens, it is essential for the good of the government itself.
00:16:10.769 --> 00:16:15.810
Meaning righteousness is the only thing that produces long-term geopolitical stability.
00:16:16.050 --> 00:16:20.210
If you want a government to actually last, it cannot be built on a foundation of sand.
00:16:20.610 --> 00:16:25.090
Tolliver quotes Proverbs, pointing out that loyalty and truth preserve a king.
00:16:25.330 --> 00:16:28.850
A ruler who hates unjust gain will prolong his days.
00:16:29.250 --> 00:16:35.889
If we look at the mechanics of how a society functions, the underlying currency of any government is trust.
00:16:36.129 --> 00:16:39.009
It isn't military might or economic output.
00:16:39.170 --> 00:16:39.730
It is trust.
00:16:40.129 --> 00:16:42.129
Yeah, if the people don't believe you, you have nothing.
00:16:42.530 --> 00:16:43.009
Exactly.
00:16:43.250 --> 00:16:54.610
A government built on lies, on institutional corruption, on backroom deals, where the rules only apply to the poor, that government will inevitably collapse under its own weight because the foundation is rotten.
00:16:54.850 --> 00:16:57.009
The citizens will eventually withdraw their consent.
00:16:57.490 --> 00:17:02.290
But a government built on righteousness endures because the trust is continuously replenished.
00:17:02.690 --> 00:17:09.009
And then we hit the third pillar, which is perhaps the most humbling for a modern technologically advanced society to hear.
00:17:09.329 --> 00:17:09.809
Oh, definitely.
00:17:10.210 --> 00:17:13.889
Tolliver argues that good government actually requires divine enablement.
00:17:14.129 --> 00:17:22.849
The argument here is that the apparatus of government is simply too hard, too complex, and too deep for human wisdom alone to manage without driving it into a ditch.
00:17:23.169 --> 00:17:35.490
And if you just look at the sheer mind-boggling complexities of running a modern nation state, I mean, you are balancing global macroeconomics, intricate foreign policy, and military strategy.
00:17:35.970 --> 00:17:37.730
Massive criminal justice systems.
00:17:37.970 --> 00:17:44.849
Healthcare infrastructures, social welfare programs, the interconnected variables are just overwhelming.
00:17:45.250 --> 00:17:56.449
Tolliver argues that true lasting justice and perfect equity are not just man-made sociological inventions that we can brainstorm in a congressional committee meeting, you know, or figure out with a better algorithm.
00:17:56.769 --> 00:18:00.369
They are God-given gifts that require a wisdom outside of ourselves.
00:18:00.529 --> 00:18:08.529
He grounds this in Proverbs 28.5, saying, evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all things.
00:18:08.849 --> 00:18:13.490
So Tolliver's profound conclusion here is a nuanced take on the separation of church and state.
00:18:13.809 --> 00:18:14.049
Right.
00:18:14.129 --> 00:18:15.329
And this is a tricky concept.
00:18:15.649 --> 00:18:16.209
Very tricky.
00:18:16.369 --> 00:18:27.649
He implies that while you absolutely might separate church and state functionally, meaning you separate religious functions and church administrations from political office, you cannot separate righteousness from political responsibility.
00:18:27.889 --> 00:18:37.250
If government exists to promote a righteous society, it is logically obligated to seek the wisdom of the ultimate authority who defines what righteousness even is.
00:18:37.649 --> 00:18:40.369
Which creates a massive practical problem for the voter.
00:18:40.529 --> 00:18:44.769
And this leads us directly into exploring the anatomy of a righteous ruler.
00:18:45.089 --> 00:18:49.569
Because if you accept the premise that the citizen bears the responsibility of choosing leaders.
00:18:49.889 --> 00:18:53.169
And if you accept that government is supposed to be structurally righteous.
00:18:53.490 --> 00:18:58.769
Then what specific, tangible traits should you, the voter, be looking for when you look at a ballot?
00:18:58.849 --> 00:19:02.449
Trevor Burrus, Tolliver doesn't leave this floating in the clouds of philosophical theory.
00:19:02.609 --> 00:19:04.369
He brings it right down to street level.
00:19:04.769 --> 00:19:06.369
Here's where it gets really interesting.
00:19:06.529 --> 00:19:09.649
This is where the framework becomes incredibly actionable.
00:19:09.970 --> 00:19:18.769
Tolliver extracts four specific marks, four distinct fingerprints, if you will, of a righteous ruler straight from the book of Proverbs.
00:19:19.089 --> 00:19:23.250
Now he makes a very careful, very necessary distinction before he lists these.
00:19:49.579 --> 00:19:53.739
He is talking about identifying a righteous ruler, not a perfect ruler.
00:19:54.059 --> 00:19:56.139
Because perfection isn't an option on the ballot.
00:19:56.539 --> 00:19:59.419
No, every candidate is a flawed human being.
00:19:59.819 --> 00:20:02.219
So what are the baseline indicators?
00:20:02.459 --> 00:20:03.739
Mark number one.
00:20:08.939 --> 00:20:11.819
Let's unpack what systemic impartiality actually looks like.
00:20:11.899 --> 00:20:14.859
Because it is much deeper than just, you know, not playing favorites.
00:20:15.259 --> 00:20:23.419
A righteous ruler does not bend the law for their friends, they don't bend it for their massive corporate donors, and they don't bend it for the politically powerful.
00:20:23.739 --> 00:20:33.659
Proverbs severely condemns the kind of leadership that twists the scales of justice, where there is one set of rules for the elite and another completely different set of rules for the working class.
00:20:34.059 --> 00:20:35.579
Tolliver uses a great phrase here.
00:20:35.659 --> 00:20:38.779
He says, Justice must be blind so righteousness can see.
00:21:04.379 --> 00:21:10.059
Which is that a righteous ruler actively defends the poor, the afflicted, and the helpless.
00:21:10.379 --> 00:21:14.619
Yes, and that tension is where the brilliance of the text really shines.
00:21:15.019 --> 00:21:17.179
But wait, how does that work mechanically?
00:21:17.419 --> 00:21:23.259
Because if justice is supposed to be perfectly, mathematically, blind and impartial.
00:21:23.579 --> 00:21:29.739
How can a ruler be impartial while simultaneously being commanded to actively take the side of the vulnerable?
00:21:30.139 --> 00:21:30.459
Right.
00:21:30.539 --> 00:21:36.299
Isn't defending the poor, by definition, showing partiality to a specific class of people?
00:21:36.619 --> 00:21:38.299
That is a phenomenal question.
00:21:38.539 --> 00:21:43.339
The way the text reconciles this is by acknowledging the reality of human power dynamics.
00:21:43.499 --> 00:21:46.859
The text knows that the wealthy and the powerful already have defense.
00:21:47.099 --> 00:21:49.899
They have lawyers, they have lobbyists, they have access to the holes of power.
00:21:50.219 --> 00:21:50.779
Exactly.
00:21:50.939 --> 00:21:54.939
The poor and the afflicted have no natural defense mechanism in a fallen world.
00:21:55.339 --> 00:22:04.459
Therefore, for the ruler to ensure the scales are actually balanced, to ensure true impartiality, the ruler must actively step in to protect the vulnerable from being crushed by the powerful.
00:22:04.779 --> 00:22:07.259
It is not about giving the poor an unfair advantage.
00:22:07.419 --> 00:22:11.659
It is about providing the shield they lack so that equity can actually exist in the first place.
00:22:11.979 --> 00:22:17.659
It touches on a deeply biblical theme: the inherent danger of power.
00:22:17.979 --> 00:22:20.619
Power is radioactive in the wrong hands.
00:22:20.859 --> 00:22:26.699
A righteous ruler uses their authority as a shield to lift people up, not as a sword to exploit them.
00:22:27.019 --> 00:22:36.699
To really make this visceral, to understand what it looks like when state power is weaponized against the vulnerable, Tolliver points to the ultimate biblical case study, Ahab and Jezebel.
00:22:37.259 --> 00:22:40.059
This story is terrifying when you analyze the mechanics of it.
00:22:43.259 --> 00:22:43.739
It really is.
00:22:43.899 --> 00:22:50.219
So Ahab and The king of Israel, he has unimaginable wealth, he commands massive armies, he has multiple palaces.
00:22:50.539 --> 00:22:52.379
Basically everything a person could ever want.
00:22:52.619 --> 00:23:00.219
But one day, he looks out the window of his winter palace and he sees a small vineyard owned by a regular working-class citizen named Naboth.
00:23:00.859 --> 00:23:05.819
Ahab decides he wants that specific plot of land to plant a vegetable garden.
00:23:06.139 --> 00:23:07.179
Just a vegetable garden.
00:23:07.339 --> 00:23:07.499
Yeah.
00:23:07.659 --> 00:23:11.099
So he goes to Naboth and offers to buy it or trade for it, but Naboth refuses.
00:23:11.259 --> 00:23:13.259
Naboth says, This is my family inheritance.
00:23:13.339 --> 00:23:15.179
It has been in my family for generations.
00:23:15.339 --> 00:23:17.579
I cannot legally or morally sell it to you.
00:23:17.819 --> 00:23:20.779
So how does the most powerful man in the nation react?
00:23:20.939 --> 00:23:23.259
Does he just shrug and find another spot?
00:23:23.499 --> 00:23:23.819
No.
00:23:24.059 --> 00:23:30.459
He goes back to his palace, lies down on his bed, turns his face to the wall, and refuses to eat.
00:23:30.699 --> 00:23:33.099
He literally throws a psychological tantrum.
00:23:33.179 --> 00:23:35.979
He acts like a spoiled child who is told he can't have a toy.
00:23:36.379 --> 00:23:45.019
A spoiled child who happens to have the absolute monopoly on state violence, which is where it goes from a pathetic tantrum to a horrific tragedy.
00:23:52.139 --> 00:23:56.779
She doesn't just hire a street thug to go break Naboth's legs or steal the land in the dark of night.
00:23:57.019 --> 00:24:00.379
No, she uses the actual legal machinery of the state.
00:24:00.619 --> 00:24:02.699
She weaponizes the justice system.
00:24:02.859 --> 00:24:06.539
She writes official letters in the king's name, sealed with his signet ring.
00:24:06.779 --> 00:24:08.299
She sets up a fake public trial.
00:24:08.539 --> 00:24:15.899
She hires two scoundrels to serve as false witnesses to testify that Naboth committed treason, that he cursed God and the king.
00:24:16.219 --> 00:24:21.739
And based on this completely manufactured evidence, Naboth is dragged out of the city and stoned to death.
00:24:21.979 --> 00:24:28.779
Jezebel uses the pristine appearance of legal justice to commit premeditated murder and state-sponsored theft.
00:24:29.099 --> 00:24:33.499
That is a chilling, perfect example of the danger of unchecked power.
00:24:33.739 --> 00:24:38.459
It is the state apparatus functioning not to protect the citizen, but to consume them.
00:24:38.699 --> 00:24:42.699
And that is exactly what Proverbs is warning the citizenry to guard against.
00:24:42.939 --> 00:24:49.019
A righteous leader is fundamentally wired to protect the naboths of the world from the Jezebels of the world.
00:24:49.179 --> 00:24:51.979
They do not use the power of the state to steal vineyards.
00:24:52.299 --> 00:24:55.099
Which brings us to the third mark of a righteous ruler.
00:24:55.259 --> 00:24:58.379
And this one feels incredibly relevant to our modern information age.
00:24:58.699 --> 00:24:59.259
No, absolutely.
00:24:59.419 --> 00:25:02.779
Mark number three: a righteous ruler is a seeker of truth.
00:25:03.099 --> 00:25:10.459
They do not govern by assumption, they do not govern by rumor, and they certainly don't govern based on whatever outrage is currently trending on the algorithm.
00:25:10.779 --> 00:25:12.059
They dig, they investigate.
00:25:12.299 --> 00:25:20.059
Tolliver quotes Proverbs 25.2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search it out.
00:25:20.379 --> 00:25:25.259
The mechanism here requires a tremendous amount of intellectual honesty and cognitive discipline.
00:25:25.499 --> 00:25:32.219
A righteous leader refuses to settle for easy answers, shallow optics, or politically expedient narratives.
00:25:32.459 --> 00:25:38.139
They understand that you simply cannot have justice without objective truth acting as the foundation.
00:25:38.539 --> 00:25:48.939
If a leader is indifferent to the truth, if they are perfectly fine repeating a lie because it energizes their political base, they are functionally incapable of executing justice.
00:25:49.259 --> 00:25:55.019
And that intellectual honesty leads directly to the fourth mark, which is where the philosophy actually demands action.
00:25:55.339 --> 00:25:56.459
Mark number four.
00:26:01.819 --> 00:26:04.459
This is where the ruler is strictly forbidden from being passive.
00:26:04.779 --> 00:26:04.939
Right.
00:26:05.099 --> 00:26:08.859
In this framework, righteousness is never silent in the face of wickedness.
00:26:09.179 --> 00:26:10.939
A godly ruler does not wink at sin.
00:26:11.099 --> 00:26:17.819
They don't try to politely ignore it, and they don't try to peacefully coexist with systemic corruption in the name of political harmony.
00:26:18.059 --> 00:26:21.819
They actively seek it out, they call it exactly what it is, and they deal with it justly.
00:26:21.979 --> 00:26:28.619
Tolliver makes it emphatically clear that a leader cannot allow wickedness to flourish under their watch without becoming complicit in it.
00:26:28.859 --> 00:26:37.179
If we connect this to the bigger picture, Tolliver uses a really striking, highly visual metaphor here from Proverbs 25.26.
00:26:37.499 --> 00:26:44.299
It says, like a trampled spring in a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
00:26:44.619 --> 00:26:49.579
Now, to fully grasp the weight of that, think about a modern municipal water supply.
00:26:49.819 --> 00:26:53.739
Imagine a guy who is the manager of a town's water treatment plant.
00:26:54.139 --> 00:26:55.019
Okay, I can picture that.
00:26:55.339 --> 00:26:58.699
On a personal level, he is basically a good, righteous guy.
00:26:58.859 --> 00:27:02.699
He loves his family, he pays his taxes, he volunteers on weekends.
00:27:02.859 --> 00:27:11.739
But one day he discovers that a massive multinational chemical company is secretly dumping toxic industrial waste into the town's reservoir.
00:27:11.979 --> 00:27:12.699
That's a big problem.
00:27:13.019 --> 00:27:13.899
A huge problem.
00:27:14.139 --> 00:27:16.699
Now, this chemical company is incredibly powerful.
00:27:16.859 --> 00:27:21.099
They employ half the town, they have expensive, aggressive lawyers, they have politicians in their pocket.
00:27:21.419 --> 00:27:22.779
So the plant manager gets intimidated.
00:27:23.019 --> 00:27:29.019
Yes, he gets intimidated, he gives way, he looks the other way, he doctors the water reports, and he doesn't blow the whistle on the dumping.
00:27:29.259 --> 00:27:31.579
What is the functional result of his passivity?
00:27:31.899 --> 00:27:35.899
The entire town gets poisoned, children get sick, the ecosystem dies.
00:27:36.379 --> 00:27:40.139
His silence, which was born out of fear, becomes a weapon of mass destruction.
00:27:40.539 --> 00:27:40.859
Exactly.
00:27:41.019 --> 00:27:48.859
Even though he didn't physically dump the toxins himself, his failure to expose and stop the evil makes him indistinguishable from the polluter.
00:27:49.099 --> 00:27:50.379
He becomes the polluted well.
00:27:50.619 --> 00:27:55.739
A leader who gives way to wickedness destroys the very society they were appointed to protect.
00:27:55.899 --> 00:27:57.499
They have to stand firm.
00:27:57.659 --> 00:28:02.539
They have an absolute moral obligation to expose the poison to protect the innocent.
00:28:02.779 --> 00:28:10.539
And this naturally transitions us into one of the most difficult, emotionally charged, and philosophically debated aspects of justice.
00:28:10.779 --> 00:28:11.099
Oh boy.
00:28:11.339 --> 00:28:17.739
Because if a leader's job is to expose the polluter, the immediate next question is, well, what do you do with them once they are exposed?
00:28:17.899 --> 00:28:20.939
How does a righteous society actually execute consequence?
00:28:21.259 --> 00:28:24.459
This brings us to Tolliver's exploration of the philosophy of punishment.
00:28:24.539 --> 00:28:27.179
And Tolliver approaches this section with a lot of gravity.
00:28:27.339 --> 00:28:28.699
He doesn't treat it lightly at all.
00:28:29.019 --> 00:28:37.339
No, he acknowledges right up front that our modern world is deeply, perhaps irreparably, divided on issues of criminal justice and punishment.
00:28:37.659 --> 00:28:41.819
We have massive debates about rehabilitation versus retribution.
00:28:41.979 --> 00:28:46.299
There are a lot of strong emotions and complex sociological theories at play.
00:28:46.619 --> 00:28:54.299
But he argues that Proverbs provides a very clear, unflinching set of principles regarding how a society must deal with wrongdoing.
00:28:54.459 --> 00:28:57.259
He outlines three specific principles of punishment.
00:28:57.659 --> 00:29:04.219
The first principle is one that will likely sound incredibly counterintuitive, maybe even offensive, to modern ears.
00:29:04.459 --> 00:29:07.579
Punishing the criminal is actually beneficial to the criminal.
00:29:07.899 --> 00:29:09.419
Okay, you have to explain the mechanics of that.
00:29:09.499 --> 00:29:09.739
Yeah.
00:29:09.979 --> 00:29:16.779
Because applying state consequence fines, imprisonment, loss of liberty doesn't sound beneficial to the person experiencing it.
00:29:16.939 --> 00:29:18.699
How does the text justify that?
00:29:19.019 --> 00:29:25.099
Well, Tolliver is careful to clarify that a righteous society does not punish out of sadistic cruelty or personal revenge.
00:29:25.499 --> 00:29:28.139
The goal is not to delight in seeing a human being suffer.
00:29:28.459 --> 00:29:29.019
Exactly.
00:29:29.259 --> 00:29:34.059
However, he argues from the text that refusing to punish sin is actually an act of cruelty toward the sinner.
00:29:34.299 --> 00:29:36.299
The mechanism here is about boundaries.
00:29:36.539 --> 00:29:39.979
Softness toward evil strengthens the evil within the person's right.
00:29:40.219 --> 00:29:49.499
Because when you remove the friction of consequences, the destructive behavior simply repeats itself, escalates, and eventually consumes the individual entirely.
00:29:49.819 --> 00:29:52.699
Let's use an analogy that fits the scale of what we were talking about.
00:29:52.939 --> 00:29:58.139
Think about it in terms of macroeconomics, like bailing out a massive failing bank.
00:29:58.539 --> 00:30:00.059
Okay, the too big to fail scenario.
00:30:00.299 --> 00:30:00.459
Right.
00:30:00.619 --> 00:30:09.339
Let's say a major financial institution engages in incredibly reckless, borderline, illegal gambling with their clients' money, and they lose it all.
00:30:09.659 --> 00:30:17.339
If the government steps in and just gives them a massive bailout with zero consequences, zero firings, and zero new regulations.
00:30:17.739 --> 00:30:22.539
The government might think they are showing economic mercy in saving jobs, but what have they actually done?
00:30:22.859 --> 00:30:24.699
They have created a massive moral hazard.
00:30:24.859 --> 00:30:26.299
They have subsidized the reckless men.
00:30:26.619 --> 00:30:26.939
Exactly.
00:30:27.099 --> 00:30:34.059
The bank learns that there is no penalty for gambling, so they will do it again, only bigger next time, until they cause a total economic collapse.
00:30:38.699 --> 00:30:46.699
It warns the offender that their actions have an unbearable cost, and ideally, it stops them from diving deeper into their own destruction.
00:30:47.019 --> 00:30:48.619
That is an excellent way to frame it.
00:30:48.779 --> 00:30:51.419
The consequence disrupts the cycle of escalation.
00:30:51.739 --> 00:30:54.699
The second principle moves from the individual to the collective.
00:30:54.939 --> 00:30:57.339
Punishing the criminal is beneficial to others.
00:30:57.499 --> 00:30:59.499
It functions as a societal deterrent.
00:30:59.739 --> 00:31:04.779
Even if the specific criminal being punished doesn't actually reform or change their heart.
00:31:05.099 --> 00:31:05.579
Exactly.
00:31:05.819 --> 00:31:10.219
Tolliver points out that the biblical text is highly realistic about human nature.
00:31:10.459 --> 00:31:16.379
It doesn't naively promise that every application of punishment will magically rehabilitate every offender.
00:31:16.619 --> 00:31:22.379
Some individuals are simply too hardened, too rebellious, or too deeply entrenched in their criminality.
00:31:22.699 --> 00:31:26.859
The proverb says, when the scoffer is punished, the naive becomes wise.
00:31:27.179 --> 00:31:35.819
So the scoffer is the hardened criminal committing the act, and the naive is the general public, the bystanders, the impressionable youth watching to see what happens.
00:31:36.139 --> 00:31:36.939
Precisely.
00:31:37.179 --> 00:31:39.659
The psychology of deterrence is at play here.
00:31:39.899 --> 00:31:46.299
The scoffer might not change their ways, and they might spend their life in prison, but the community watching takes heed.
00:31:46.619 --> 00:31:50.539
It educates the simple, it restrains the latent violence in society.
00:31:50.859 --> 00:31:59.019
A society that refuses to firmly punish evil essentially broadcasts a loud, clear invitation for evil to multiply.
00:31:59.259 --> 00:32:06.859
The visible consequence serves as a protective wall for the innocent, preventing future harm by altering the risk-reward calculus of anyone watching.
00:32:07.099 --> 00:32:10.139
And the third principle of punishment deals with the ultimate extreme.
00:32:10.379 --> 00:32:15.899
Tolliver argues from the text that punishing murder is not an option, it is a profound moral duty.
00:32:16.139 --> 00:32:21.339
When innocent blood is shed, severe consequences are mandatory to protect the sanctity of life itself.
00:32:21.579 --> 00:32:23.739
It is not an act of state-sponsored vengeance.
00:32:23.899 --> 00:32:31.819
Rather, it is a declarative statement by the society that human life has ultimate irreplaceable value, and taking it requires the ultimate forfeit.
00:32:32.059 --> 00:32:38.939
And this philosophical stance leads directly into a highly specific and very provocative critique of modern legal systems that Tolliver presents.
00:32:39.259 --> 00:32:40.859
So, what does this all mean?
00:32:41.099 --> 00:32:49.819
He wades right into the debate between what the modern world categorizes as temporary insanity versus what the ancient text simply labels great anger.
00:32:50.139 --> 00:32:55.499
Let's really dig into this because this is where the ancient framework aggressively collides with modern psychology.
00:32:55.819 --> 00:33:07.099
Tolliver talks about watching a television program that highlighted a man who committed a brutal murder, but the man was released or given a vastly reduced sentence based on a temporary insanity defense.
00:33:07.579 --> 00:33:18.059
The underlying legal and psychological theory is that in the heat of the moment, due to severe emotional distress or a psychological break, the man was not fully in his right mind.
00:33:18.379 --> 00:33:23.179
He couldn't form the necessary intent, so he shouldn't bear the full crushing weight of the consequence.
00:33:23.579 --> 00:33:35.419
Tolliver strongly contrasts this modern rehabilitative psychological approach with Proverbs 19.19, which states, A man of great anger shall bear the penalty, for if you rescue him, you will only have to do it again.
00:33:35.739 --> 00:33:38.459
But hang on, I have to stop you and really challenge this.
00:33:38.699 --> 00:33:48.059
Applying full harsh punishment to someone who has completely snapped, someone who is acting out of a temporary psychological break or blinding rage.
00:33:48.299 --> 00:33:50.779
To modern ears, that doesn't sound like justice.
00:33:50.859 --> 00:33:52.139
That sounds downright medieval.
00:33:52.379 --> 00:33:53.659
It's a tough pill to swallow for sure.
00:33:53.899 --> 00:34:02.859
Doesn't this ancient framework completely ignore everything we have learned in the last century about psychology, trauma, and rehabilitation?
00:34:03.099 --> 00:34:05.499
Isn't the truly compassionate thing to say?
00:34:05.659 --> 00:34:07.419
They weren't themselves, they lost control.
00:34:07.579 --> 00:34:10.860
They need psychological help and medication, not a prison cell.
00:34:11.259 --> 00:34:15.420
It is a totally valid modern objection, and Tulliver anticipates it.
00:34:15.579 --> 00:34:19.420
His counterargument is to ask a fundamental question: compassionate to whom?
00:34:19.659 --> 00:34:20.299
Ah, okay.
00:34:20.539 --> 00:34:23.099
The biblical text is not ignorant of human psychology.
00:34:23.179 --> 00:34:29.179
It fully recognizes that people commit horrific, violent acts in moments of completely uncontrolled rage.
00:34:29.420 --> 00:34:31.900
It specifically acknowledges the state of great anger.
00:34:32.219 --> 00:34:41.820
But instead of using that overwhelming rage as an excuse to mitigate or erase the punishment, Proverbs insists that the penalty must still be rigorously applied precisely because of the rage.
00:34:42.139 --> 00:34:44.299
Wait, applied because of the rage.
00:34:44.619 --> 00:34:48.940
The rage is the reason for the punishment, not the excuse to avoid it.
00:34:49.179 --> 00:34:49.739
Exactly.
00:34:49.900 --> 00:34:51.900
Look at the mechanism in the proverb.
00:34:52.139 --> 00:34:54.700
If you rescue him, you will only have to do it again.
00:34:55.019 --> 00:35:03.740
Tolliver argues that what modern society often critically excuses as temporary insanity is frequently just unchecked, lethal great anger.
00:35:04.059 --> 00:35:13.420
If a society reduces the weight of justice, because the perpetrator was really, really angry, that society is practically guaranteeing that the violence will return.
00:35:13.740 --> 00:35:20.300
True biblical justice, according to this architecture, is deeply compassionate, but its compassion is correctly ordered.
00:35:20.619 --> 00:35:24.059
It prioritizes the victim whose life was violently taken.
00:35:24.300 --> 00:35:27.900
It prioritizes protecting the innocent public from a repeat offense.
00:35:28.059 --> 00:35:33.179
It refuses to subordinate the safety of society to the emotional pain or psychological state of the criminal.
00:35:33.500 --> 00:35:35.340
That is a massive paradigm shift.
00:35:35.500 --> 00:35:44.059
It completely shifts the gravitational center of criminal justice from rehabilitating the offender's feelings to establishing an unyielding boundary that protects the innocent.
00:35:44.380 --> 00:35:47.980
It says the action matters more than the emotional state that produced the action.
00:35:48.300 --> 00:35:57.179
Now, having spent all this time establishing how government, justice, and consequence should function on a macro level, we have to bring this back to the individual.
00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:59.900
We have to pivot to the rules of engagement.
00:36:00.139 --> 00:36:15.019
Because if the system is broken, how does a regular citizen, specifically a believer, as Tolliver addresses, actually influence this massive apparatus to move in a righteous direction without wielding state violence themselves?
00:36:15.500 --> 00:36:20.780
This is where Tolliver issues a stern warning against adopting what he calls secular machinery.
00:36:21.019 --> 00:36:30.059
He shares a story about hearing a prominent Christian leader declare that if believers want to have any real influence in modern government, they have to beat the politicians at their own game.
00:36:30.380 --> 00:36:32.139
And we all know exactly what that game is.
00:36:32.300 --> 00:36:33.980
It is the blood sport of modern politics.
00:36:34.220 --> 00:36:34.780
It's vicious.
00:36:35.019 --> 00:36:39.500
It is adopting completely secular tactics to achieve supposedly holy ends.
00:36:39.659 --> 00:36:50.780
It is funding opposition research, utilizing untraceable dark money, running vicious smear campaigns, manipulating voter data, and basically just shouting louder and nastier than the other guy until they submit.
00:36:51.099 --> 00:36:55.420
And Tolliver flatly, unequivocally rejects that methodology.
00:36:55.579 --> 00:36:59.260
He argued that you simply cannot use the devil's tools to build God's house.
00:36:59.579 --> 00:37:03.740
True, biblical influence does not and cannot come through worldly manipulation.
00:37:04.059 --> 00:37:08.619
Instead, he extracts five specific biblical rules of influence directly from Proverbs.
00:37:08.860 --> 00:37:12.780
Rule number one: wisdom must take precedence over power.
00:37:13.019 --> 00:37:15.900
He grounds this in Proverbs 14.35.
00:37:16.300 --> 00:37:19.019
The king's favor is toward a servant who acts wisely.
00:37:19.260 --> 00:37:27.099
The premise here is that lasting influence doesn't begin with who has the biggest microphone, the most aggressive legal team, or the slickest PR strategy.
00:37:27.340 --> 00:37:30.619
It begins with quiet discernment and unshakable integrity.
00:37:30.780 --> 00:37:36.619
Wise people eventually earn a hearing because the undeniable fruit of their lives speaks far louder than empty political rhetoric.
00:37:36.940 --> 00:37:39.740
Which flows seamlessly into rule number two excellence in work.
00:37:39.900 --> 00:37:42.300
Tolery quotes Proverbs 22.29.
00:37:42.380 --> 00:37:44.139
Do you see a man skilled in his work?
00:37:46.059 --> 00:37:48.619
The mechanism of influence here is sheer competence.
00:37:48.780 --> 00:37:49.820
I really love this point.
00:37:50.059 --> 00:37:52.780
Competence is the ultimate skeleton key for closed doors.
00:37:53.099 --> 00:38:02.220
You don't have to desperately chase influence, beg for meetings, or manipulate your way into the room if your undeniable excellence makes influence chase you.
00:38:02.460 --> 00:38:17.179
If you are literally the best in your field, if you build the best bridges, write the most secure code, or solve complex logistical problems better than anyone else, the leaders of the world will inevitably seek you out for advice, regardless of your background.
00:38:17.420 --> 00:38:20.380
Your skill gives your worldview an audience.
00:38:20.700 --> 00:38:27.019
Rule number three addresses the tone of engagement, and it is absolutely vital for surviving our current cultural climate.
00:38:27.260 --> 00:38:29.260
Tact, grace, and patience.
00:38:29.579 --> 00:38:38.300
And Tolliver highlights the fascinating psychology embedded in Proverbs 25.105, by forbearance, a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue breaks the bone.
00:38:38.539 --> 00:38:40.940
Okay, let's stop look at the physics of that metaphor.
00:38:41.099 --> 00:38:42.700
A soft tongue breaks the bone.
00:38:42.940 --> 00:38:52.940
In today's culture, which functions essentially as one giant continuous screaming match on social media and 24-hour cable news, doesn't a soft tongue just get completely drowned out?
00:38:53.179 --> 00:38:54.139
It sure feels that way.
00:38:54.380 --> 00:39:02.700
If every single person in the public square is using a bullhorn and hurling insults, and you decide to use a soft tongue, nobody even hears you.
00:39:02.780 --> 00:39:03.740
You just get run over.
00:39:04.059 --> 00:39:08.460
That is the natural modern assumption that volume equals victory.
00:39:08.700 --> 00:39:12.220
But let's unpack the psychology of what Proverbs is actually saying.
00:39:12.460 --> 00:39:15.099
What does the bone represent in this metaphor?
00:39:15.340 --> 00:39:17.900
It represents hardened, calcified opposition.
00:39:18.059 --> 00:39:23.019
It represents a deeply entrenched cognitive bias or a stubborn political mindset.
00:39:23.420 --> 00:39:25.420
Now think about the neuroscience of an argument.
00:39:25.659 --> 00:39:30.940
If you attack someone with a blunt instrument of shouting, public humiliation, and insults, what happens?
00:39:31.099 --> 00:39:32.300
You trigger their amygdala.
00:39:32.539 --> 00:39:38.700
Their brain registers a threat, they go into fight or flight mode, and their cognitive bias hardens even further, like concrete.
00:39:39.019 --> 00:39:41.900
You cannot break a hardened mindset with a hammer of aggression.
00:39:42.059 --> 00:39:43.340
You only make the wall thicker.
00:39:43.579 --> 00:39:46.220
So the volume actually defeats the persuasion.
00:39:46.619 --> 00:39:47.260
Exactly.
00:39:47.500 --> 00:40:05.179
The ancient text argues that a soft tongue meaning carefully chosen, gracious speech, extreme patience, and respectful de-escalating dialogue is literally the only tool capable of bypassing the amygdala, penetrating the defenses, and actually changing a hardened mind.
00:40:05.500 --> 00:40:10.940
Shouting might win you applause from your own camp, but it loses you all actual influence over your opponent.
00:40:11.179 --> 00:40:14.619
True persuasion requires the discipline of a gracious character.
00:40:14.940 --> 00:40:18.940
It is the geopolitical equivalent of catching more flies with honey than vinegar.
00:40:19.179 --> 00:40:22.940
Moving to rule number four avoid radicals and revolutionaries.
00:40:23.260 --> 00:40:30.220
Proverbs explicitly warns against associating with those who are simply given to change or who thrive on constant societal upheaval.
00:40:30.619 --> 00:40:34.780
Culver's warning here is that revolution devoid of righteousness always leads to ruin.
00:40:34.940 --> 00:40:36.059
We can look at history for this.
00:40:36.380 --> 00:40:47.340
Contrast the American Revolution, which was largely built on establishing legal frameworks and constitutional order, with the French Revolution, which was driven by unbridled rage, tearing down structures, and the guillotine.
00:41:03.659 --> 00:41:09.659
And finally, rule number five: do not seek the power or the pleasure of the powerful.
00:41:09.980 --> 00:41:13.579
Tolliver warns believers against craving the ruler's delicacies.
00:41:13.900 --> 00:41:17.260
This is a profound warning about the narcotic effect of political access.
00:41:17.579 --> 00:41:17.900
Right.
00:41:18.059 --> 00:41:21.019
It means don't get intoxicated by the VIP treatment.
00:41:21.179 --> 00:41:28.539
Don't fall in love with the exclusive invitations, the state dinners, the photo ops, and the sheer adrenaline of being in close proximity to worldly power.
00:41:28.860 --> 00:41:38.619
Because the moment you become addicted to a politician's approval or terrified of losing your seat at the inner table, you will inevitably begin to compromise God's standards to maintain your status.
00:41:39.019 --> 00:41:40.460
Tolliver's point is absolute.
00:41:40.619 --> 00:41:44.940
If you spend your life chasing the king's approval, you will inevitably lose God's.
00:41:45.260 --> 00:41:53.420
When you look at these five rules collectively, they completely dismantle and redefine what political engagement is supposed to look like for a believer.
00:41:53.659 --> 00:42:04.380
It transforms it from a loud, aggressive, ruthless battle for dominance into a quiet, steadfast, generational commitment to character, excellence, and unyielding truth.
00:42:04.780 --> 00:42:12.860
Which brings us to the climax of this entire philosophical architecture in part five, the voting dilemma, and the concept of the third team.
00:42:13.179 --> 00:42:22.220
This is where all the high-level philosophy we have been discussing culminates in the most practical, ultimate civic action: stepping alone into the voting booth.
00:42:22.460 --> 00:42:32.460
Tolliver says that as a pastor, the question he is constantly asked by people is always some variation of left or right, Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal.
00:42:32.780 --> 00:42:36.300
And his response to that is that they are asking the wrong question entirely.
00:42:36.619 --> 00:42:41.420
Because if you start with the wrong baseline question, you are mathematically guaranteed to arrive at the wrong answer.
00:42:41.740 --> 00:42:49.900
Tolliver argues that the primary issue is not the political party, it is not the charisma of the personality running, and it is not the popularity of the current platform.
00:42:50.139 --> 00:42:52.700
The absolute issue is the foundational principles.
00:42:53.019 --> 00:42:56.700
He makes a brilliant argument here about a phenomenon he calls changing books.
00:42:56.940 --> 00:43:01.340
And this raises an incredibly uncomfortable question that Tolliver hits head on.
00:43:01.579 --> 00:43:08.940
He asks his audience why believers implicitly trust the Bible to fix every intimate detail of their personal lives.
00:43:09.260 --> 00:43:09.980
Think about it.
00:43:10.220 --> 00:43:19.019
If someone's marriage is falling apart, if they are battling addiction, if their church is in turmoil, they instantly go to the Word of God for the authoritative answer.
00:43:19.179 --> 00:43:20.139
They trust the book.
00:43:20.380 --> 00:43:34.539
But suddenly, at the moment the topic shifts to public life, to national elections, to economic policy, or to the cultural direction of the country, that very same ancient divine book is suddenly deemed insufficient or irrelevant.
00:43:34.860 --> 00:43:44.700
We compartmentalize, we act like the Bible is perfectly fine for the living room, the hospital bed, and the church sanctuary, but we somehow have to leave it locked in the trunk of our car when we walk into the voting booth or the town hall.
00:43:53.099 --> 00:44:01.500
They run to cultural comfort, they run to racial or tribal expediency, they run to political identity politics, or they just run to their own personal financial preference.
00:44:01.820 --> 00:44:08.380
They change books, they use a completely different, lesser standard to make their most consequential decisions.
00:44:08.700 --> 00:44:13.340
And his diagnosis of the current national condition is striking in its simplicity.
00:44:13.579 --> 00:44:24.780
He argues that national chaos, systemic moral decay, and vicious cultural division do not happen because a society utilized the biblical framework too much.
00:44:25.099 --> 00:44:29.659
The fracture happens precisely because they stopped using it, they fundamentally changed their operating system.
00:44:29.900 --> 00:44:34.780
And whenever you change the foundational authority, you inevitably change the outcome of the society.
00:44:35.019 --> 00:44:37.019
His conclusion is absolute.
00:44:37.260 --> 00:44:44.700
If the Bible is the ultimate authority that shapes the believer's soul, then the Bible must be the ultimate authority that shapes the believer's vote.
00:44:45.099 --> 00:44:49.420
Which perfectly sets up this incredible, almost cinematic story from the book of Joshua.
00:44:49.659 --> 00:44:50.539
Oh, this story's amazing.
00:44:50.860 --> 00:44:54.539
Joshua is the newly appointed military leader of the nation of Israel.
00:44:54.700 --> 00:45:02.059
He is standing literally on the edge of battle, preparing to launch a massive attack against the heavily fortified, walled city of Jericho.
00:45:02.300 --> 00:45:11.099
He is scouting the perimeter, and suddenly a mysterious, incredibly imposing figure appears out of nowhere with a drawn sword in his hand.
00:45:11.420 --> 00:45:15.099
The text identifies this figure as the commander of the Lord's army.
00:45:15.260 --> 00:45:17.420
This is Heaven's direct military representative.
00:45:17.740 --> 00:45:25.659
And Joshua, being a pragmatic general, asks the most logical, binary military question you could possibly ask in that situation.
00:45:25.900 --> 00:45:28.139
Are you on our side or are you on their side?
00:45:28.380 --> 00:45:33.579
If we translate that to our modern political vernacular, Joshua is basically asking, are you voting red or blue?
00:45:33.740 --> 00:45:35.420
Which political camp do you belong to?
00:45:35.579 --> 00:45:37.340
Are you a conservative or a progressive?
00:45:37.659 --> 00:45:38.139
Exactly.
00:45:38.380 --> 00:45:39.900
Give me your tribal affiliation.
00:45:40.220 --> 00:45:45.260
And the commander's answer completely shatters Joshua's entire paradigm of how the universe works.
00:45:45.420 --> 00:45:47.260
The commander looks at him and says, Neither.
00:45:47.420 --> 00:45:49.579
I am not on your side, and I am not on their side.
00:45:49.740 --> 00:45:50.700
I am on God's side.
00:45:51.019 --> 00:45:52.940
It is a total rejection of the premise.
00:45:53.260 --> 00:45:55.900
God does not join human political sides.
00:45:56.059 --> 00:45:59.900
God calls humans to abandon their tribalism and join his side.
00:46:00.220 --> 00:46:08.539
The commander didn't descend from heaven to align with Joshua's nationalistic agenda, and he certainly didn't come to align with Jericho's pagan agenda.
00:46:08.700 --> 00:46:13.179
He came to totally take over the situation with a kingdom agenda that supersedes both.
00:46:13.659 --> 00:46:25.340
So bringing that back to the voting booth, when someone asks you how you are going to vote, Tolliver argues that the answer should never be, I am voting with this party, or I am voting with this earthly side.
00:46:25.659 --> 00:46:38.940
The only acceptable answer within this framework must be, I am voting with God, I am aligning my ballot with his side, supporting whatever specific policies or candidates best reflect his eternal values, regardless of the letter next to their name.
00:46:39.260 --> 00:46:43.900
Your ultimate unshakable allegiance is not to the political camp, it is to the kingdom.
00:46:44.220 --> 00:46:48.220
And this realization paves the way for the grand finale of Tolliver's sermon.
00:46:48.380 --> 00:46:54.860
It is, without a doubt, the most powerful, expansive metaphor in the entire text: the NFL referee analogy.
00:46:55.260 --> 00:47:02.139
We really need to take our time and flesh this out visually because the mechanics of this analogy perfectly encapsulate the entire deep dive.
00:47:02.460 --> 00:47:05.420
Picture a massive modern football stadium.
00:47:05.579 --> 00:47:07.659
It is a prime time high-stakes game.
00:47:07.820 --> 00:47:15.740
The stadium lights are glaring down, the atmosphere is electric, and the noise from the crowd of 80,000 fans is absolutely deafening.
00:47:16.059 --> 00:47:24.860
Down on the field in the mud and the grass, you have these two massive, incredibly powerful teams facing off the home team and the visiting team.
00:47:25.099 --> 00:47:28.059
They are preparing to go to absolute war for 60 minutes.
00:47:28.300 --> 00:47:38.220
They are violently colliding, they are executing complex strategies, they are trying to deceive each other, and they are doing everything in their human power to prove they are the dominant force.
00:47:38.539 --> 00:47:42.460
And they both have one singular obsessive goal.
00:47:43.099 --> 00:47:44.940
They want to win the game at all costs.
00:47:45.340 --> 00:47:51.740
But Tolliver points out a crucial element of reality that we almost never actively think about when we are caught up in watching a game.
00:47:51.980 --> 00:47:54.059
There are not just two teams on that field, there are three.
00:47:54.380 --> 00:47:55.099
The third team.
00:47:55.500 --> 00:47:59.579
The men running around in the black and white stripes, the officials, the referees.
00:48:00.139 --> 00:48:00.539
Right.
00:48:00.700 --> 00:48:07.740
And the fundamental goal, the entire reason for existing of this third team, is entirely different from the other two.
00:48:08.139 --> 00:48:12.780
The officials are not on the field to win the game, they are on the field to govern it.
00:48:13.260 --> 00:48:15.579
Think about how different their behavior is.
00:48:15.740 --> 00:48:18.780
The referees don't huddle up to call a play.
00:48:18.940 --> 00:48:20.380
They don't try to tackle anyone.
00:48:20.460 --> 00:48:22.860
They aren't trying to score a touchdown or kick a field goal.
00:48:23.179 --> 00:48:33.340
If a referee suddenly caught a pass and tried to run it into the end zone, the game would instantly stop and he would be permanently disqualified and removed from his assignment.
00:48:33.659 --> 00:48:34.300
Exactly.
00:48:34.539 --> 00:48:41.659
Because this third team, the officials, owes its complete and total allegiance to a much higher external authority.
00:48:41.820 --> 00:48:45.179
They don't answer to the coaches, they answer directly to the league office.
00:48:45.579 --> 00:48:58.300
And the League Office, which represents heaven in Poliver's analogy, is the supreme authority that writes the rules, defines the legal boundaries of the field, and establishes the unalterable standards for exactly how the game must be played.
00:48:58.539 --> 00:49:06.139
The referees are dispatched from the sterile safety of the League Office straight down into the dirt, the sweat, and the absolute chaos of the field.
00:49:06.460 --> 00:49:15.179
They are placed right in the middle of these two violently competing earthly agendas, and their sole mandate is simply to enforce the written rule book.
00:49:15.500 --> 00:49:16.940
And notice the power dynamic.
00:49:17.099 --> 00:49:17.340
Yeah.
00:49:17.579 --> 00:49:28.940
Whatever that third team decides, it instantly overrules the superstar players, it overrules the millionaire head coaches, and it even overrules the billionaire team owners sitting in the luxury suites.
00:49:29.260 --> 00:49:33.740
Because the referee's authority does not come from their own physical strength, it comes from above.
00:49:34.059 --> 00:49:42.539
But, and here's where the metaphor becomes a devastating critique of the modern church, their authority and their influence over the game are strictly conditional.
00:49:42.860 --> 00:49:46.860
Their power is only as strong as their unbroken alignment with the rulebook.
00:49:47.099 --> 00:49:52.860
Think about the disastrous consequences if a referee decided he really, really liked the home team?
00:49:53.019 --> 00:49:56.139
What if he got caught up in the emotion of the stadium and became a fan?
00:49:56.380 --> 00:50:02.780
What if he started calling pass interference penalties based purely on his personal preference for the home team's quarterback?
00:50:03.019 --> 00:50:09.260
Or what if he changed his calls because the 80,000 fans in the stands were screaming insults and threatening him?
00:50:09.579 --> 00:50:20.940
Or to take it to the ultimate extreme, what if the referee literally put on the jersey of the home team underneath his black and white stripes and started cheering when they scored?
00:50:21.179 --> 00:50:24.619
The moment he does that, he instantly and permanently loses his credibility.
00:50:24.780 --> 00:50:29.019
He loses his moral authority, he loses his influence over the mechanics of the game.
00:50:29.340 --> 00:50:40.460
He ceases to be a referee and becomes just another chaotic participant in the brawl, entirely indistinguishable from the players, rather than acting as a representative of the higher governing authority.
00:50:40.700 --> 00:50:47.019
And this is Elder Tolliver's heartbreaking, urgent takeaway regarding the state of the modern church and its role in society.
00:50:47.260 --> 00:50:54.460
He argues that the church has utterly lost its moral influence in culture and in politics because it has voluntarily abandoned its alignment.
00:50:54.780 --> 00:51:12.220
Instead of acting as the third team standing courageously in the middle of the cultural chaos, flawlessly enforcing the heavenly rule book and maintaining an unshakable exclusive allegiance to the kingdom of God, many believers have decided it is more exciting or more expedient to become players for earthly teams.
00:51:12.539 --> 00:51:21.980
They have allowed the intoxicating allure of political expedience, the fear of the opposing team, or the roar of the cultural crowd to override their kingdom allegiance.
00:51:22.380 --> 00:51:27.019
They are walking around, wearing the jerseys of the home team or the visiting team.
00:51:27.260 --> 00:51:34.220
They are screaming in the political huddle, and they are throwing punches in the mud rather than calmly representing the league office.
00:51:34.539 --> 00:51:39.579
Tolliver's final plea is an urgent call for believers to remember their true identity.
00:51:39.740 --> 00:51:40.860
They are the third team.
00:51:41.019 --> 00:51:50.619
They are sent by heaven, they are guided exclusively by scripture, and they are called to bring the objective standards of God's rule book right into the center of Earth's most bitter battles.
00:51:50.940 --> 00:51:55.420
This has been an absolutely incredible multi-layer journey into Elder Tolliver's text.
00:51:55.659 --> 00:52:07.340
We started by completely redefining justice, tearing down the modern idea of a reactive megaphone or a transactional ledger, and rebuilding it as a proactive, divine blueprint for human flourishing.
00:52:07.579 --> 00:52:13.579
We examined the terrifying, heavy burden of the crown that has been shattered and placed into the hands of every Democratic voter.
00:52:13.820 --> 00:52:26.619
We outlined the four specific marks of a righteous ruler and explored the deeply sobering psychological reality of why strict punishment and boundary lines are necessary to protect the innocent from the polluted well.
00:52:26.860 --> 00:52:33.820
We laid out the biblical rules for gaining actual lasting influence without selling your soul to secular machinery.
00:52:34.059 --> 00:52:42.619
And finally, we ended on this profound, challenging call to abandon our tribal jerseys and reclaim our role as the third team on the field.
00:52:42.940 --> 00:52:51.420
It is a comprehensive framework that forces you to think deeply about the mechanics of society, regardless of where you personally fall on the modern political spectrum.
00:52:51.740 --> 00:52:57.099
It strips away the superficial arguments and asks you to critically examine the foundation of an ultimate allegiances.
00:52:57.500 --> 00:52:58.059
It really does.
00:52:58.300 --> 00:53:06.780
So as we wrap up this deep dive, I want to leave you, the listener, with one final provocative thought to mull over as you go about your day.
00:53:06.940 --> 00:53:09.900
I want you to build on that final stadium metaphor we just discussed.
00:53:10.220 --> 00:53:12.059
Keep the image of the referee in your mind.
00:53:12.460 --> 00:53:28.300
If the third team, the referees who are supposed to be holding the standard, spend all their time wearing the jerseys of the home team or the visiting team, and they spend all their energy turning around and arguing with the angry fans in the stands, who is actually watching the game?
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Who is left to protect the integrity of the field?
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Exactly.
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The next time you vote, or the next time you feel the overwhelming pull to jump into a vicious political screaming match on social media, take a breath, step back, and ask yourself Am I playing the game or am I holding the rule book?
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That is the ultimate question we all have to answer for ourselves.
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Thank you so much for taking this incredibly deep dive with us today.
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We will catch you on the next one.
00:54:19.099 --> 00:54:20.700
Do you have the right view of God?
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In today's culture, we're often led to believe we must choose between happiness and holiness, as if God's joy and God's justice are at odds.
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We're tempted to embrace a version of God who is only gracious and loving while quietly sidelining his holiness, righteousness, and judgment.
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But what if we saw God as he truly is, whole and not fragmented?
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What if we understood that every attribute of God, his mercy and his majesty, his love and his law must be held together in sacred tension?
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In the study of the Ten Commandments, Pastor Erwin Lutzer moves us beyond mere rule following.
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He invites us into the blazing presence of a holy God.
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Because unless we grasp the weight of his holiness, we will never fully treasure the depth of redemption offered at the cross.
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For any amount of donation to Biblical Talks, we will send you the book.
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Please go to biblical talks.com and click the Donate Here tab.
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Thank you for listening to Biblical Talks.