Whoever untied the Gordian Knot would be the king of Asia, said the prophecy.
No one could untie the knot until Alexander the Great.
He couldn’t find its end, so he came up with an “Alexandrian solution”—one slice from his sword and the knot was in pieces; thoroughly untied. An unsolvable problem sometimes goes away when a sharp mind or blade applies logic.
Like that great ruler, the leaders of our nation face an intractable problem.
Our Gordian Knot: how can the government best provide for people? That’s what politicians ask. They want to help. So they try as hard as they can.
When we ask, “How can the government help?” our answer ends up looking like:
- A new healthcare program.
- A subsidy for agriculture, industry, or business.
- More grants for students and schools.
- A program to feed and house the aged and the poor.
Since we asked, “How can the government help?” the answer comes in the form of an active intervention.
This always amounts to the government bearing the sword (taxation) to take from someone and to give to someone else. That is the nature of government action: it always involves force or the threat of force.
There is a place for governmental force, and I want to explore what that place is.
What does Scripture say about government?
In this series we’ll look at the Gordian Knot that ties us. We’ll bring Scripture to bear on that knot. We’ll see the “Alexandrian Solution” to the assumption that the government’s place is to help people.
In this series: