The Principle of Self-Custodianship

Glenn Peoples says that a Christian cannot be a libertarian. He says, “A Christian, by becoming a libertarian, compromises and gives up part of her Christianity.”

His argument is that libertariansm is based on the Principle of Self-Ownership or Individual Sovereignty

Each individual is the owner of his own life and has the right to live it as he sees fit, as long as he respects that same right in others.

and that this principle is incompatible with the commonly held Judaeo-Christian view that everything, including one’s own life, is owned by God.

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it (NIV)

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine (KJV)

It does not follow from this incompatibility that a Christian cannot be a libertarian, because libertarianism does not have to be based on the Principle of Self-Ownership. My view is that Christian libertarianism is based on the Principle of Self-Custodianship.

Each individual is the custodian of his own life and has the political right to live it as he sees fit, as long as he respects that same political right in others.

One thought on “The Principle of Self-Custodianship”

  1. Firstly, Thank you brother for putting up The King James version of this verse! (Ezek 18:4) I appreciate that.
    Secondly. I want to point out that you are making a mere semantic argument. This is because by your reckoning Christianity does not support private property!… because *everything* ‘Belongs to God’.
    This is a patently false position. The problem is semantic. When we say we own our own lives, and own property we are talking about *Political rights* (as you have mentioned here)… about our dominion over ourselves and our possessions that we have of right… from God… in respect to each other… yet does not negate God’s supreme ‘ownership’ of everything… like the Brittish system of Land holding where Everything is said to be owned by the Monarch, yet Subjects freely buy and sell, and rent the properties between themselves and hold * the rights over the land*. Politically speaking… in Libertarian terms… in social contract terms… Christians own their own lives and property. That is how the government ought to view its relationship to every individual irrespective of their religious association. This is equality before the Law. If a Person chooses to be ‘Redeemed’ by Christ…. ‘Purchased’ by his blood. ….”bought with a price ” …*They* voluntarily accept him *as their Lord*. Furthermore should they seek to give Christ his due they will *voluntarily* commit their bodies as living sacrifices… holy and acceptable unto God which is our ‘reasonable service’ (Romans 12vs1,2). Note the voluntary nature of this virtue! Note our Bodies are still referred to as ‘Ours’. We Literally *Possess* ourselves… control ourselves… even after Christ becomes our Lord. The act of submission to Christ is the act of self ownership voluntarily serving/ bowing to God. Thus the principles of Private property, and self ownership do not negate Gods sovereignty over everything, and that it is merely a semantic delusion to think that these principles are incompatible with Christianity.
    Thus social Laws regarding Private property and individual sovereignty are political/legal rights which the government and society are bound to respect… and we Christians endorse and respect these conventional laws because we understand them to be a secularisation that correlate with our theistic *principles of Divinely sanctioned custodianship* …. And do not negate Gods absolute sovereignty whatsoever. It is unnesasary for me to go through the Bible pulling out countless examples of self ownership and self responciblity. ‘Thou shalt not steal’… ‘Thou shalt not trespass’… etc are all examples of the scriptures endorsing Private property. God Told Abraham to go to the Land of Cannan which *he gave to him*… and his decendants…*for a posession*…etc. I will as soon as possible put forward the arguements that thwart notions that Jesus was a communist. Even during the Future dispensation of the Millenial kingdom of Christ there will be Private property.

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