Obey the Laws of the Land?

Obey the Laws of the Land? Dec 16, '08 1:19 AM
for everyone
I hear this one a lot from the Christian Fundamentalists:


Romans 13:1-7 (New International Version)

Submission to the Authorities

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.


Now this may be true of a Godly ruler, but what about one who claims to be a Christian ruler who does the opposite of what Christ did and taught? What am I talking about?

Personally, I don't remember Jesus saying, "Kill your enemies before they have a chance to kill you" or "If they kill one of yours, kill a thousand of theirs." This is what I remember of Christ:

Matthew 5:38-48 (New International Version)

An Eye for an Eye
"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Love for Enemies
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.



Jesus didn't blindly follow his religious teachers. Jesus looked to God as His governing authority. If Jesus obeyed all the laws of the land, he would have participated in the stoning of Mary of Madelene. It was law to stone an adulteress to death. Jesus wouldn't have overturned the money changers tables. It was lawful for them to charge money conversion rates at the temples. He wouldn't have spoken against the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. He would have obeyed them because of their authority. He wouldn't have healed the sick and fed the poor on the Sabbath because it was unlawful to do so.

Jesus spoke out and took action when he saw wrong being done to the people. Jesus didn't always just say rosy things to people who were doing wrong. Jesus got angry with them. Jesus called them pigs (swine), called them snakes (vipers), and when they said that Jesus was basically in league with demons and said he healed by the power of Beelzebub, even told them that their sins against the Spirit were unforgivable, and probably many other things that weren't written.

Jesus didn't condone war. He was against harming others. I don't believe for one instant that Jesus would have condoned going to war in a pre-emptive strike. Look what he said when Peter cut off the ear of the guard who came to take Jesus away:

Luke 22:50-55 (New International Version)

And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.

Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns."

John 18:10-15 (New International Version)

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)

Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"

That was their time, but in the end times, it's Jesus' time. People have had long enough to learn not to follow bad laws, yet many who claim to follow Jesus insist that we must follow law just because it's the law. Jesus believed in justice.
What have other great men said about these things?

Leonardo da Vinci:

He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done.

Blaise Pascal:

Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarrelled with him?

Cicero:

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.


Edmund Burke (attributed):

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.


Friedrich Nietzsche:

Battle not with monsters
lest ye become a monster
and if you gaze into the abyss
the abyss gazes into you.


Albert Einstein:

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

A. J. Muste:

The survival of democracy depends on the renunciation of violence and the development of nonviolent means to combat evil and advance the good.

Hierocles:

We ought always to deal justly, not only with those who are just to us, but likewise to those who endeavor to injure us; and this, for fear lest by rendering them evil for evil, we should fall into the same vice.


Pearl S. Buck:

When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail.


Hannah Arendt:

The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.


Helen Keller:

Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings.


Henry David Thoreau:

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

We won't defeat evil by doing evil against the evil. That puts us in the trap of being like them and doing evil like them.


Martin Luther King, jr.:

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.


Martin Luther King, jr.:

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Mohandas K. Gandhi:

If your heart acquires strength, you will be able to remove blemishes from others without thinking evil of them.

Prosecuting evil rulers is NOT against Christ. Speaking out against evil is NOT against Christ. Killing others for the cause of peace IS against Christ. Christ expected us to act in the Spirit in which he acted.

God is my ruler and God is my judge. I will do my best to speak against evil, speak against war, and speak against cruelty and injustice whether it be by a "sinner," a "Christian," or a leader. If you can't handle that, you might not want to read my page.

Love, Hope, Peace, & Christ Is With Us All,

Cal-el