“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. When is it okay for Christians to intentionally disobey the government, and how should it be done? CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AS A FACTOR OF THE PROTESTS IN SUMMER 2020. God calls His people to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. Many are in circumstances that prohibit them from engaging in such activities. For a Christian, those "higher responsibilities" are found in our biblical faith. I will stop the motor of the world. 3:13-18 and Dan. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. As just one example, we find Paul coming into conflict with unbelieving Jewish authorities and their Roman overlords across the empire, and Paul seems to use cleverness rather than direct disobedience. We will live at peace and obey the laws. Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. I don’t support the federal, state or local government. This is why we’re holding the Saving America Conference on April 18 as a way to rally patriotic, conservative Americans behind the common goal of defending our freedoms. It depends on whether the demands of the governing authorities require us to disobey God’s specific instructions. We can’t explain everything in those passages in a short answer, but let’s briefly review both incidents: “So they [the council] called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Custom Union Designs on Request Per Bonhoeffer, the church must speak out when humans act in ways only God should, or when the human goals being pursued are evil (as with so-called ethnic cleansing like the Jewish solution.). THIS DAY IN HISTORY – President Carter pardons draft dodgers – 1977, The Moment We’ve All Waited For: Mile Long Asteroid Could Finally End Humanity On Earth, https://www.thepostmillennial.com/bernie-sanders-staffer-calls-for-violence-while-living-lavish-lifestyle/, https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/4949-john-galt, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/15/10-of-the-best-tony-benn-quotes-as-picked-by-our-readers. Dr Olinger, your thoughtful statement is consistent with what I have always believed and taught, but we are being pressed hard, and I am forced to consider more deeply than in the past. OK, could someone clue me in. He was a man who trusted in God’s work behind the scenes, and was willing to wait for the “glory of the Lord.” In many ways, he is a pacifist. i’ve heard him speak. Our flesh wants to fight back, and that will earn a deserved response from government authorities. Now we have another question to ask: when should we disobey? He is also an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. We don’t know him, nor do we understand his motivations. Many times in the Scripture you have evil rulers—both Israelite and Gentile—who rule godlessly. Retracing Scriptural Teaching for the Present Day. 1. Christians are never given the license to sin, nor are they permitted to abandon the dictates of God in order to obey the orders of other human beings. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. You’re going John Galt. Possibly because Herod, like Saul in Jonathan’s case, would have used their disobedience to do evil. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree…’ And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. I have never forgotten that. The “when” to disobey is illustrated by what the rulers did: they ordered the apostles “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” No Christian can obey an order like that. I’m glad you’re thinking carefully about this. Speaking of which: is there a voting strategy we NH Republicans should employ in the upcoming Democrat primary? For me and my house, then, the directives for addressing the question of civil disobedience are the same as for every other question: we’re going to take our orders not from Thoreau but from Scripture. I had to change boots and finish chores. We want to focus on your opening questions, “When is it okay to disobey, and how?” We think the cited examples in Acts 4 and 5, when examined closely, provide a good pattern. – Revelations 21:22-27, […] the government. On one occasion he’ll prevent a beating by claiming Roman citizenship (Ac 22.25), and on another he’ll take the beating and then use it essentially for blackmail (Ac 16.37). Accepting unconstitutional mandates, executive orders, and laws without opposition is rampant across the United States. agreed. I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas. DuckDuckgo.com. authenticity. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Far back in the Old Testament, we also see Daniel and his three friends struggling with laws they could not obey (see this post The Radical – part two, for example, and also review Dan. Jon, I find II Kings 1 particularly hard to reconcile. … As the plot unfolds, Galt is acknowledged to be a philosopher and inventor; he believes in the power and glory of the human mind, and the rights of individuals to use their minds solely for themselves.”, Please don’t thank Goolag for anything. To counter the offensive being waged on our liberties, it is important for many Americans to engage in good ol’ fashioned civil disobedience. In 1956, Martin Luther King Jr. gave the speech that became a highlight of the 20th century civil rights movement. We are born with certain inherent rights…..life liberty and the pursuit of happiness…the Constitution is simply the codification of those rights and a contract with our representatives to defend those rights. To begin with, one of the key distinctives of evangelical Christians is biblicism, or the recognition of Scripture as the ultimate authority for faith and practice (and for everything else); back in 1989, David Bebbington defined evangelicalism with the “Bebbington quadrilateral” of biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism, and activism. humor. “John Galt (/ɡɔːlt/) is a character in Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged (1957). Example. Most entitled Americans are more than content in shackles as long as they have their video games and InstaTwit to keep them distracted…. We also have the examples of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refusing to bow to state ordered religion of the Babylonian King, Rahab hiding the spies, and the soldiers of Israel refusing to kill Jonathan when ordered to by King Saul. • Living, speaking out, and voting as resistance to state injustice. There are times when governments may restrict our activities for good reasons, including wars, terrorism, disease outbreak, or other national emergencies. Of course God was directing those choices for his own purposes, as he does all choices, but he can use evil as well as good. Oct 23, 2020 Edition. In those cases, God is using them to teach the people, including the kings, and God can order anything he wants. Many of us are debating it now because of worldwide government restrictions on public gatherings, including local churches, in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. In fact, persecution, struggle, and hate are often part of our faith journey (John 15:18-20). If the government is trying to act for the good of its people, then that is one of their God-given responsibilities (Rom.