. . . Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.
Hebrews 13:17
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
Ok, let's thump a little Bible here, what do you say? There is always a little point of contention when it comes to Man's law as opposed to God's law. People get all tore up about the morality involved in obeying a law that they believe stands diametrically opposed to their moral compass. It ranges from trying to skirt around some ordinance, i.e. don't bake no cakes for no gay marriages, to running off into the hills and living on crickets and such.
The reason I quoted those two passages above was to show that the Bible has always shown the line between God and Government. Jesus was very clear when baited by the Pharisees about paying various taxes. He let them know in no uncertain terms that God and Government are separate, but could co-exist. In Hebrews the reader is urged to obey civil authority because it has been given the authority to rule and therefore the responsibility thereof. You see, that's a management technique. You can't give responsibility without authority and vice versa. I learned THAT in college!
Let's get one thing straight. We must have government. We must have ruling authority to regulate, protect, and defend the populace. There are people who believe that all politics are evil and should be done away with. They expand this into a belief that to accept the government's ruling authority is to deny God. So for the Israelites to obey King David was to deny God, right? The government is but an instrument used to manipulate the things needed to run the affairs of people. When we drift from that we get into problems.
Take the police. "To serve and protect." Now, be honest, when was the last time a police car pulled up behind you that you felt protected. I'll agree you may soon feel served . . .UP! As the government gets larger the people get farther away from being served, and closer to being served up. It's gotten so bad that when you read certain amendments to the Constitution you have to be an expert in "legalistic" English. Government should be from the bottom up. In the local community the people you see, and touch, can and should make laws that have effects on your everyday life. Dogs don't need to run the streets, kids should be home by ten. As you move farther and farther away the micromanaging needs to step down accordingly. What do the people in Washington state know about the Mexican border? What do I know about how the Amish fertilize their tomatoes? And why should I care? Ok, let's use a real example. Go tell a Mormon all about Rowe vs Wade and see how far that gets you!
The Bill of rights does not convey anything to anyone. It acknowledges the fact that there are certain things that just ARE! You can be an atheist and understand that. You should be able to speak your mind, protect yourself, sleep in your bed, and not be a witness against yourself. No one has to tell you that, or write it down. Even a good dog has a right to bite. It's when we move from these understandings to "legislation" that we get into muddy waters and people begin to wonder if obeying man's law is disobeying God's law.
There IS a moral compass, and we all have it. The Nazis thought they had it all figured out right up until that trap was sprung. Certain things are just wrong. I know abortion is the law, but given the choice of jail or assisting in that in any way and I'll just go to jail. I don't care if you call it Fetus or Cletus, I don't kill babies! Now, will I obey gun laws? Well . . . mostly. I'm not getting shot just so some mom against everything can get a warm fuzzy, but I don't go out of my way to expound my methods.
Then there's the "end of the world" crowd. Run around wailing against the government, but they still use that money in their pocket, now don't they? And don't even tell me about gold and silver. Until you can go to Pa Pa John's and give them a goat for a pizza you have to use SOME form of currency, ok? Someone went off on that old "silver and gold" thing during a conversation yesterday, and without doing an entire article on fiat currency I'll just sum it up. Money is just a handy way of trading goods and services. You can't carry a cow around with you, but you can carry a coin, or dollar, or credit card. That form represents your labor or your goods. What makes the Federal Reserve messed up is when the goods and services run out, it's still printing more money. At some point it doesn't represent goods or services and you need to print LOTS of it to fill the void. That's what we call inflation. Now, where was I ?
Verily verily I say unto you, when you start ignoring government, and stop participating in the actions thereof you are not serving God, you are denying the ability and the responsibility He gave you to work the system and make it better! Of the people, by the people, and for the people. We all come together with our various compasses and God's will is mixed with the affairs of man. To isolate yourself is to deny God the ability to speak through you!
The Rev Terry Holcomb, Christian! The talk show host Doc Greene, Christian! CJ Grisham . . . CHRISTIAN! All these men fight to change the system by working the system. Myself? I'm just an old reptile bait, ignore me. We ARE our brother's keeper, in that we all watch out for each other, and you can't do that while eating crickets and smoking dope! I'm going to give you a brand new mortal sin; civic irresponsibility. If you know something is wrong, and you don't at least show up and wave a sign or SOMETHING then YOU are assisting the government in committing that sin because that's what God put you here for! But there will always be those who refuse to work with the system because it's easier to THUMP a Bible, than to UNDERSTAND it! Like the song says, "Daddy was a sidewalk soapbox preacher looking forward to the end of the world." Well, boys and girls I've seen fools hide in communes and live on radishes and marijuana. I've seen old men marry twenty fourteen year old girls, and people whom you would have thought had better sense wait in eager anticipation to ride a comet to heaven, and when I hear someone telling me he, and only he has the "truth" and the answers right from the Bible, I just ask for his car keys.
Many are called, but few are chosen. You can't volunteer, you get picked. I don't know what the criteria is but I do know when you are chosen you'll know it. William Travis waits in eternity on the other side of his line in the sand. Don't stumble as you cross.
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