When is it appropriate (if ever) for a Christian to defy or rebel against the government?
Lengthy
title aside, I think this question is one that many American Christians have
been considering given recent political events that show that the church and
the government are not of the same mind on some issues. Now I’m sure many of
you have already put together what political events, but my goal here is not to
discuss what has happened in our country, but what we should do now as
Christians.
Now then, we can examine the
scriptures to find other cases in where men of God followed their hearts and defied
their kings and governments in accordance with the will of God, not the will of
man. The first story to come to mind for me is Daniel (Daniel 6). There were
officials in the kingdom who convinced Darius to issue a decree that no one
will be worshipped in the kingdom for thirty days except for King Darius. Now
Daniel did not follow this decree and went and prayed to God three times a day.
The officials who got Darius to issue the decree turned Daniel in, and Darius
had no choice but to throw Daniel in the lion’s den. God protected Daniel
through the night and when Darius came back and found Daniel alive, Darius
declared that all people in the kingdom must fear and revere the God of Daniel.
There
is a second story close to this one that I always loved as a child. The story
of Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three were serving in the palace of King
Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon and were appointed to high offices in the province.
When Nebuchadnezzar built for himself a golden image, he decreed that whenever
the sound of music is heard, then all must fall and worship the image, lest
they be thrown into the furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego naturally did
not worship this image and were turned over to Nebuchadnezzar. When threatened
with the furnace, they said “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves
before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God
we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your
Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty,
that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Nebuchadnezzar then ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than normal,
and cast the three into it. When the King looked in he saw Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego standing in the furnace with someone who looked like a Son of God.
When the three men came out, they were not singed nor smelled of fire. When the
King saw this, he offered praise to the King of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego.
Now how
about a New Testament perspective? Most of these can be summed up in the
authorities of the land telling the disciples of Christ, or Christ himself, to
be silent about the message they were bringing. In the book of Acts, Peter and
John responded in this way: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen
to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts
4.19-20). This I believe is the core of
the examples I have presented here. In each case the government at hand was
trying to usurp the ultimate authority of God and commanding that their word is
greater than God’s. But wait, you might ask, what about Romans 13? Well let’s
unpack that for a minute. It says in this passage that all authorities derive
their power from God. Well then if these authorities want to quote that, then
they must understand that I expect those authorities to acknowledge the
authority of the One who has placed them in that position. Anyone who is smugly
using these verses then expecting me to give you a blank check to do as you
please. I would direct you to the multitude of kings of Israel and Judea in the
Old Testament who were deposed when they decided that they could do as they
please and not answer to God. Now this could be a grey area and you can get
different answers, but my answer is as thus. If the governing authorities over
me start blatantly ignoring the God who has given them authority over their
people, then they are not worthy of recognition. I think this is close to the
rationale used by German Christians during the reign of Hitler or by European
Christians during the rise of Stalin and Communism which led many to ultimately
give their lives either disobeying the regimes or by speaking out against them.
I hope
to have explored and answered this title question in my own way. In regards to
the political matters I mentioned at the beginning, I had actually begun
writing this when Christian bakers were being sued for not baking cakes for
same-sex weddings, but I decided to bring this back to the front of my mind
when Kim Davis was arrested for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Now
my thoughts when coming to these matters. They are definitely grey areas and
different Christians will give you different answers. For the bakers, I think
it’s something like giving a homeless person money. Even if they use that money
for illicit means, we are called upon to help those in need. Now maybe a
wedding cake isn’t exactly the same thing, but this is the path my brain is on.
If you are a Christian baker and have a different conviction about this, then
please carry through your convictions. I am only writing what I feel led to
write on these topics. For Kim Davis, this is a trickier matter for me. I think
Kim is thinking of Mark 9:42 by doing what she did. She is hoping to prevent God’s
children from stumbling. I can understand this, and I would hate to put my name
to something that I view as enabling sin as well. I don’t know what I would do
in that position, I know many who have said that I would find a different job,
which would be the safe option, but we are also called to be bold in Jesus’
name, and maybe Kim was standing her ground in terms of her faith. We can all
armchair general this case until the cows come home, but we can all take away
that Kim stood her ground for her faith and was jailed for it. That is how she
views it and I think that is how quite a few people view this. The one take home
lesson I would take from this big ramble of mine is this, if the powers that be
try to usurp the authority of God or change what He said, then the powers that
be will find themselves with Christians who will respectfully decline to follow
them. May God bless you and have a good rest of your night.
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