Can a good Christian be a good American?
Theologically - yes-
Religiously - yes.
Scripturally - yes.
Geographically - yes.
Socially - yes.
Politically - yes. Domestically - yes.
Intellectually - yes.
Philosophically - yes.
Spiritually - yes.
Have a nice day!
Bible illiteracy is akin to repeating history, and the bad part of it, sadly.
Romans 13 (New American Standard Bible)
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Romans 13
Be Subject to Government
1Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities For there is no authority except from God, and those (governments) which exist are established by God.
2Therefore whoever resists authority(rulers/government) has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
3For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;
4for it is a minister(rulers/governments) of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
5Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection(obeying government), not only because of wrath(getting in trouble/arrest/punishment), but also for conscience' sake.
6For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers(government) are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.
7Render to all(governments/rulers) what is due them: tax to whom (governing authorities) tax is due; custom to whom(governing one's) custom; fear to whom(governing one's) fear; honor to whom(governing one's) honor.
Now the only part of
Bully'sargument, in my estimation, that is close to correct, is that if these governing rulers violate God's laws, then there is the Christian's responsibility to question and move with their conscience in respect to what God has communicated clearly in scripture. That might mean civil disobedience. Blowing up a Planned Parenthood clinic is not biblical or God ordained. Picketing it is not creating anarchy, nor is it necessarily illegal. It is also a way that Christians obey the governing laws, and utiilize the feedom of speech granted under the U.S. Constitution.
Now blocking a munitions train from delivering live saving munitions to our G.I.'s in Iraq, is not biblical in my estimation, as the very act, may and most likely could cause the death of one's fellow citizen in service to one's country in defense of one's country. i.e. lack of adequate munitions to defend and offend against the enemy.
Paying taxes is not anti-Christian. Serving in the military is not anti-Christian. I still remember the high ranking Roman general that asked one of the disciples of Jesus to come to his home. He was a believer and a gentile at that. He also was a vaunted Roman soldier who commanded a large number of Roman soldiers. There is not record of him proclaiming that he would no longer serve in his capacity as a soldier, but he indeed was a changed man from the inside where it counts.
Here is an example/s of Christians disobeying ruling authorities in the biblical tense or sense.
1. Corey Tanbaum and sister in Denmark during WW2 harboring Jews and helping them illegally emmigrate out of Nazi held Europe. Her and sister were interned in Nazi concentration camp.
2. Freedom Riders from the Northern states that bussed down South in the 60's that disobeyed local Southern state segregation laws. Many and most of these young white and black folks that came down to the Southern states were biblical Christians led by
conscience, could not stand back and allow their fellow man, be kept imprisoned in a life of limited or zero liberty that violated the very precepts of the U.S. Constitution ( government again).
There are myriads of Christians throughout the centuries who have been martyred or risked their lives and did indeed disobey governmental authority, when it went against the
moral, ethical, edicts of revealed scripture.
Crusaders blatantly violated scripture, when the assailed the middle east in the name of the Christian God, and slaughtered millions of Jews and Muslims.
Also, myriads of Muslims slaughtered Europeans with their inroads into Spanish Europe.
All of these actions were in the name of their Allah/God, but lacked the spirit of God in total. Paul said without
"love" we are all like empty bells clanging. Our alleged gifts and abilities given us at birth or later by miracle of God are but empty works that do not glorify God,
but glorify self seeking and self serving man in his most base, and animalistic state. Godlessness!
Many evangelical/fundamentalist German/and other ethnic Christians were thrown into Nazi death camps as they couldn't abide by the inhumanity of the governing authority. Conscience obeyed, meant imprisonment and certain death. The weeding of true Christians from those that claimed to Christians was very obvious.
Most of the Germans that claimed to be Christian, were making this claim by birth into church going families, or just on the basis of having a religious title of Lutheran, Catholic......etc.. Their faith was a title by birth or association, but not an actual soulical, part of their very core nature. It was shallow as a coat of paint on a rusty plank.
When a governing authority is operating according to scriptural principles, it is a protector, of the innocent, and an avenger of those who oppress the innocent. Death penalties and lesser punishments are carried out as an extension of God's judgement upon lawlessness against fellow human beings.
God did not allow the establishment of governing authorities to do as they want without guidance or ethics.
As the above quoted scripture succinctly states, governments and ruling authorities were established by God on earth as His arm of authority, protection, and even to meter-out His wrath or discipline, ethically or His way.
Now if a government fails to do that, it will inevitably fail or be brought down. God raises them up and will allow them to fall too. The Soviet empire seemed like an impervious, stone, wall of power and with little or no forwarning, it's total collapse/demise was a shock to most of the Western world. For those that are agnostic or atheistic in bent, it was just a matter or part of certain circumstances and nothing more, to those that embrace biblical scripture, it was a surprise in a sense of it's scope, but not a surprise that God would allow this to happen.
I'm no politcal expert, and never have claimed to be on this or any forum.
I do however, have a mind, ears to hear, eyes to see, and think that with a twittle of common sense, I can easily see that the above scriptures written by Paul, make sense.
God says governmental authority over you is for your good. They are there to help and protect you. God wanted it established for that purpose. The big "but" is that this authority over us is made up of "people". People are not all God-abiding or biblically inclined in their nature, as Romans 3:23 says, emphatically, that, "All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.". That, "all" is us. So since a government is made up of a gamut of people of different religions, and non religions, there a chance that this established authority can run awry, and away from fullfilling God's intended pleasure for his humanity.
Governments receive discipline as well as individuals. Governments over-tax, and economys fail, and governments fall. Taxation in and of itself is not evil, but it's methods and ways of being carried out may not be of equity to the whole of a nation.
Just remember one things, both Neo-cons, and super liberals. Without taxation, that 911 call you make when your baby is choking or your house is on fire may not get responded to as quickly or efficiently when life counts most unless you have a well-funded government.
I was brought up to respect policemen. My dad wasn't a policeman nor my mother or other relatives in law inforcement. I was brought up to respect them, because they were servants of your government that were their to protect you. They did things that the average citizen would never want or desire to do. As a result, I looked at policemen/women with awe as a kid.
Of course I learned later in life that they were also just people. Like me for instance. They have good and bad days. Never the less, overall, they were their for a reason. If they violated Gods or ethical law, they were not deserving of respect individually, but corporately, I still respected the "police", "fire fighters", "FBI", or whoever was supposed to be working overtly or covertly in my best interest to survive, a protected, and safe citizen of this great nation.
I want this nation to be great, stay great, yet I know that it will at times fall out of popularity with many who are offered or protected under it's incredible umbrella of laws, and statutes.
God never even intended for the Jews to have a king but He Himself as ruler through the prophets. Yet the Jews screamed and clammered for a King as the Phillistines and Egyptians and other nations had. God relented, and allowed them to have a king. His name was Saul. He turned out to be a "bust". First of all they wanted someone who projected an image of physical prowess, strength, handsome, etc..., but missed the most important quantity. They didn't consider if Saul had inner integrity, and that he lacked in large quantity. As a result of Sauls rule, Israel was weakend spiritually, and militarily as Saul saw his authority as only his, and didn't rely on the one who established him in his office. The following king was a man of "ruddy" appearance, and was not large in stature, and was also not well known. His name was David. Yet David and Saul were world apart in the integrity area of life. David had nothing but veneration for God, and relied constantly on God for direction via prophets such as Nathan and others. Was David perfect? No. In fact he went through a period not unlike Saul, where he drifted away from recognizing that his position as king was by grace not by David's power, intellect, and skill. When that happened, David commited very evil acts, yet, he was different than Saul. When confronted with his evil, he repented ( turned away) of his self served life, and returned to relying on God's authority, via the Torah of that time and the direct word of Godly prophets to rule Israel. Again Israel prospered, and they regained much lost from the past. If you ever read Psalms, the longest book of prayers and songs, of encouragement and dispair, it was authored by King David himself.
Anyway, nations are supposed to be ethical, and fair to all, but they are also comprised of fallible humans. When fallible humans lose thier moorings or where their allegiance spiritually should be, then it trickles down to the masses in whom they are supposed to be servants-of. This is when civil disobedience may come into play, as back in the times of the civil rights movement.
Even though these Southern states were considered the bible belt, they had lost their moorings as Christians and were no longer abiding in the very God that authored the book they venerated as the final word. They put into subjugation fellow human beings based on race, religion, and skin color. Even Jews were distained nearly as much as southern blacks.
Southern governmental authorities had lost sight of their higher authority; namely the one allowed them to be established. God will not allow Himself to be mocked by individuals nore corporately via governments that He established as an arm of his righteousness. They will fall inevitably or they will endure much pain and finally get the message and repent.
The ancient city of Ninevah got the message. It came so close to become an ash heap, but God sent a prophet to that city to warn of the coming wrath. Ninevah was an evil city from top to bottom.
Yet, the king when hearing of this coming judgement, told all of his citizens to repent, and cry out to God that the were sinners, and ask God to be merciful. God relented on His judgment, and Ninevah stood for several hundred more years.
Authorities should be respected, but they must also earn our respect. If one individual doesn't respect or obey God's mandates and is a governmental representative, that doesn't mean that the government institution itself is blanketed with evil or is corporately wrong.
Christians are mandated to respect what God has established for their good. Government is supposed to be good, but sometimes becomes bad or unbiblical in the sense of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Stalin and the Soviet Union. Notice that they have all fallen?
Even many so-called Christians got caught up in Hitler's dream of a new Germany arising out of the ashes of the humiliating Versailles Treaty. These Germans perceived or carried their Christian beliefs on the surface, in the form of National pride and socialism. It was misguided, warped, and unbiblical. Hitler was not a Christian, although he played many and most who claimed to be Christians in his country for some time. It wasn't until the bombs started to fall on Hamburg, Berlin, and Frankfurt that the great dream of a nation rising fromm the ashes as the Phoenix started to become a lost fantasy and folly to these Germans.
Christians because of their biblical desire to obey authority can be duped and misguided into thinking that all their government does is right. That is wrong, and God would not and does not condone that in His followers. He wants Christians to keep uppermost in their minds that the world is a place that is basically neutral, but its the people and the physical elements of life and nature that will test our allegiance and reveal our inner soul's strengths and weaknesses, and allegiance.
I think people like Pat Robertson who desire a Christian politician or judge in every position of authority in this country are totally off-base. The bible doesn't teach nor indicate that his is the future or what God intends for us Christians to concentrate on.
God, formost wants each of His followers to reflect His nature as it was revealed in Jesus Christ's life. Jesus said, "I and the Father are one". Jesus was the revealing of God's nature to man. Jesus also came that His life, death and ressurrected life would permeate the soul of every man woman and child one day.
You can't change a government or an individual by putting a new coat of paint on it, and calling it "new". It's till the same underneath. If it's a car, you just covered the body rot, and it will come bubbling through the new paint.
Governments will come and go, but if they are to be sustained for any appreciable length of time, they must be capable of change that keeps them from straying from fullfilling their intended reason for existence. That is to protect the people, and punish the wrong doers, so that anarchy doesn't ensue.
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