A Time to Disobey

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We live in a culture that is increasingly political. Americans are very concerned with who our leaders are and what they are doing. Our citizenry has become obsessed with litigation. We are sue happy. Liberals, specifically, want everyone else to accept and affirm them. But a Big Brother is needed to enforce these lawsuits. So, whether on the side of the prosecution or the defendant, we are obsessed with the government.

But no political candidate ought to be adored or lifted up above God. The one in government office simply ought to perform his God-given duty, and the one underneath him ought to obey. Furthermore, all Christians ought to stand behind conservative and traditional - words I believe are synonymous with true - values because God is truth.

But is there ever a time when a Christian should or even must disobey the government?

Once I donated money to get a "Back the Badge" yard sign a couple years ago. With the BLM mob going crazy burning down cities, fear had crept into every community that had access to a TV or a smart phone. I stuck the sign proudly in my yard, boldly making my endorsement for law and order. Indeed, I am a law-abiding citizen (generally speaking). My only run-ins with the police have been traffic violations and those have been few. I have friends and family who have taken the oath to serve and protect, and I am very thankful for those whom God calls into that vocation to enforce laws. All Christians ought to love order, for God is a God of order.

The trickiness of it all, is, however, that a Christian is not of this world. The police and conservative politicians are not our ultimate allies. I used to be offended when people would say that not all police officers are "good." Getting into my political corner, as it were, I would defend my side against the opposition at all costs. But now I see that a Christian can and should look objectively at all matters. The truth is, there are some police who are wicked and corrupt, just as there are some politicians who are wicked and corrupt. Can the badge be backed unequivocally? In short, no.

Increasingly today the FBI and police forces are being weaponized against a quiet, submissive citizenry. (Look at the FBI raids on a former president of the United States, among others recently.) Those in political power are growing increasingly power hungry and trying to silence all those who would speak up against them. These same politicians and policemen who I have supported in the past may come knocking on my neighbor's door to unconstitutionally arrest him for speaking the truth someday. This is how totalitarianism goes. It usually starts slow and then increases as people grow more afraid and as the good politicians and police and military personnel are replaced with those who are evil. Such is the case in American government.

Where am I going with all of this? I am trying to say that we Christians, who are citizens of another country (a better one) ought to be ready and willing to go against the structures we have so long held dear in our nation. What I mean is that a time is coming when we cannot comply with government edicts or even police orders if and when they violate God's ordained structure of rule in the world.

Certainly, we must not comply when the directive directly opposed to God's Word. Similarly, we have the option to not comply when authority oversteps its God-given bounds. Romans 12:1 states, "Do not be conformed to the patter of this world...." Simply put, we are not to comply with the system of this world, but we are to be like Christ: "... but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

When commenting on the role of civil authorities, Samuel Waldron in an article in the book The Confessing Baptist (edited by Robert Gonzalez) states, "When human authority exceeds the limits of its jurisdiction, it may be disobeyed" (201). Waldron makes it clear elsewhere that we often get it wrong in the United States: the government doesn't get its right or authority to govern by the consent of the governed; on the contrary, all government has been instituted by God and, therefore, is to obey and submit to God's rules regarding the government's diplomacy (see Romans 13:1).

Our founding fathers understood something of God's role in government. That is why our founding documents are full of references to God and his Ten Commandments (see James Madison's quote at the bottom of this article).

In summary, government institutions have a place and should be obeyed - not because we give them our consent to govern us, but because God has placed them in charge of us. But when governments overstep their ordained boundaries, we have a choice to comply or not comply. When the government dictates to its citizens what is right and wrong (i.e., legal and illegal), I have an obligation as a Christian to disobey that authority when it is in contradiction to God's rules. For instance, a government may say that homosexuals can marry, and the state may recognize this as legitimate. But the government has disobeyed God's rule in this; God strictly states that marriage is between a man and a woman only. Therefore, I cannot obey any such government edict to participate in homosexual marriage in any way, shape, or form. As Peter and John say, "We must obey God rather than men."

To bring this full circle: will I obey the police? As long as they obey the duties God has placed on those who bear the sword. Will I support certain politicians by voting for them? As long as they stand on values that align with God's Word, upholding the law that he has written for all of time.

“We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God” (James Madison).