Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Titus 3:1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Thank God our founding fathers believed differently than St. Paul or we would all be singing ‘God Save the Queen’ at sporting events.
Another passage from 1 Peter 2:13-17...
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor."do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil". I love that. It flies in the face of the libertarian agenda that we should legalize drugs, or porn or abortion or etc.
/johnny
You may notice that, while muttering dissent, American patriots remain remarkably law-abiding and indeed submit to lawfully elected & appointed authorities. There has been no violent rebellion; talk & preparation in that direction remains wholly a matter of buttressing the boundaries of law, reminding leadership that they too are subject to law. In fact, what we agitate for is continued adherence by officials to the instituted government precisely because our Constitutional republic has been, to describe it in good faith if not perfect doctrine, instituted by God.
I think it’s pretty clear that we are talking about authorities that are God fearing and intend to do God’s will.
“for they are keeping watch over your souls,”
Certainly not the leaders in the US government including 0bama.
“those that exist have been instituted by God.”
Ahem, God does not institute evil leaders unless it is via judgment of a nation (Babylon vs Israel). Evil leaders arise from the free choice of wicked citizenry to support evil leaders and the deceptions and wiles of the evil leader.
“to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,”
And what good work did Hitler, 0bama or Stalin authorize?
I think it is so very obvious that following leaders that are infected with and intent on evil is clearly very wrong. God never intended Germans to follow Hitler’s orders to kill Jews. Even secular lawyers at the Nuremburg trials realized that.
prepare 4 L8R
dont pass this article to obama....... he already thinks he is Gods gift to man
My personal hero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, seemed to know how to rightly divide these verses.
I also like the follow up arguement where they tell Christians they are hypocrites for being willing to stand up and meet force with force, instead of "turning the other cheek" and such. Being a Christian is not a suicide pact. The Bible is repleat with examples of God's people protecting themselves and defeating evil through force. The big discernment for Christians is knowing when to accept our fates as martyrs, persecuted for our faith, and when to stand and protect ourselves and the weak with the sword.
“The State is empowered ONLY to punish those who violate the Second Table of the Law.” - NO KING BUT JESUS: Romans 13 and the Perfect Law of Liberty (http://web.archive.org/web/20071015041700/http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3ad0b80b3a17.htm)
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I suppose this means that we should happily allow the government schools to de-christianize our kids, and teach them how to be faggots.
Let your daughters be husbands, and your sons be good wives.
This is obedience to the word of God...
They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
The above verse makes much more sense, if the people in power are ruled by the powers of darkness they can not be Gods servants.
Were the rulers who crucified our lord and killed his followers servants of God?
I can`t say for sure but
i am glad Peter nor the writer of Hebrews did not go quite as far as Paul did.
And what did Jesus say about the authority of rulers?
you go tell that fox.
Luke 13
31 The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee.
32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
Not anti ruler just pro every thing else.