[unlearner]

"It is not the responsibility of God-ordained authority to require all their subjects to submit an ID card before they can engage in business and commercial transactions or deal with government agencies. I am not aware of any Scriptural warrant that justifies the civil authority to interfere with freedom of association and private property, which of course mandatory IDs represent. Rather, this represents a form of theft (alienation of property), which is forbidden by the Eighth Commandment. The civil magistrate is no more above the moral law than are his subjects."

You can make the same argument against traffic laws. Where does the Bible say government should tell people which side of the road to drive on? This is an infringement on our personal liberty. </sarcasm>

Requiring proof of one's identity when voting or driving or making financial transactions is not theft by any stretch of imagination. This kind of hysteria, overreaching, and misrepresentation of the Bible does a lot to damage the credibility of Christians.

[Wallace T.]

Would you have found Jesus Christ to be hysterical, overreaching, and misrepresenting Scripture when He cleared the moneychangers from the Temple grounds twice during His earthly ministry? No doubt his actions were in defiance of the civil statutes of His day. Did the apostles Peter and John overstep the bounds of propriety when they told the authorities in Jerusalem: "But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20) In Acts 16, the apostle Paul called upon his jailers, who beat and imprisoned him, to obey the laws relative to the treatment of Roman citizens, which he was. Psalms 2:10-12 emphasize the command to civil rulers to serve and fear God. "Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."

Jesus and the Apostles taught us to honor, obey, and respect those in authority over us. However, they also recognized that said authority is limited. "And He (Jesus) said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's." (Luke 20:25) Look at the laws of the commonwealth of Israel, as outlined in Deuteronomy and elsewhere in the Pentateuch. The role of the civil magistrate was highly restricted to the preservation of civil order, the fairness of weights and measures, and defense of the nation from foreign invasion. Acts of charity were to be handled by the priests, the Jewish "church." Trade, farming, the crafts, etc. were only regulated to ensure honest weights and measures. In the areas of charity and economics, the civil government did not intervene. Of course, these were laws for the commonwealth of Israel, which ended with the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. However, the principles of civil governance found in the Bible should serve as a role model for our times, adapted for the different functions of ancient Israel and the modern Christian church.

Our own American history provides precedent to establish the fact that many Christians recognized that magistrates are subject to moral law. Furthermore, resistance, even to the point of revolution, is justified when governments defy that law. There is an underlying principle in English common law and history, dating to the rebellion of the noblemen against King John, which led to the Magna Carta, that supports this position. Several clergymen, such as John Witherspoon, were among the leaders of the War for Independence.

Your analogy of government run entities, such as roads and elections, with privately run entities, such as banks, is a false one. The government owns the roads and the voting booths and thus may set standards for those items it owns. Banks and credit unions are private enterprises that are not owned by government. It is beyond the proper jurisdiction of government to force bankers to demand identification from customers before they can do business with said bank. The same could be said for other laws that interfere with the use and enjoyment of private property where such use and employment. Such laws are contrary to the teaching of Scripture in these matters.