A Christian American’s Redress

So the question comes up all the time, “how can I be a Christian and resist the government’s authority?” Doesn’t Paul the apostle make it very clear that we are to submit to governing authorities? Romans 13:1-7. I will try never to take the word of God out of context. Paul was speaking very clearly about government authority in general and their purpose to restrain evil. I believe Paul (and of course the Holy Spirit) is directly referring to the Executive Branches of Government i.e.”he does not bear the sword in vain”. In the United States of America we have a constitution that describes the authority of the government and responsibility of its citizens.  Our government’s constitution preamble states:  We the People of the United States in order to form   a more perfect union…

Our Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government.

Americans have a history of “self governance.”  Abraham Lincoln acknowledged this in the Gettysburg Address. “…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”.

We are a government “of the people”, “by the people” and “for the people” as well as a nation under God. So as citizens of this great country we have a Biblical responsibility to follow its laws that we, through our republican form of government created but also have a responsibility and a right to alter or abolish it as an unalienable right if it moves beyond its constitutional limits.

So how can I do this and remain within my scriptural boundaries? Well if we read the “Bill of Rights” we can read in 1st 9th and 10th amendments to the United States Constitution which allow us the freedom and responsibility of  demanding our rights from our government through redress. If our rights are being violated we have a Christian obligation to resist. Not only for our sakes but for the sake of our children and other Americans whose rights afforded them by our Constitution and laws are being violated.

So when a fellow Christian brother or sister rebukes your outspoken position using Romans saying it is God’s will to submit to our government, let them know you are, and then  that you expect them to get off their couch and stand up for our country as well…In the name of  our founding fathers, the constitution and your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.