war on Terror Dialogue (5)

Raleigh - Good conversation.

I agree with much of what you say. But, at this point in my biblical studies, I do believe that we are able to help someone "pay for" their sins. It certainly requires us to define what "pay for" means. Certainly, only Jesus can pay the price of our sins and only Jesus can save us and change our lives. But, calling others' sins out, making sure they recognize them, and making sure they receive appropriate governmental (earthly) judgement is something we should do. If I see my neighbor kill someone, I should love them by making sure they are arrested and receive proper punishment for their sin. If Adolf Hitler is being a tyrant and killing innocent people, we should fight to have him arrested and receive proper punishment for his sin. The community of accountability is important to our existence, I think. That is what I meant.

Romans 13:1-2 tells us that "1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." As long as the government is not going against scriptural doctrine, we are to submit to them and "blindly" follow government powers. (E.g, the bible says nothing about how fast I should be able to drive my car, but I do need to blindly follow government powers in regards to the speed laws on the roads.) So, the issue/question is determining where the government crosses the line on going against God and where we draw the line in following our government. Remember, our government was put in place by God ("the authorities that exist have been established by God"). In the old testament, many kings ruled and did wicked things and can easily be described as un-Godly or non-Christian men - we are constantly reminded that God is still in command of these rulers and that God ordains and establishes our governing authorities in order for us to have some order in our society. We might not always agree with what our governing authorities do, but we do have an obligation to submit ourselves to the laws and positions that are established by them (again, you can't distort this teaching to think that if the government tells us that we must bow down and worship statues of Bill Gates, that we will all do it - but, the teaching is still valid as a core rule for us to live by).

Lastly, we can say that the word "nation" is a "wordly" term, but it certain is used widely in the bible. Personally, I think it is okay to label ourselves as nations. God established all government authority, which is purposely broken up into nations - God created/established many nations in the old testament and understood their purposeful earthly distinction. Therefore, I do have an affiliation to a nation - I am a proud American with the never-ending longing that our nation will turn to God, but knowing, as a whole, it probably won't. So, I start at a level that I am able to influence, my local community, and show the love of Christ the best I can and work to spread the gospel with the hopes that it will spread across our great nation and into our governmental positions.

Jason, if I've mis-interpreted the scripture here, please let me know. I'm going on my study last winter of the old testament and Jim's recent explanation of Romans 13 that I am able to remember.

Brent