War on Terror Dialogue (6)

Hey Brent,

Romans 13 is one of the most popular texts that is missinterpreted. It calls for us to submit to governing authorities. First we have to realize that submit and obey mean two different things. We live in the United States, therefore we have to submit to the rules of the United States. This means that if we break a law we are supposed to accept our punishment, as Jesus did when he was persecuted. Early christians did not obey the laws and were often jailed. They submitted to
the government by accepting the punishment even though they did not obey the laws. Paul, who wrote Romans, was always running from the law. He was an Outlaw, as were all of the other apostles/disciples. This is how early Christianity (or The Way as referred to in Acts) functioned. It wasn't until Constantine declared Christianity the state religion, that things changed. (You think merging state and church was positive, whereas i see it as negative). To me, this is the point when Christianity became distorted as anything that is politically motivated does, and this gave rise to Catholocism. Before this time period Christians refused to hold a position in the military and government (not in Bible you can look this up if you want) and were persecuted for it. I have one more thing to address. The Bible says that God appoints ALL leaders, so does that
mean that he appointed Bush, Stalin, Mussolini, Napoleon, Nero, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad etc? Does this mean we should obey them. I think the answer is definitely not.

This is the last email that I am going to write on the topic since we could debate forever. The reason I left Faith Church was because I felt as if they just ignore these issues that we are discussing right now. I believe these are very very important in applying the Word to our modern lives. If you want to check out some organizations/beliefs I support, I recommend these sites:

http://www.mcusa-archives.org/library/resolutions/1995/1995-23.html
~this is the mennonite confession

http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/
~decent resource

http://www.bic-church.org/
~Brethren in Christ network

www.circleofhope.net

Remember. Embracing Jesus as our Savior is the most important thing here. We
can all agree that He died for our sins and Rules Supreme!

love,
Raleigh