Should We Unquestionably Obey The Government? - 11:8:24, 8.28 PM

Reason for Truth

Are Christians biblically commanded to ALWAYS DO EVERYTHING the government tells them to do? What about when going to war? I am not confusing the WW2 time period with today. These are two different times in history, two different generations, which very different moral values. That being said, the principle of biblical moral grounds for obeying government is just the same. It seems that World War II was the last war that I see as definitively morally justified to warrant war. War leads to death and destruction on all sides in order to squelch evil. Today, I am going to show you that for the most part, we are to follow the government, but the Bible is clear that we are to avoid EXTREME PATRIOTISM as well. What is "Extreme Patriotism"? In light of Romans 13:1 as a primary verse which says, "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. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement." (There is also Romans 13:3-13:5 which speak further to the issue.)
But, there is more to God's position on the ethics and morality of listening to government when we look at the Bible. For example, just because a government (often an immoral or biblically immorally run government) commands (Christians to) war, doesn't mean the that war is justifiable biblically. As such, we as individual Christians act rightly/biblically when we critically analyze the WHY behind THAT we are to go to war. After all, war entails death, destruction, injury and mental scars that last a lifetime. As such, we are called to analyze government mandates with a biblical worldview and act rightly in light of what God says. And if a godless government asks Christians to fight a biblically immoral war and kill or harm other human beings, we are called as Christians to analyze that war and our level of involvement in military service. This is a touchy subject and I am VERY patriotic. That said, I serve God before I serve any government or human leader(s). I pray this episode brings more clarity than it does emotion. Make sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel! Join our COMMUNITY at: www.StevenGarofalo.Com
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