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Loin Girders

A passionate orthodox Christian man's occasional blog to support those who stand firm. Gird your loins, noble warriors for Christ.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Is government sacred or profane?

How can we choose any one political course when they all seem to lead to loss of life and suffering for one group or another? Is government always and only profane? This question comes from posts started here by conversations between Dan Trabue and Jholder.

posted by Unknown @ 9:10 PM  

2 Comments:

  • At 9:58 PM, July 08, 2005, Blogger Unknown said…

    A Little Scripture to Leaven the Conversation

    Isaiah 9:6For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, [ Or Wonderful, Counselor ] Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

    Exodus 18:13-26
    Listen to this passage
    13 The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. 14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?"
    15 Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws."
    17 Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied."
    24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

    Deuteronomy 1:9-17
    Listen to this passage
    The Appointment of Leaders 9 At that time I said to you, "You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone. 10 The LORD your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as many as the stars in the sky. 11 May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised! 12 But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself? 13 Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you."
    14 You answered me, "What you propose to do is good."
    15 So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials. 16 And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien. 17 Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any man, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.

    Romans 13
    Submission to the Authorities 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. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

     

  • At 1:42 PM, July 13, 2005, Blogger Dan Trabue said…

    I'm not dissing the concept of government. I do tend to think the best government and the best decisions tend to be local.

    But the question I'd like to see more of us wrestle with is, what do we as christians do with leadership that is acting in ways that we feel contrary to our values?

    For instance, I'm what I consider to be fairly consistently pro-life. That is, I'm opposed to the concept of abortion as birth control, opposed to the death penalty and opposed to wars generally.

    These are all life and death scenarios and there is rarely someone running for office that is on my side on all of these issues. Who to vote for?

    In addition, because our country is so large and such an economic force, our economic foreign policy can have life and death implications. For instance, by requiring Nicaragua to repay debts acquired under the Somoza regime - even if it means cutting schooling and health services, we impoverished an already impoverished country, leading to thousands of deaths.

    What to do? What to do?

     

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