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Matthew 5:41 |
A "gun control law" is a mandate for one group of gun owners ("the government") to use their guns against another group of gun owners ("citizens," "militia," "revolutionaries," etc.). A "gun control law" is a call for increased gun violence. True Christians oppose the use of lethal force against any human being. [ Is this true? ]
Every Government that exists is "ordained" by God.
The word ordained simply means "put in place," not "enthusiastically approved" or "blessed."
- God "Ordains" EVIL
- Exousiai -- Demonic "Powers"
- God Works All Things Together For Our Good -- Even EVIL Things, Like "Governments.
Romans 13:1-7
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except by God, and those that exist are put in place by God. 2 So then, the one who resists authority resists the ordinance which is from God, and those who resist will receive condemnation on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of terror for a good deed, but for bad conduct. So do you want not to be afraid of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from it, 4 for it is God’s servant to you for what is good. But if you do what is bad, be afraid, because it does not bear the sword to no purpose. For it is God’s servant, the one who avenges for punishment on the one who does what is bad. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God, busily engaged in this very thing. 7 Pay to everyone what is owed: pay taxes to whom taxes are due; pay customs duties to whom customs duties are due; pay respect to whom respect is due; pay honor to whom honor is due.
Titus 3
1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
1 Peter 2:13-17
13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
- Anarcho-Pacifist Apologetics in Peter's First Epistle
Social Apologetics A Theonomic Critique of Logic Apologetics Without Aristotle Benjamin Rush Quote On Building the Kingdom- Listen to Audio
Being "subject" is not something Americans are very good at.
Matthew 26:52
King James Version (KJV)52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Matthew 22:15-22
New King James Version (NKJV)15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. 16 And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. 17 Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? 19 Show Me the tax money.”
So they brought Him a denarius.
20 And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”
21 They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.
Render Unto Caesar - R.J. Rushdoony
Jesus on Paying Taxes to Caesar
During this time many Jews were locked in conflict with Roman authorities. Many wanted to establish a theocracy as an ideal Jewish state and for them any Gentile ruler over Israel was an abomination before God. Paying taxes to such a ruler effectively denied God’s sovereignty over the nation. Jesus couldn’t afford to reject this position.
On the other hand, the Roman leaders were very touchy about anything that looked like resistance to their rule. They could be very tolerant of various religions and cultures, but only so long as they accepted Roman authority. If Jesus denied the validity of paying taxes, then he could be turned over to the Romans as someone encouraging rebellion (the Herodians were servants of Rome).
Rome invaded and conquered Israel a few years before Christ was born. Thousands of Israelites were killed. The Empire installed an occupation government.
Matthew 5:41
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)41 And if anyone forces[a] you to go one mile, go with him two.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 5:41 Roman soldiers could require people to carry loads for them.
Reformation Study Bible
5:41 if anyone forces you. The possibility of a Roman soldier coercing a person to serve as a guide or burden carrier was real. Even if compelled by force to do something for someone, one can demonstrate freedom by volunteering more than was demanded rather than begrudging the service.
Generously provided by Ligonier Ministries
Matthew Henry:
Some give this sense of it: The Jews taught that the disciples of the wise, and the students of the law, were not to be pressed, as others might, by the king’s officers, to travel upon the public service; but Christ will not have his disciples to insist upon this privilege, but to comply rather than offend the government.
The IVP New Testament Commentary Series
Love Even Your Oppressors (5:41)
Here Matthew probably means submission to a Roman soldier's demands. Because tax revenues did not cover all the Roman army's needs, soldiers could requisition what they required (N. Lewis 1983:172-73; Rapske 1994:14). Romans could legally demand local inhabitants to provide forced labor if they wanted (as in Mt 27:32) and were known to abuse this privilege (for example, Apul. Metam.9.39). Yet "going the extra mile" represents not only submitting to unjust demands but actually exceeding them—showing our oppressors that we love them and take no offense, although our associates may wrongly view this love as collaboration with an enemy occupation. The truth of this passage is a life-and-death matter for many believers.
Such courageous love is not easy to come by and is easily stifled by patriotism. To take but one example that challenges my own culture, many white U.S. citizens may wish to rethink the patriotic lens through which they view the American colonies' revolt against Britain in the 1770s-did they really have grounds for secession of which Jesus would have approved if they had been his disciples? Past oppression is also easily recalled. British Christians might consider their feelings for Germans; Korean and Chinese Christians, for the Japanese. In some form the principle can apply to most national, racial and cultural groups. While early Christians responded to their persecutors with defiant love (a humility the persecutors often viewed as arrogance), many politically zealous Christians in the United States guard their rights so fiercely that they are easily given to anger (which opponents also view as arrogance).
Rather, Jesus' teaching does mean that we depend on God rather than on human weapons, although God may sovereignly raise up human weapons to fight the oppressors. If we value justice and compassion for persons rather than merely utopian idealism, we must also calculate the human cost of opposing various degrees of injustice. In first-century Palestine, few "safe" vehicles existed for nonviolent social protest against the Romans; Romans viewed most public protest as linked with revolution, and punished it accordingly. In a society like ours where Christian egalitarianism has helped shape conceptions of justice, nonviolent protest stands a much better chance of working. Neither violent revolutionaries (whose cause may be more just than their methods) nor the well-fed who complacently ignore the rest of the world's pain (and whose cause is merely personal advancement) may embrace Jesus without either distorting him or transforming themselves in the process.
Yet Jesus' own life explains the meekness he prescribes. When the time appointed by his Father arrived, Jesus allowed people to crucify him, trusting his Father's coming vindication to raise him from the dead (Mt 17:11; 20:18-19). He was too meek to cry out or bruise a reed until the time would come to bring "justice to victory" (12:19-20). Yet he proclaimed justice (12:18), openly denounced the unjust (23:13-36) and actively, even somewhat "violently," protested unrighteousness although he knew what it would cost him (21:12-13). Jesus was meek (11:29), but he was not a wimp. He called his disciples to be both harmless as doves and wise as serpents (10:16)-in short, to be ruled by the law of love (22:39). Love of neighbor not only does no harm to a neighbor but bids us place ourselves in harm's way to protect our neighbor.
IVP New Testament Commentaries are made available by the generosity of InterVarsity Press.
Zealots and Sicarii - The "Second Amendment" crowd of first century Israel.
If the Bible prohibits violence against those who are in authority over you, how can you justify using violence against these very same people when they are in the process of putting themselves in authority over you -- by invading your nation and conquering it?
If Christian ethics prohibits you from "standing up for your rights" against "the powers that be" (using violence), why do you think you would be permitted to "stand up for your rights" against "the powers that wanna be?" Against those same powers when they are becoming "the powers that be?"
Answer: you are not permitted to use violence against invading powers.
God sent the invaders.
God "Ordains" Evil: A collection of dozens of Biblical references to God sending "the sword" as a judgment against evil nations. This is the Old Testament background of Romans 13.
Governments are evil (sinful; violations of God's Commandments against theft, murder, enslavement, vengeance).
God "ordains" evil, sinful governments, commissioning them to violate His Commandments as a judgment against evil doers, stealing from those evil doers, depriving them of life and liberty, "serving" God as an instrument of God's vengeance.
It's not your business who the "powers" are. God puts them in place, and changes them whenever He wants.
Of course, if "the powers that be" invite your opinion of them ("voting," "referendum," "town hall," etc.) take advantage of the opportunity to speak the truth, and invite them to repent of their confiscation of property, murder, deprivation of liberty, and vengeance.
And of course, if "the powers that be" order you to sin against God, "We must obey God rather than man." (Acts 5:29). In other words, it's a sin to disobey a direct command from God, but it's not a sin to be a victim of governments that disobey direct commands of God (by stealing, murdering, kidnapping, taking vengeance, and everything else the State does routinely). Most Christian teachers fail to make this elementary distinction.
Hebrews 10:32-34
English Standard Version (ESV)32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
Matthew Henry
They were afflicted in their estates, by the spoiling of their goods, by fines and forfeitures.
Jeremiah 29:7
7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
1 Timothy 2:1-2
1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
Jeremiah 27
27 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,
8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
9 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:
10 For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.
11 But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.
"National Defense" is the attempt to avoid "bringing your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon." Or China.
"National Defense" is a very expensive lie.
"National Defense" is not Biblical. It is Humanist. It is socialist. It is fascist.
Matthew Henry
Nebuchadnezzar was very unjust and barbarous in invading the rights and liberties of his neighbours thus, and forcing them into a subjection to him; yet God had just and holy ends in permitting him to do so, to punish these nations for their idolatry and gross immoralities. Those that would not serve the God that made them were justly made to serve their enemies that sought to ruin them. [Jeremiah] shows them the vanity of all the hopes they fed themselves with, that they should preserve their liberties,
Those that will bend shall not break. Perhaps the dominion of the king of Babylon may bear no harder upon them than that of their own kings had done. It is often more a point of honour than true wisdom to prefer liberty before life
Old Testament "Holy Wars" are not a valid basis for "National Defense" in New Testament times. They were offensive, not defensive, and ceremonial, fulfilled in Christ.
- Holy War: Ceremonial Atonement by Destruction
- No "Holy Wars" in Our Day
- Humanist Holy War
- Holy War: National Capital Punishment
- Capital Punishment: A Ceremonial Shedding of Blood
"National Defense" really means "Government Defense," that is, not the defense and protection of the American People, but the perpetuation of the power-elite of Washington D.C. millionaire insiders. Google "Continuity of Government"
National Security, Swiss-Style by Nick Bradley
| Micah's Prophecy (Micah 4:1-7) click for audio |
Archetypes | Controversy | Comfort | |
| 1 | And it will come about in the last days [For the LORD of hosts has spoken.] That the mountain of the House of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains And it will be raised above the hills |
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| "Last Days"
V&FT "impossible even for God." |
Predestinated tribulation? No. Vine & Fig Tree |
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| 2 | And the peoples will stream to it. And many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD And to the House of the God of Jacob, |
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Conversion of the Gentiles
One religion is superior to the others One has caught our attention: jihadism blow-up vs. convert |
Peace is possible Peace is inevitable |
| 3 | That He may teach us about His ways And that we may walk in His paths." For from Zion will go forth the Law Even the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He will judge between many peoples And render decisions for mighty, distant nations. |
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• The God who gave you life deserves your respect • Every Word this God speaks deserves your attention/ obedience • Bible is not just for "private" religion, "down in your heart" • Also for public policy • Textbook for every area |
When Americans learned the Bible in public schools, America was the most prosperous, admired nation on earth Now U.S. exports weapons/pornography Laws of Nature and of Nature's God. "judgmental" vs. Hitler |
| 4 | [And each of them will sit under his Vine and under his fig tree,] |
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Male + Female Father + mother Family = "undemocratic" |
When families are functional, the State is unnecessary; Archism is suppressed Adams: mothers: |
| 5 | Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift up sword against nation And never again will they train for war.
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Myth:
Fact:
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| 6 | And each of them will sit under his Vine and under his Fig Tree, With no one to make them afraid. For the LORD of hosts has spoken. |
Agrarianism vs. technology | Garden of Eden / City of God
Wilderness vs. Garden |
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| 7 | Though all the peoples walk Each in the name of his god, As for us, we will walk In the Name of the LORD our God forever and ever. In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. |
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social darwinism
immigration vs. "enumerated powers." |
works of mercy vs. focus on "winners," celebrities, power-brokers |
Bereans, search scriptures "I'll have to think about this" "This is what I've always been looking for" |
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Is it true that those who follow Christ consistently repudiate all lethal force against all human beings?
The Westminster Confession says there are three legitimate uses of lethal force against another human being:
Capital Punishment
War
Self-Defense
Obama and Romney spent over a BILLION dollars on their 2012 campaign. America moved not one iota closer to the peaceful ideal of Micah 4.
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