On another board, a poster was whining about after a DWI, and having his license suspended, he got caught driving with license suspended. Then, his wife got busted with his loaded AK sitting on the back seat of her car. He was whining about repressive gov't and the like. So this post of mine resulted.
[i]This post is a spin off of the "guns and wife in enemy hands thread."
The question arises "When is civil disobedience justified?"
Biblically, we are commanded to "Obey the higher powers (gov't) for all authority is given to man by God." Essentially, the thought here is that God is the highest authority, but men complete the ranks of authority under him. To disobey them is to disobey God, for He put them in their place of authority.
Even the Bill Clinton's of the world?? Yes. God gives a nation the jerks it deserves. And we earned bill Clinton. And you have NO idea how much it pains me to say that.
Are there any exceptions to the God / man chain of command?
Yes.
When the Apostle Paul was put in prison for preaching the Gospel (which he was commanded to do by God, a direct command) , he asked the magistrates "who ought we to obey, God or man?" Clearly, when man's law conflicts God's law, we ought to obey God, as man has usurped his authority, and tried to elevate himself above God within the chain of command.
But what about driver's licenses, and the endless list of regulations that are imposed upon us by the civil authorities (the case in point in the post I referred to above) ???
As best I can tell, we are Biblically commanded to subject ourselves to these laws of man, as a sign of obedience to God, until the two come in conflict. Then, we obey God.
Lastly, what do we do in a case where the civil authorities are CLEARLY acting in a despotic and tyrannical fashion, playing a "gotcha" game to turn the citizens into criminals, solely for the purpose of gaining control over the citizens?? (Let me just say the scenario described in the "In enemy's hands" thread is NOWHERE NEAR this situation.)
Well, my advice in dealing with despotic gov'ts would be to do what you KNOW to be right. Among these things we KNOW to be right are principles found in documents like the Bible (#1 most important document to me) and the Constitution. There comes a time to stand up to depots. If we follow the Constitution when present-day civil authorities are acting against it, we ARE obeying the law.
Should you choose to disobey, be ready to suffer the consequences. The problem with MOST civil disobedience today is that people think they should be able to flaunt the law, but without repercussions. THAT is pure fantasy. Grow up.
For instance, would I dodge the draft in a war I thought immoral and unjustified?? Yes, I would, but I would also turn myself into the authorties, for them to administer the punishment they felt justified.
Would I disobey a law that required me to turn all my firearms in? Yes, I would, and likely a VERY nasty battle would ensue. Should I be killed in such a battle, or suffer loss of property or family, those are the casualties of war, and the cost of me standing on principle.
Sorry for the length. Hope its given some cause for thought to you. Don't claim to have covered EVERY scenario, or to have handled the scenarios I did address perfectly. Open to other comments. [/i]