B. W. wrote: ↑Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:00 am
Note quite - Peter did not in Acts chapter four - there is a line crossed by Govt that one can indeed not comply.
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Now you tell me. I think I was coming to a different conclusion in the execution thread
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=42535.
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Civil Disobedience—Conclusion
What conclusions can be drawn from the above biblical examples? The guidelines for a Christian’s civil disobedience can be summed as follows:
• Christians should resist a government that commands or compels evil and should work nonviolently within the laws of the land to change a government that permits evil.
• Civil disobedience is permitted when the government’s laws or commands are in direct violation of God’s laws and commands.
• If a Christian disobeys an evil government, unless he can flee from the government, he should accept that government’s punishment for his actions.
• Christians are certainly permitted to work to install new government leaders within the laws that have been established.
https://www.gotquestions.org/civil-disobedience.html
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Civil disobedience is justified in one of two situations:
1. Civil disobedience is justified when the governing authorities prohibit that which is commanded by God.
2. Civil disobedience is justified when the governing authorities command that which is prohibited by God.
And there are many biblical examples of believers who, in specific situations, refused to obey the authorities that were over them.
Here are few:
Acts 4 — Peter and John are healing people in the temple in the name of Jesus, and in doing so, they upset the structure of power and control that the religious rulers maintained. When the authorities command them to stop preaching the gospel, Peter and John said, Acts 4:19, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
Another example is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar had built an idol and commanded the people to bow to it, which was forbidden for God’s people. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused, got tossed into a furnace, came out alive, and through their obedience to the Lord, Nebuchadnezzar ends up praising the Most High God.
Other examples include the Egyptian midwives who refused to kill the male Hebrew children in Exodus 2 and the wise men who refuse to report Jesus to Herod in Matthew 2.
There are scores of examples of civil disobedience in the bible. Some of those, while righteous, have consequences at the hand of wicked rulers.
This brings up a lot of questions about specific situations. What about the death penalty? What about war? What about taxpayer funding for abortion?
And unfortunately, these questions don’t always have clear cut answers. Believers need to, as Paul writes in chapter 12, “by testing… discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
But the baseline for the Christian life is subjection to the governing authorities. We need to bend over backwards in our subjection to the governing authorities. If everything becomes an excuse for civil disobedience for you, you’re not in rebellion against civil authorities, you’re in open rebellion against God and you need to repent.
Civil disobedience has a limited scope and must be marked by submission generally and serious and thoughtful disobedience only when you can no longer obey without sinning.
http://roblaughter.com/post/exceptions- ... sobedience
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