I mean American laws can even be enforced in other countries if an American company is present if an individual does business with that company, even if the law of their own country doesn't hold them liable our law trumps it because might makes right?
So yeah I do feel there is a middle ground here and that strict legalism is not biblical, but each person's individual walk and what it looks like is between them and the Lord.
I'm in a ranting mood so I'll exit slowly and not return tonight...prayers appreciated.
Apologies for semi-derail. The Pharmakeia angle is the MOST important in regards to the OP in my opinion, that's the only angle that's ever really held me in check on things as well as being the only damning offense, so should be scrutinized in prayer the most.
The founding fathers rebelled against their sovereign lord. Were they right? There exists in America the spirit of rebellion.
Lot of issues here.
1. First of all, it's probably a logic error to bring up the founding fathers when discussing what YOU should be doing in your daily walk as a CHRISTIAN.
A. They are not you, and their actions have nothing to do with YOU.
How another chooses to act or behave is wholly irrelevant to your own actions and behavior.
B. They weren't necessarily all Christians.
In fact, many of them were definitely not... as attested by their own words.
C. They weren't necessarily using the Bible as their political or philosophical guidebook for their actions.
They were principally deriving their philosophical views from secular sources, such as The New Atlantis by Francis Bacon.
D. You can look as long as you want, and you simply will NOT find any place in scripture where God tells us rebellion is good, and we should violate civil laws and rebel against our government.
- God certainly does use all things to accomplish his purposes. God often maneuvers the lost, or the unwise, to change nations and politics in just the ways he wants them changed. God does move providentially, and he accomplishes his purposes: through lost people and saved people, through sinful actions and righteous actions. God moves providentially through all things to accomplish his ends... but that does not necessarily mean those "all things" are either biblical or righteous.
- So, do I believe God used the founding fathers to establish a new nation? Yes I do.
- Do I believe the founding fathers were paying any attention to God or the Bible when they started a war of rebellion? No.
- How do I make these seemingly contradictory distinctions that the founding fathers were doing something unbiblical, but God still used them in his providence? This idea is found all throughout scripture. God has done this kind of thing continually, all through scripture, and all through history. God is constantly using the actions of unwise people to accomplish his providential will... it's found all through scripture.
2. If American laws are complicated, messy, or unfair, that simply has NO BEARING on the commands in scripture - that God has commanded us to obey the civil laws.
If God gives you a clear command in scripture, and you ignore it... then that is what it is.
You have violated God's command, and you now have to deal with God.
Luckily for us God is generally very patient and merciful.
3. God is also not unfair or crazy: he does not count you "morally" culpable for breaking laws you either DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT, or that for some reason you were UNABLE TO PERFORM.
a. You will still be "legally culpable" for civil laws you don't know about, or that you are unable to perform... the governments of the world are very harsh.
b. But God does not count you "morally culpable" for things you don't know about, or things you are unable to do.
4. LEGALISM: To mention God's clear commands is not to engage in "legalism"... that's not what legalism means.
Legalism occurs when you FABRICATE COMMANDS out of things which are NOT COMMANDS, and then hold people to them.
- An example would be a church having a code for a man's length of hair.
- Another example might be a church having a policy that members shouldn't ever go to the theater.
* But to look in scripture at a clear command, and then repeat it verbatim, and simply say, "This is a command"... well, that does not meet any definition of legalism.
Mii,
Just for the record, I'm not upset with you for honestly raising issues, or honestly voicing your opinions.
I'm just addressing some of the issues you raised.
As Christians, we need to really slow down, study the scriptures, and carefully sort through all these things we struggle with.
And it's ALL of us.
We all struggle with these things, and have to really wrestle with them at times.
..