Having spent many years of my life in a Baptist church which was notorious for it’s extremely dogmatic views, it has taken a long time to shake many of the tenets I once considered correct. That combined with the years of pledging my allegiance to the Flag in government school was a powerful elixir. Thankfully my innate sense of right and wrong (that got me in more trouble than it seemingly should have with the “authorities” at school) prevailed and the truth became apparent to me.
One thing that is still particularly bothersome even today is that church had an American Flag and a Christian Flag at the front of the church and we would regularly pledge our allegiance to the American and Christian Flags concurrently. In hindsight, that was an egregious example of the teaching of Matthew 6:24. Jesus said you cannot serve two masters. How can you pledge allegiance to a government whose function is to murder, steal and lie and then in the same breath pledge allegiance to God who clearly condemns these activities. YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS!
Serving Two Masters?
According to the prevailing (and incorrect) admonition of the evangelical right supported by a flawed interpretation of Romans 13, Christians are to unconditionally obey the government and dutifully pay their tribute as demanded or be under the judgement of God. What is interesting about this concept when arguing about the validity of this interpretation, proponent’s arguments fall flat when the US government (which is supposedly exceptional) is substituted with Hitler or Stalin or ISIS.
If you’re going to argue that Romans 13 is a blanket exhortation to obey the government du jour, then clearly those seeking to avoid capitulating to Hitler’s SS were in the wrong. However, very few would admit that is the logical end of arguing that Romans 13 requires us to submit to the government. This seems to be a contradiction, but if you’re like most Christians, you believe the Bible to be inerrant, so there must be an answer.
I have done my own research regarding this and the conclusions I’ve arrived at have satisfied me, but I’ve never written about it because I haven’t had the time or energy to devote to it. Today I ran across an article and a subsequent linked article by Paul Green which I believe to be a fairly accurate representation of my views regarding the subject, so I’m sharing them with you.
Jesus was an open critic of the government. He opposed paying taxes to Caesar, regarded property rights as inherent, placed an prodigious value on life, overturned the money changers tables (think bankers), opposed punishment for victimless crimes and generally opposed the use of force. It’s his example we should follow.