Dr. Gordon at GCC had an interesting perspective on Christians and government. He argued that God gave government the authority to create laws in line with certain qualifications, and the authority to punish those who break the laws. He went on to argue that from a Christian perspective there are three sorts of laws: Laws that support God's laws, laws that are unrelated to God's laws, and laws that contradict God's laws, and that we, as Christians, must, need not, and must not follow those types of laws, respectively. However, as God had granted government the authority to punish violators of the law, we must submit to punishment regardless of the type of law we broke.
As far as the types of laws, I tend to agree with him. If the government tells us not to murder, then we must not murder, because we already shouldn't be murdering due to God's laws. If the government tells us we can't buy Cuban cigars (the example Dr. Gordon liked), why should we have to follow that? From a secular perspective, it does not fall within the authority of government as argued by Bastiat, nor from a Christian perspective does it fall in the extent of authority granted to it by God as recorded in the Bible. And if the government tells us we must bow down and worship a golden idol, then clearly we must not do it, regardless of the consequences.
As far as having the authority to punish people for not following unjust laws so that we must submit to punishment...I'm a bit more skeptical on that front, but admittedly it's not an area I've really attempted to explore in depth.
As far as the types of laws, I tend to agree with him. If the government tells us not to murder, then we must not murder, because we already shouldn't be murdering due to God's laws. If the government tells us we can't buy Cuban cigars (the example Dr. Gordon liked), why should we have to follow that? From a secular perspective, it does not fall within the authority of government as argued by Bastiat, nor from a Christian perspective does it fall in the extent of authority granted to it by God as recorded in the Bible. And if the government tells us we must bow down and worship a golden idol, then clearly we must not do it, regardless of the consequences.
As far as having the authority to punish people for not following unjust laws so that we must submit to punishment...I'm a bit more skeptical on that front, but admittedly it's not an area I've really attempted to explore in depth.
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