A couple days ago in United States Government Class (Courtesy of Mr. Steve Murry) I was assigned to read an assortment of scripture and write a one page paper on Civil Disobedience. Not so hard, right? Pretty easy A in my opinion. But we all have our opinions. Here's what I got from it. I hope it sheds some light on our Christian patriotic duty, if ever things get too bad.
When, and in what way, should a Christian practice civil disobedience?
In Daniel Chapter 1, there is an example of civil disobedience that shows us the attitude which Christians should have while disobeying. Daniel is one of the men in training to work in the kingdom under king Nebuchadnezzar. He is required to eat a certain food and drink a certain wine, but instead civilly disobeys and eats vegetables instead, because it is better for his health. He even asks his authority if he may do so. When he was told that it would be impossible, Daniel was smart and devised a plan that helped everybody out. He wasn’t out to get his authority, or get anybody beheaded. He was respectful and courteous, even to the point of being what the modern world would call a gentleman. We as Christians should follow this example and, even in the midst of civilly disobeying authority, act respectfully and humbly to the point that even the authority we are disobeying will respect and show kindness towards us.
Sometimes the law of man and the Law of God simply do not line up, and it is up to us as Christians to choose which authority is the ultimate authority in our lives. And if we decide rightly that God is the ultimate authority, we must civilly disobey any authority that contradicts God’s word. “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). Yes, we may be persecuted for disobeying man’s authority, but if man’s authority is in this case false, God does not want us to do anything else but disobey it…civilly, of course.
In Daniel Chapter 3 there is another example of how we should respond to the consequences that follow civilly disobeying authority. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were ordered to worship a golden statue that king Nebuchadnezzar built. But they did not, because it went against what God had said:
In Daniel Chapter 1, there is an example of civil disobedience that shows us the attitude which Christians should have while disobeying. Daniel is one of the men in training to work in the kingdom under king Nebuchadnezzar. He is required to eat a certain food and drink a certain wine, but instead civilly disobeys and eats vegetables instead, because it is better for his health. He even asks his authority if he may do so. When he was told that it would be impossible, Daniel was smart and devised a plan that helped everybody out. He wasn’t out to get his authority, or get anybody beheaded. He was respectful and courteous, even to the point of being what the modern world would call a gentleman. We as Christians should follow this example and, even in the midst of civilly disobeying authority, act respectfully and humbly to the point that even the authority we are disobeying will respect and show kindness towards us.
Sometimes the law of man and the Law of God simply do not line up, and it is up to us as Christians to choose which authority is the ultimate authority in our lives. And if we decide rightly that God is the ultimate authority, we must civilly disobey any authority that contradicts God’s word. “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). Yes, we may be persecuted for disobeying man’s authority, but if man’s authority is in this case false, God does not want us to do anything else but disobey it…civilly, of course.
In Daniel Chapter 3 there is another example of how we should respond to the consequences that follow civilly disobeying authority. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were ordered to worship a golden statue that king Nebuchadnezzar built. But they did not, because it went against what God had said:
“You shall not worship any other God but me.”
Nebuchadnezzar gives them a second chance, telling them that if they did not bow down this time, he would throw them into a blazing furnace. They tell Nebuchadnezzar that they are ready to receive any such punishment for their civil disobedience. They said to the king,
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
The three men knew what was coming to them for their disobedience, and they accepted it, because they were absolutely certain that doing what God said was more important than any sort of pain they were about to endure. They were also certain that, if God wanted to, they would be saved from the flames by God himself. This is the attitude we should have as Christians: ready to take any such punishment for our civil disobedience, because our relationship with God is worth it, and living in certainty and in hope that God can, if he chooses, save us from our punishment.
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