Paradox?

[kacakboy]

Hey this came up during my youth bible study. We all know that we have to submit to authority i think its somewhere in Romans( the early part of it). It even goes to say that disobeying authority is as if you were disobeying God... which is a very strong thing. SO what if we are caught in a situation where the Law as in Government says we cannot do God's will? My elder says that we will have to continue to fight it then. But won't that be disobeying the authority? Anyone has any verses to say that we have to do god's will before the others? To show a small allowance in certain cases to disobey authority?

[CoreIssue]

Hey this came up during my youth bible study. We all know that we have to submit to authority i think its somewhere in Romans( the early part of it). It even goes to say that disobeying authority is as if you were disobeying God... which is a very strong thing. SO what if we are caught in a situation where the Law as in Government says we cannot do God's will? My elder says that we will have to continue to fight it then. But won't that be disobeying the authority? Anyone has any verses to say that we have to do god's will before the others? To show a small allowance in certain cases to disobey authority?
I think the problem is in how those verses are being interpreted.


Render unto Caesar means pay your taxes and such. How they are used is on the governments head or what work they make you do as long as you don't personally violate your commitment to God.
Submitting to governmental authority means that if government wants you to do violate God you submit to their punishment, not submit to doing evil.

Just a couple of examples.

[a.baker]

The thing to remember basically is that being a Christian means that God and His teachings are always first. We can do this humbly and according to His law when it comes to earthly authority. Remember authority here on earth is full of darkness and mans error. If there is law in another country that if you are a Christian you will be put to death than you know so be it. We Christians can run and hide just like Jesus and his disciples did in situations but if they catch us, drag us out, and kill us there is not much we can do but look to God. We as Christians can fight back when others attack us. We see these examples in different stories in the bible. They would run away and hide or fight back. So basically never go against God for the worldly authority and don't just stand there and take anything thrown at you either. When the time calls we do need to fight back. I starting reading about Daniel. I see a lot of fighting back in Daniel in a just way.

[a.baker]

I am sorry. I meant David is who I was reading about. I haven't read about Daniel yet.

[kacakboy]

The thing to remember basically is that being a Christian means that God and His teachings are always first. We can do this humbly and according to His law when it comes to earthly authority. Remember authority here on earth is full of darkness and mans error. If there is law in another country that if you are a Christian you will be put to death than you know so be it. We Christians can run and hide just like Jesus and his disciples did in situations but if they catch us, drag us out, and kill us there is not much we can do but look to God. We as Christians can fight back when others attack us. We see these examples in different stories in the bible. They would run away and hide or fight back. So basically never go against God for the worldly authority and don't just stand there and take anything thrown at you either. When the time calls we do need to fight back. I starting reading about Daniel. I see a lot of fighting back in Daniel in a just way.

Yeah i am also reminded of Daniel in submitting to authorities... But in Romans 13:2 it goes to say that going against the authorities is equivalent to going against God right? So i mean to me that means serious things. I need verses to say something else or how do we discern what to follow and what not to.

[CoreIssue]

The thing to remember basically is that being a Christian means that God and His teachings are always first. We can do this humbly and according to His law when it comes to earthly authority. Remember authority here on earth is full of darkness and mans error. If there is law in another country that if you are a Christian you will be put to death than you know so be it. We Christians can run and hide just like Jesus and his disciples did in situations but if they catch us, drag us out, and kill us there is not much we can do but look to God. We as Christians can fight back when others attack us. We see these examples in different stories in the bible. They would run away and hide or fight back. So basically never go against God for the worldly authority and don't just stand there and take anything thrown at you either. When the time calls we do need to fight back. I starting reading about Daniel. I see a lot of fighting back in Daniel in a just way.

Yeah i am also reminded of Daniel in submitting to authorities... But in Romans 13:2 it goes to say that going against the authorities is equivalent to going against God right? So i mean to me that means serious things. I need verses to say something else or how do we discern what to follow and what not to.
But in Daniel he had his line as well. He refused to eat food and such that violated Mosaic dietary law.

Romans 13
2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.The word for rebel here means:
Strong's Number: 498 Browse Lexicon (http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Greek/browse.cgi?number=498&version=kjv) Original WordWord Origin ajntitavsswfrom (473 (http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=473&version=kjv)) and the middle voice of (5021 (http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=5021&version=kjv)) Transliterated WordTDNT (http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=498&version=kjv#Legend) Entry AntitassomaiNone Phonetic SpellingParts of Speech an-tee-tas'-som-ahee http://bible.crosswalk.com/images/audio.gif (http://bible.crosswalk.com/cgi-bin/lexicon.pl?id=0498g) Verb Definition


to range in battle against
to oppose one's self, resist

That is the context of actively resisting or fighting. Not the same as refusing to obey but no resisting the consequences of the resistence.

Passive versus aggressive resistance.

The disciples didn't obey commands to not preach about Christ. But neither did they resist when arrested, etc.

[kacakboy]

I see thanks for helping me clear it up. :tiphat: