Hi Pete,thrombomodulin wrote:Robby
I'm lost too. You say some rulers are not from God, yet you have not provided any way to discern who they are. How do I know if any given ruler has divine authority or not? If you want to go with OT precedence, that's fine. I'll complete that by asserting our identity test for a ruler should be whether or not they are anointed by a true prophet of God. It would also help this discussion if you could give some criteria by which we should decide when civil disobedience is justified and when it is not
Pete
Oh my, well I guess I'm guilty of ineffective communication. Forgive me guys as I try to explain my understanding once more. Pete, it is unnecessary to agonize over who is and who is not holding a seat of authority sanctioned by God. The Christian has the advantage of knowing it's a possibility, but the instititution He established is to be honoured irregardless, for it is ultimately The Christian's responsibility to love, respect, and honor all people, to include those proclaiming to be our enemy. Government institutions exist by God's decree and the rules and laws that govern a society are meant to promote good behaviour and punish the bad in that society. Either way, Christians are, to the best of their ability, live peaceably in the society they find themselves in. When laws and rules begin to clash with God's commands we are to exercise civil disobedience, to the likes of what the 1st Century church has shown us, (such as; stop preaching in the name of Yeshua, and that order being totally ignored.) for we are to obey God rather than man and this may or may not cause persecution in our lives. If it does, well then to God be the glory!
God Bless.