Obey The Law, Disobey Immorality

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.’ (Romans 13:1); ‘Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.’ (1 Peter 2:12); ‘See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces (or basic principles) of this world rather than on Christ.’ (Colossians 2:8)

Recently, a news article reported that official-looking street signs began popping up in San Francisco, California, including one in front of a Louis Vuitton store, that stated, ‘Notice: Stolen Goods Must Remain Under $950’; an insinuation that stealing items under $950 is legal. Though the signs were disavowed as unofficial by the city and taken down, California’s laws are written in such a way that increased the threshold of ‘petty’ or misdemeanor crime to $950. With this and the defunding of police and limiting their powers to enforce laws, it is common to have thieves walk into a store and fill up backpacks of stolen goods, and walk out without any impedance or consequence.

It also became a crime to attempt to stop those thieves, as well. A store owner, or a concerned citizen shopping in the store, who wants to stop the criminal, is, in California, often facing charges of assault or battery if an attempt is made to physically deter the criminal from taking items or leaving the store. Without the ability to stop the criminals, the possibility of arrest if an attempt to stop is made, and the lack of police presence to deter crime, many big-name stores have been leaving the urban areas of California as the cost of the losses and the risks of employee injury are outweighing the profit to be made by sales.

The dilemma of the business owners (and the true statement of the signs) is the questioning of the authority (and intelligence) of the government, and in placing these signs a form of civil disobedience to protest government edicts that are detrimental not only to the businesses but to the community as a whole. Rampant crime, permitted to be unfettered by the government, causes businesses to board up and close. Closed businesses no longer employ residents and create ‘business deserts’, where people can no longer buy goods and services in their communities and must travel outward to do so, adding a cost to obtain essential goods (food and clothing) to a people who now have high unemployment and little money coming in.

The authority of the government to allow crime should be questioned, and eventually the disobedience toward their authority will be both passive (the signs being put up) and eventually active (taking action to stop thieves despite the risk of arrest), when the impact of lawlessness affects the basic needs to sustain a livelihood, especially if they cannot simply close up and move away. Vigilantism and posses in the ‘wild west’ were such reactions, disobeying the legal law in order to stop crime and maintain moral law. (Not all posses were morally just, to be clear.)

Questioning authority and disobeying authority are two different things, though the line between the two is thin and if not careful is easily crossed.  For the Christian, It is OK to question secular authority and what it does, and we need to obey it up to the point where it is in agreement with God and His precepts, per Romans 13:1.  We can question taxes, for example, and we can voice our approval or (more likely) disapproval but we still need to pay those taxes, as we are subject to those rules authority has established, and God tells us to obey that authority. 

We can disagree but we must obey – as long as it is not going against God and His Word, which is moral and Righteous.  If we see something that may not be necessarily correct but not necessarily goes against God – needing a license to drive, or a permit to install a roof – we should endure the ‘pain’ and submit, and (if possible) work through the system to change what we perceive as wrong, per the instructions given in 1 Peter 2 on Godly people living in a ‘pagan’, secular world.  Our example should be to show morality and Righteousness to an immoral and unrighteous people.

When we find authority going against God’s precepts, for example the transgenderization of our children in public schools, or a push to silence churches in the US, similar to the situation in Canada, then those we need to stand up to, and if necessary, disobey the authority to ensure obedience to God.  Colossians 2:8 provides we are not to be held captive by secular concepts and ideas that are counter to God’s Word.  ‘We always did it that way’, or ‘The majority thinks this is the way to go’ are not the philosophical concepts that God wants us to live by, especially since the Christian life is in the minority. 

Instead, the Lord wants us to follow Him and not traditions or mobs. When laws are passed that go against God and His Word, it has to be weighed against God’s Word for legitimacy.  A law in Nazi Germany made it illegal to aid, harbor or do business with Jews, and another made it legal to force them into internment camps.  Blind obedience by the majority of German people to these laws ended up in the Holocaust of over 6 million Jews. 

While it was legal to obey such a law, was it moral and did it reflect Righteousness?  Obviously, that is a resounding ‘no’!   We need to live and depend on the Principles of Christ and not those of this world.  We need to live as much of a legal life as we can, but we must always live a moral and Righteous life.  Being ‘right’ secularly does not equal being ‘right’ morally. 

In the case of abortion, for example, we must speak up against it, work to make it illegal, but most importantly love upon those who are either ready to get an abortion or who have gotten an abortion.  Abortion is a moral issue, not simply a legal one. Protesting abortion must reflect Jesus’ actions; to show love and restraint from emotional anger.  There are times when Righteous anger is acceptable, but like Jesus, it must be sparingly used, and used to only defend God’s will and not our own selfishness.