At first, the passage in Romans seems unequivocal -- a rebellion against established authority seems to be the same as a rebellion against God. But a closer and more considered examination of the situation suggests that this is not the case. First, Romans was written with a very specific government in mind -- the Roman government, as a matter of fact. It considers authority as the earthly servant of God. At the same time, this passage suggests that free will exists, in that men have the ability to rebel against God and authority. Therefore, individual authorities could rebel against God and use their authority in ways that were not in his service. This would make the authority no longer the arbiter of sin, and rebellion would be almost morally necessitated.
For many who rebelled during this nation's revolution, and even those who came to the continent in the preceding century and a half, the most powerful motive was the belief that their government was no longer serving God's word and will. The passage from Romans implicitly makes obedience to the government contingent upon that government's obedience to God, and a rebellion in authority makes a rebellion of the people necessary if they are to continue serving God. In addition, the new authority they established could be seen, given a certain reading of this passage, as an assign that the revolution was blessed by God. As "there is no authority except that which God has established," it could be claimed that the rejection of England's authority and the establishment of a new continental authority was a manifestation of divine will. God established a new authority to replace that which had turned away from him.
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s illegal acts were made in the same spirit, it could be argued, though his was not an attempt to reject or replace an authority but rather...
Christian Biotechnology: Not a Contradiction in Terms Presented with the idea of "Bioethics" most people in the scientific community today immediately get the impression of repressive, Luddite forces wishing to stifle research and advancement in the name of morality and God. Unfortunately, this stereotype too often holds true. If one looks over the many independent sites on the Internet regarding bioethics, reads popular magazines and publications, or browses library shelves for
It indicates that he is set apart form all that is creaturely and corrupt, that he is distinct from this physical and fallen world. It affirms that God is not like humans, angels, false gods, animals -- or anything in existence. In short, we may say that there is no one like God, even though that statement has the obvious limitations of a negative sentence -- it does not
7). Still, it seems safe from the seat of scholarship to condemn such exclusive and condemnatory practices as decidedly un-Christian; the oft-quoted (or at least oft-referenced) Biblical passage from John seems to be one of the more direct and unequivocal statements regarding who will be saved: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but
The Christian Socialist movement traces its origins in the middle of the nineteenth century when a large movement of the middle class population appeared against the huge social problems that the industrial revolution provoked. Modern industrial life of the nineteenth century, as well as modern financial life of today, require the social principles of Christianity as to decrease inequality and increase mass productivity. Anglican theologian Frederick Denison Maurice is believed to
God and Creation Has the concept of God well and truly woven itself into the very psyche of the average American citizen? What exactly does the average American think about God? As a matter of fact, each and every American must take some time to sit back and think deeply about these issues, and also pay close attention to the power and influence of God in the history of America. Perhaps
An army's best use is not in battle against waves of invaders, but as a deterrent against invasion by its value to strike fear into the heart of a potential enemy. With its ranks swollen by Christians, the army is larger than ever and gives foreign princes and peoples the strongest disincentive to attack Rome or what shelters beneath the Roman eagle's wings. Thus, even though Christians can be counted
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