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If it were not for Joseph and Mary's intentional act of defying that which they knew to be king Herod the Great's will and escaping with baby Jesus from out of Herod's mid as fugitives to the land of Egypt then Jesus would have been mercilessly killed and needless to say His ministry and the fulfillment of Scripture would have never come about. Thus in the most fundamental of regards, there is a great antagonism from the very start between Jesus and government (to say the least): Jesus was born into the world as a criminal and would latter be killed as a criminal--a criminal as so regarded by the government, that is.
Jesus considered the institution of taxation to be unjust is given in the below story:
Matthew 9:9-13: As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (See also Mark 2:14-17; Luke 5:27-32.)
It's important to point out here that Jesus actually made a stronger case against the unrighteousness of tax collectors than the Pharisees originally had in questioning Jesus's disciples about it: the Pharisees actually separated the tax collectors from the sinners when they asked "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Yet when Jesus heard this He answered the Pharisees by lumping the two groups together under the category of sinners--thus: "For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
Yet since this is the story of Matthew the tax collector being called to repentance by Jesus we will do well to ask how it was that Matthew obtained repentance. The answer: By first giving up tax collecting! And from this beginning Matthew would thus go on to become one of Jesus's twelve disciples.
One more story: The Bible is quite explicit as to who it is that really controls all the mortal governments on Earth, and which god is the god that the mortal rulers worship:
Luke 4:4-8: Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours." And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " (See also Matt. 4:1-11; Mark 1:12,13; Luke 4:1-13.)
So is it your understanding of Christianity that to collect any tax is a sin?
Yes. I know several people in rural Texas who would fall under the typical definition of an evangelical and are staunchly democratic. In fact, a part of my family is "born again" Christians. They seem to have managed in keeping politics out of religion, and vice-versa.
interesting. Thanks for the response. The people you know seem like good people and true Christians.
Liberals confuse federal enforced confiscation and redistribution of wealth with charity. In fact, such actions are not charitable and designed to enslave a componant of the population to obtain a permanent constituency. Nothing could be more anti-Christian. Further, the perpetual attempts of the left to demonize and insult those who believe in God tends to drive those with any sense of faith away from the left. To the leftist, the state is the source of thier salvation and faith. To Christians, God is supreme to any political philosophy, and putting one's faith in the supremecy of the state is misguided.
Liberals confuse federal enforced confiscation and redistribution of wealth with charity. In fact, such actions are not charitable and designed to enslave a componant of the population to obtain a permanent constituency. Nothing could be more anti-Christian. Further, the perpetual attempts of the left to demonize and insult those who believe in God tends to drive those with any sense of faith away from the left. To the leftist, the state is the source of thier salvation and faith. To Christians, God is supreme to any political philosophy, and putting one's faith in the supremecy of the state is misguided.
I belong to a liberal/progressive social justice congregation and we pray each week for God's guidance not the states. We also constantly pray for compassion and wisdom in our national leaders.
I assume you would place Trinity UCC as one of those leftist churches that are looking to the state for salvation. The sermon of Rev. Wright's that is most often quoted was titled "Confusing God and Government". In it he asserts that you should keep your faith and trust in God and not in the Government. You should not look to the government for those things that only God can deliver. You will only be disappointed by placing your faith and trust in the government because governments lie, change and fail. The accusation against governments was against all human governments not just the U.S. government.
Your analysis of what "liberal" Christians believe is flawed.
Christians who follow "Thou Shalt Not Steal" are morally opposed to "Share the Wealth" by coercive government.
Robbing St Peter to pay St Paul is not virtuous.
These very same Christians would think of Jesus as being a spokesperson for the coercive government when he said... give to Caeser what is his (taxes) and to God what is His.
And, He went far... trying to coerce a rich guy into giving all his wealth to the poor, as a condition (Mark 10:17-31). But then, I don't think that is how these "Christians" you speak of read the Bible. The rich guy turned out to be quite conservative in his ways. He did follow the ten commandments though... (this sounds like a Holiday Inn commercial )
Last edited by EinsteinsGhost; 05-25-2010 at 06:14 PM..
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