Sittin' Up with the Dead Blog - Post 015 - Loophole Three - A False Bible Verse!
Bible sanctioned excuses for ignoring rogue governments.
Johnny Reb: I got it! I found another loophole to Romans 13!
Dead Ringer: Uh, oh.
Johnny Reb: Yes. You believe the Bible is inerrant, or at least very reliable, right?
Dead Ringer: Yes. As John Wesley put it, "If there be one error, there might as well be a thousand." Or the way I look at it, errors are either sufficiently rare that I can believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ or they are not. If they are not, then I can know nothing and my faith has no basis. If they are rare, then I am completely unable to spot an error if one could exist. So I am forced to accept every verse because there is no other source of contradicting information that I can trust more. Especially since the authors of the Bible claim it is inspired by God. Either I trust those eyewitnesses, or I don't. Certainly, I wouldn't reject a verse just because it doesn't sound right to me. If errors are rare, the odds that a verse that I want to be false is actually false are negligible!
Johnny Reb: Ok, ok. I don't need a long explanation on WHY you think the Bible is inerrant (even if you stipulate "for all practical purposes"). The point is, you accept the Bible as authoritative and are trying to deal with intrusive human governments from a Biblical perspective, right?
Dead Ringer: Ok. Then I guess I won't even mention that the Dead Sea Scrolls proved that Scriptures could be handed down for over 2200 years without any changes occurring in them. That sounds supernaturally supervised to me.
Johnny Reb: Whatever. Let me make my point! Look at Romans 13 again, very closely:
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid;
Johnny Reb: Did you catch that? This is a blatantly false statement in the Bible! Today some city governments forbid private organizations from handing out food to homeless people. What government praise do their citizens get for doing good? The US government now requires Catholic organizations to pay for birth control. Everyone must pay for abortion coverage. I can't even give some of my cow's milk to a hungry child without running afoul of those that bear the sword.
Isaiah 5:20 seems to better address how one should view such "non-Romans 13 compliant" governments:
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Dead Ringer: Well, as I said, there can't be a blatantly false statement in the Bible. We just need to understand what God is really saying here...
Johnny Reb: Ok, so give me a plausible way to read my new favorite verse, that makes this a true Bible statement!
Dead Ringer: Well, I'm going out on a limb here, but the only way I can find that this can be true (as I'm sure it is) is to assume that governments that become "a terror to good works" are no longer sanctioned by God. In other words, Romans 13 is only talking about authorities that meet its own description of a legitimate government ordained by God.
Johnny Reb: Whoa. Dude. That's Heavy.
Dead Ringer: Your actual mileage may vary.