Chapter One: A Christian's Role in Modern American Government

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. ¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax^[a] to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸ But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, ²⁰ and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

²² When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

                                                                                          Matthew 22:15-22

"Pay your taxes."

That's the overt message here.  But there is more at the heart of it.  At the heart of this answer from Jesus we find a tiny nutshell of what forms the theology of how Christians interact with their government.  The taxes the government asks for belongs to them.  So pay them.

Simple enough.

But, what if those taxes go to things that are contrary to God?  What if you money is used to fund something that you abhor, something that you feel is a sin?  Is that an excuse to not pay them?

Pretty sure the taxes in Biblical times went to un-Godly things, like, you know, killing people who followed Jesus.

Here we are, in 2012, about to elect or re-elect a president.  It is being viewed by many as the most important election in a long time- perhaps in over a hundred years.  Why?  The economy, taxes, health care, free speech/freedoms in general, uprisings and unrest in the Middle East.  It's rough out there.

But what do we as Christians need to do about it?  Who do we support?  Republicans or Democrats or Libertarians or something else?  How do we decide what issues are our key issues?  And what do we do if the people we elect this November get it wrong?

This blook (blog book) came about because I was watching the elections with interest.  Actually, I was watching my friends on social media respond to the elections with interest.  I saw friends, both believers and non-believers on both sides grow more vocal, more committed, and in some cases more and more angry at the other side.  I began to realize that posting or saying things that leaned toward one political ideology or another would instantly alienate me to half my friends- and half the country.

There are things I think are vitally important, things that I feel our government must or must not do.  There are things that scare me, things that terrify me about what comes next.  I see a nation so angry, so politicized that no matter who wins November 6 there will fallout to come.  I believe all sides are so wired up, so committed to their views that a loss will drive some to do something violent.

I write this, because I hate that it has come to this.  That we have become so tied to our political views that we have lost sight of our theological views.

I don't want to talk about who I think should be president.  I don't think any candidate can save us from what we really need to be saved from.  I'm not going to tell you what party I think you should support.  Most political parties I know of have some great things and some things that brush up against evil- they are human institutions, after all.

No, I want to look at what the Bible says about our response to taxes, to charity, to healthcare, to war, to social justice (back then, just called justice) and even our response to unjust governing.  Because I have heard both liberals and conservatives complain of government leaders being unjust and therefore showing them no respect.

Respect is where I want to start- we need to have it for each other.  Repuklicans, Demorats, libtards, CONservatives- I see these and much more disrespectful terms on comments sections on all sorts of news sites.  Other than being childishly stupid- it shows we just don't care about people.

As Christians, our heart should be to love others.  It is the second greatest command:  

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
                                                                      Matthew 22:36-40

Yeah, I know the "Law" here is the law of Moses.  Yet this is the law that many nations- including ours- uses as a foundation.  Respect and love for each other is where it hinges, where it hangs.

Well, actually, it hangs on loving each other, which in turn, is steadfastly bolted to loving God- with our everything.

As Christians, He is our ultimate end.  He is our focus.  He is who we go to for answers, for salvation, for truth.

In the end, our future is not in the hands of Obama, Romney, Paul, Johnson, Democrats, Republicans, Green Party, Socialists, Libertarians, Communists, Anarchists or the United Nations.  It is in God's.  Sure, these people and groups can do things that affect us- but it is God who holds our souls.

To my Christian friends reading this- remember that.  Let your allegiance to God be far greater than your allegiance to politics- or politicians.


Next:  TAXES