During
this current era of society, many people are often faced with difficult
questions where it seems as though they are forced to do things against their
will…in order to comply with government regulations. There are endless examples of situations where
people may feel coerced to compromise their faith, such as employers in how
they stand by their religious convictions and apply those values to their
businesses or individuals standing up for their individual beliefs and
convictions in a world full of regulations.
As a result, where should believers draw the line in the sand and stand
up for what they believe in matters of faith and practice?
For
example, many Christian-owned businesses in the United States are struggling
with the issue of whether they should provide company-paid health insurance to
their employees, if the government makes them buy insurance with birth-control options…since many of
these same business owners may have strong religious convictions against
abortion and/or contraceptives. In the
same sense, numerous individual believers also feel violated as these same
government mandates are trying to force them into buying individual health
insurance policies with required birth-control and abortion coverage, even
though they would never use such coverage and have religious convictions
against using their own money to help supplement these controversial insurance
policies.
Similarly,
a female athlete from a Kentucky high school in the United States was recently
forced to make a hard decision. This
lady was randomly assigned a racing bib for a cross-country running competition
with the number “666.” However, she had
strong religious convictions against wearing this particular number during a cross-country
race and she asked the racing officials for a different bib number, who declined
her request. As a result, this female
athlete was unable to compete in the competition…for standing by her religious convictions.
Obviously,
the Word of God teaches that believers are to obey their magistrates. However, where should believers draw the line
in the sand and stand up for what they believe in matters of faith and
practice?
“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. Consequently,
whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has
instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” (Romans
13:1-2 NIV)
“Remind
the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready
to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and
always to be gentle toward everyone.” (Titus 3:1-2 NIV)
Well,
looking back to the Old Testament, there are two great examples of people
standing by their faith regardless of the cost.
These individuals understood the importance of obeying their civil
leaders, but they would not follow any orders that made them compromise their
faith. In other words, the leaders of
their era forced them to make difficult positions about whether they should
obey them, at the expense of disobeying God.
In the Book
of Daniel, there are the three Jewish men – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego –
who stood by their religious convictions, by not bowing down to worship the
golden image of King Nebuchadnezzar as commanded by his decrees…with the
penalty of getting tossed into the middle of a fiery furnace. After the king personally confronted these
Jewish men about not bowing down to worship his gods and reiterated his threat
about tossing them in a fiery furnace, the three Jewish men still stood by
their convictions by saying the following.
“’King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to
defend ourselves before you in this matter.
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to
deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know,
Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you
have set up.’” (Daniel 3:16-18 NIV, italics added for emphasis)
As the
story continues, the king became furious at their response and had these three
Jewish men thrown in a fiery furnace. Nevertheless,
the king was later in awe as he witnessed the three Jewish men walking around
in the fiery furnace, along with a fourth person who looked like a son of the
gods. In the end, King Nebuchadnezzar
had a change of heart by making a decree to the people of any nation or
language who said anything against the God of these three Jewish men, that they
would be cut into pieces and have their houses turned into piles of rubble.
After the
reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, King Darius took over the kingdom and he wanted to
place the Prophet Daniel in a leadership position over the whole kingdom. However, there were a few of the king’s
administrators and leaders who wanted to have Daniel removed, but could find
nothing against his virtuous character. So
they realized the only way they could make Daniel break a law was by having the
king make a temporary decree, forcing Daniel to obey his God instead of the
king, which would result in Daniel getting punished and killed in a lion’s
den. These corrupt officials managed to
trick the king into passing this temporary decree, and subsequently notified
the king that Daniel was disobeying his decree by praying to God…not the gods
of the king. As a result, the men
manipulated King Darius into tossing Daniel into a lion’s den, for his alleged
disobedience to the king. Fortunately,
the God of Daniel took away the lion’s appetite, evident by Daniel’s
conversation with the king the following morning.
“At
the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near the den, he called to
Daniel in an anguished voice, ‘Daniel,
servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able
to rescue you from the lions?’ Daniel answered, ‘May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths
of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.
Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.’ The king was overjoyed and gave orders to
lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound
was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.” (Daniel 6:19-23 NIV)
Once
King Darius realized the power of Daniel’s faith and God, he released Daniel
and placed the men who falsely accused him, along with their wives and
children, into the den of lions…where the lions overpowered them before they
even hit the floor. Much like King
Nebuchadnezzar’s response, King Darius issued a decree to the peoples, nations
and men of every language that all of his kingdom people must fear and reverence
the God of Daniel.
In
summary, Christians need to remember that we have a responsibility to obey our
civil leaders and magistrates, as a testimony of our faith in God. In contrast, we may need to use wisdom in
discerning some laws and orders – such as the ones that may just irritate us
and the ones that may make us compromise the more important matters of our
faith, our relationship with God.
Overall, Christians are to remain obedient to our civil magistrates;
however, our obedience to God trumps any
man-made rules that may make us compromise our faith and disobey God.
Dave, great Discussion and great answer
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