i think we can all agree it's "right" to question authority, be that politicians, church leaders, judges, teachers, parents, etc.
right?
by its nature authority has to be questioned, stood up against the Manual, second-guessed.
but is it right to question christianity?
my kneejerk reaction was "no, of course not..."
but then i was thinking.
aren't you expecting people of other religions to question their belief system and god when you tell them about christianity? if we want other people to read the bible, shouldn't we read the book of mormon, or the koran, or the torah, without a mind of "what can i find to argue about?" are we coming at evangelizing thinking about how right we are, and they're doing the same?
if it's so false and obvious, then what is there to fear?
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Well, we are called to blind faith. *shrug* But I see your point.
just wondering-do you have any verses about blind faith? i'm sure i'm just missing them.
I see your point too, but like Em said we are called to blind faith. if you're telling someone about your faith, you have to believe in it so implicitly that nothing can shake it. and if you start questioning it, you're leaving room for doubt. I'm not saying we should try to attack someone else's belief, but we have to know it's weak points that will bring up doubts in their minds, so that they'll start questioning their beliefs that are wrong. we have to believe that Christianity is the only right way, and stick to that without questioning it. Of course, we do have to test the people who claim to be prophets or whatever, because our blind faith can't make us blind to truth and lies interpreted as truth.
Since we do the A Beka program for lots of things in school, it gives a christian perspective. Actually, there are of course a couple of things wrong with it, but that's not the point.
I'm reading a book on America's government, and they point out lots of refrences in the Bible that say to obey authority. I'm sure that we aren't to go angainst God's law, but otherwise I do think it is immportant to obey our leaders.
credo ut intelligam.
I think it's fine to question your authorities when what they're saying/doing goes against the Bible, but not to disobey them, because they're still God-appointed authorities over us.
hmmmmmmmm. well, i encountered more resistance than i thought i would.
so, verya+eowyn you would say it's wrong to voice displeasure and say what's wrong with what our government does? as long as it doesn't go against what the bible says?
different than obeying. of course we are supposed to obey, although there is a time to make a stand, perhaps symbolically.
It's fine to voice displeasure with authority. That's called freedom of speech. however, it's not biblical do disobey the authority God has set over us.
And if the government's not going against what the Bible says I don't see why you would need to voice displeasure with it.
And the time to make a stand is when the government does go against what God says.
i can't say i've ever disagreed with you any stronger, verya.
of course we are supposed to obey the government, always.
but voicing dissent or displeasure is at the heart of everything, of american politics, of the history of the world. we would be nowhere if we couldn't. even when it isn't obvious from the bible.
the bible doesn't have much to say about race or racism. some have used the bible as justification for racism, others have used it to try to speak against it. so then how can you justify the work of many of my heroes, the men and women, christians or not, who fought against the racism and oppression in the last two centuries? the vast majority of the brave people who fought it used peaceful sitins and eloquent speeches, and they succeeded. in equality, in freedom.
the patriots of the revolutionary war fought against the tyranny of britain stealing all our money.
i can think of so many examples. the only times we have gotten anywhere in history is if someone takes a stand, fights against the system, usually in a nonviolent way, but freedom is not always free. jesus certainly didn't always obey his authority. jesus didn't fold under what was expected of him or what people thought of him. he used violence when he needed to, he used love and rhetoric and wisdom when he needed to.
Wait a minute. Just hold on a second. Isn't that what I was saying?
Apparently I'm not making myself very clear.
Obeying God first is always our first priority. If that means taking a stand against those who disobey Him, that's what it means, and that's our duty. I totally agree with you on that. Where it gets tricky is in the gray areas, where Christians disagree with each other. That's where we just have to stand on what we believe is right according to our interpretation of the Bible.
However, if the government isn't doing something against the Bible, there's no reason we should disagree with them, if we agree with the Bible. If they are doing something against the Bible, then it's still our duty to obey them (depending on the the circumstances of course, Revolutionary War being a good example of enough being enough), but voicing displeasure is fine, as long as we don't directly go against the laws they set over us. But I agree with you, there does come a time when you have to make a stand to stop opression, and start to take away our freedoms.
ok. lol. that makes a lot more sense. i just thought you were saying that unless it's in the bible, we can't voice displeasure with the government. but apparently we're mostly in agreement. so goodtimes, i'm sorry.
wow weird. we're mostly in agreement. write that down somewhere, it might not happen again for a few decades.
;) JK lol.
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