Injured Soldier said:The NT doesn't justify revolution at all (Romans 13 KristianJ mentioned), but at the same time it can cast doubt on Christian politicians and voting too. That is the most misused verse in the Bible, I've even heard American Christians use it to justify their patriotism and support of government. How ironic.
"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on them themselves."
The Seb said:Do you agree with the current system of goverment or do you think its time for a revolution...
inquisitor_11 said:IMO from the very first verse of the earliest Gospel, the NT is making revolutionary claims. Mark 1:1 says "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ". In that one opening verse, Mark has made two very bold statements.
1) Gospel = Good News = a term associated with Roman propaganda at the time. Mark takes the "good news" of the imperial benevolence of the Roman Empire, and hijacks the term to proclaim Jesus as Lord in contradistinction to the Empire and Caesar. Such a statement to his anticapted 1st Century audience was incredibly revolutionary.
2) Christ = the promised Jewish messiah, who in the eyes of many was to be a triumphant warrior king. Again this statement was a highly revolutionary one, with connotations of a challenge to the status quo of the day.
These "revolutionary" claims are continued throughout Mark and the rest of NT. The only reason we dont normally pick up on them is because we are isolated by time and culture from the issues that they were facing and the message that their contemporary readers would have been hearing.
Again, its important to understand Romans 13 in the context of all that God has revealed to us in the bible. Clearly there are times when christians are called to obey earthly authority, but there are also very clear mandates for christians to stand up demand a just society that reflects God's concerns for humankind. Ever since Peter and the apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin, and the prophets to kings and queens before them, christians have being say to the poweres that be that "We must obey God rather than men!". Paul did it (and was executed) , the early church did it (and were persecuted), Methodists in the first trade unions did it (the quote in my sig. is from one such person who was sent to Australia as a convict for it), Jesuits in South America did it (several were martyred), Martin Luther King Jr did it (and was imprisioned, defamed and shot ).
The byzantine empire was the first great christian government.
It's a proof.
but I disagree that Jesus came to bring political revolution. Jesus used those terms for the same reason he told parables to his disciples: so those who had their own agenda would misunderstand him (which they did), and as earthly examples of his heavenly glory. So yes, they are revolutionary claims, and I would have told anyone so if they had asked, but that doesn't automatically translate into Jesus coming for political revolution.
All those men you listed, none were revolutionaries in the political sense.
If ya don't like the country and the way its run, then simply vote out the gov. or leave. Your choice.
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