When David used a sling to slay Goliath of the oppressive Hittites with a stone, he wasn't exactly giving Caesar what was Caesars.
Yes, and he was a sinner. As you know, David was not a perfect man. He stole, betrayed his own people to the Philistines, and so on. Nowhere is it said that everything he did was perfect.
With Christ, we are held to a much higher standard.
You are supposed to stand up for and protect your familiy.
Not at the cost of sinning. God is more important than family.
If taxation is to a point that you can no longer provide food and shelter for your family then you have a right to protest and in the best of Christian ways seek out a better way for your family and people.
This is said nowhere in the Bible.
Btw, the taxation imposed on the colonies was nowhere near unbearable (a few percent on tea imports + a few other goods). The reason the colonies rebelled was according to the principle of "No taxation without representation". This is a fine principle, but not one worth rebelling over if you follow the Bible.
I think that many founding fathers had strong Christian upbringings and faith. Benjamin Franklin for example frequently spoke as a Christian,
He was a friend of Voltaire's, not exactly a model Christian. That man is called by many "the father of modern atheism", and for good reasons. Voltaire is the true father of Hillary.
... in fact he was quoted by our priest recently at church, which surprised me.
Indeed. There are many misguided pastors and priests, especially among the catholics, though not only by far.
It is not clearly stated that we are to submit to Earthly authorities.
Romans 13:1-6:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is Godʼs servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out Godʼs wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid Godʼs wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
If the Romans told the Christians they could not practice their faith and had to worship roman gods, how did that work out?
Yes, this is the only exception. And even this does not warrant rebellion, only non-compliance, even if it means death (martyr)
If Obama tells us all companies have to pay for abortions thru their health care program you seriously feel the Bible clearly tells us to support that? Now Obama wants us to open up assisted suicide "because we just want people to have choices". You think the Bible clearly tells us to let government assist murder whenever they feel like it?
Yes. We have to obey them even in this case. Governments are sinful. When Jesus said "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's", he did not imply that Caesar is without sin. God is the avenger of sin. Not us. One can, one indeed has to, express his disagreement with sinful policy. But that never warrants rebellion. In the passage above, it is not said "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities,
if they are righteous". It says "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities" full stop.
I don't feel that governments were given blessing to trample over their people as extreme as they shall wish.
Of course not but again, God is the avenger. Not us.
I'm not in any way saying that I am glad that we had to have a bloody revolution to birth our country. Many other countries like Canada were able to leave the Brittish crown without a war.
Indeed.
I'm also not seeing any connection at all between 1776 and 2016 presidential candidates! Why would be be punished for the American Revolution so much later?
Re-read what I have written above about many evangelicals becoming zealots. And these zealots are treating the constitution (and thus the founding fathers who wrote it during the revolution) as if they were holy. And these zealots form the core constituency of Donald Trump. This is where the connection lies.
Both candidates are horrible!
Exactly. This is our punishment.
