What I always come across with my Christian family is that God puts the government in place so it is obviously his will for us to follow. They are very Southern Baptist a lot of them believe that everything happens under God's control. Also the whole render unto Caesar thing has them thinking that God wants us to be governed. I have a hard time arguing with them about that so I hope that your articles have some information about that type of stuff.
Another problem I have is that I don't believe the same as them. However, if you are going to use their own beliefs to prove it, then I think that I will definitely benefit from that. I keep trying to talk to them about it but they are not open to it at all. Can't wait to learn (sorry this was so long)
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Jesus said that if a man steals your jacket to also give him your shirt. That is not condoning the theft. So why should I believe that when he tells us to pay our taxes it isn't the same situation? Jesus made it very clear that it is not ok to steal, yet he doesn't punish the thief. People that make those southern baptist arguments are using the same logic as those who tried to defend slavery with the bible.
Okay that makes a lot of sense. So what about the thought that God puts the government into place therefore it is his will that we have a government. Basically they say that if God wanted us to have no government, he wouldn't have put one in place. It seems stupid to me but I can't think of a rational argument. Could I use the same argument for that? Not sure how that would work.
well sure, most people believe that god is completely sovereign, so everything that happens is his will. So having the government right now is his will. But that doesn't mean that it is not his will for it to end in the future. Just because slavery was an institution at one point doesn't mean it was his will for it to continue. Actually from the standpoint of absolute sovereignty it was his will that it should end, when it did, and exactly how it did
basically no one can say whether or not it is God's will for anything. We have no way of knowing that. I personally believe that although God is sovereign, he chooses to not interfere with our lives most of the time, rather waiting for you to ask him for his assistance.
Thanks! This helps a lot. I might bring it up to them again then. I am looking forward to your series :)
not my series but you're welcome
That was an awesome discussion guys. You're asking great questions and covering a lot of ground that I plan on covering myself.