Showing posts tagged state
I have a topic suggestion that I would be interested in you address, if you're up for it. Should we just ignore the government and live our lives following God's direction? Should we denounce bad government? Does it even matter?
Since we have endeavored to undertake a sizable project called, “Submission NOT Endorsement: A Christarchist Primer on Proof Texts”, that addresses your questions a text at a time and presents plausible solutions for Christians, I’ll go ahead and let this old question be answered like that and also give my brief take on it as well :-)
1) Yes. I think the most plausible way a Christian can keep their conscience clear in relation to the murderous state is to live like the state and its sub-organizations simply don’t exist. This means a number of things practically. For instance, I’m not completely ignoring the state by using this internet connection (since it is being paid for in FRN) or driving my car (using FRN again) or using our oven, or running our water, etc. Finding alternatives to these is challenging, and will be consuming much of my year this year! I think the answer is radical, but fairly straightforward: if we as Christians want a conscience clean of state involvement, we must have a total non-consent to every aspect of its doings.
2) I think that since the prophets spent a great portion of their time denouncing bad government, and taking after the example of guys like Daniel and Joseph and ladies like Esther who said, “This far and no further,” when “their” governments became idolatrous, adulterous, or murderous, we have more than enough reason to think that denouncing government is legitimate. Furthermore, our exemplar, Jesus Himself, was APPALLED at the turning of the temple into a center of Caesar and mammon worship (since it was Caesar’s face on those coins) and wasn’t precisely quiet about it. I think also if you read Paul considering Judahic and Roman context you’ll see very strong currents of criticism of the world spirit of the state.
3) Personally, I’ve begun to wonder if it’s worth it. If it even matters. I think that for some people, they would be better off just continuing what they’re doing and not bothering with the state. For others, I would have to say that this is worth it and that it matters very much. On a general Christian scale I would say it matters very much because the state is evil, to its core, in everything it does, and that, therefore, to not at least tertiarily consider our involvement in it flatly disobeys and ignores the gravitas behind Jesus command to love YHWH with all of our hearts, souls, and minds.
Ryan Day Thompson
"Questions threaten the perception of the beneficial systems / A pyramid scheme with it’s cogs and it’s pistons / Mechanization of men, making more and more / Live in a miserable existence / How can so few, claim so many victims / And this begs the question."
— Josh Garrels
Logic and the foundation of the non-aggression axiom
Part 1 of this blog was far too long, so I have broken it up into two sections…I hope to have the rest up by the end of the week Home education has been a journey in our family where I have learned far more than I have taught. Although I received a public education that most would consider above average, I never really learned to question anything in a logical manner. After all how many of us were required to take a high school class in basic logic? I knew what I believed (or so I thought), but could not defend myself when questioned as to why I believed it. Upon deciding to educate our children at home, I met a group of women who introduced me to the Classical tradition of education. Adopting this philosophy has been challenging because we encourage our children to ask deep questions about why we do things, why things work, why things are fair, etc. Frankly at most times this is maddening, but there are few things I want more for my children than to have beliefs which are well reasoned. I have been continually asked questions as I’ve washed dishes, run errands, and most often when I am completely mentally exhausted! Finding that the questions will never cease has periodically been challenging as it might be for others who choose this method of education. But do not squash their curiosity. Instead harness it by teaching them to answer their questions logically. While educating our kids about the faith it became a natural progression to teach them about what we define as Christian anarchy. The two go hand in hand. Most libertarians and anarchists are familiar with the non-aggression principle. Concisely stated, the non-aggression principle is an ethical stance which states that the initiation of force against another is illegitimate. In other words, Tom ought not to take a piece of Billy’s gum without Billy’s consent. This includes not only the use of physical force, but the psychological force of manipulation. Over the years I have encountered many people of varied belief systems and I have discovered the majority of those who support the non-aggression principle do so without considering why – or if – this is a valid viewpoint. Usually they will go as far as saying it is an issue of, “leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone.” However from an educational standpoint, we can’t leave our kids at this place by allowing them to hold an unexamined belief. Most likely they will ask you hard questions about this stance and you must be prepared to help them think through the issue. Until they reach a reasoned answer about the origination of ethics their quest is not over. You see, words like “should” and “ought” make sense only if there is an absolute standard they appeal to.
