The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Covid Protocols and the Church

Acts 5:25-33 (ASV) 25 And there came one and told them, Behold, the men whom ye put in the prison are in the temple standing and teaching the people. 26 Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them, [but] without violence; for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, 28 saying, We strictly charged you not to teach in this name: and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. 29 But Peter and the apostles answered and said, We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree. 31 Him did God exalt with his right hand [to be] a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. 32 And we are witnesses of these things; and [so is] the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him. 33 But they, when they heard this, were cut to the heart, and minded to slay them.

We are to obey the government when it does not require us to do what God has forbidden. And, we are to disobey the government when it forbids us to do what God requires. Peter and the other disciples' disregard for the order to desist from preaching the gospel was biblically defensible and they were more than willing to receive the punishment for their disobedience to the order, which was imprisonment. However, Scripture does not teach universal pacifism, e.g., using deadly force to preserve your own life, the life of your family or any other human being when it is threatened is biblically warranted. So, in practical terms, being arrested for disobeying some government order not to preach on the vile sinfulness of homosexuality, fornication, adultery, etc. is something which one would have to allow. But if a bunch of gestapo-like cops came into a church with firearms and threatened to kill anyone who did not obey, then the people's use of deadly force would be justified, regardless what the government's laws might be concerning armed resistance.