The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Revolution

Here is a question that I have being thinking about.
It is pretty clear that we should obey those in authority. These include government officials, bosses, police etc.
This authority was given to them by God Himself.
That obedience of course does not reach where to obey those in authority is to sin against God Himself.

My question, is actually something that was asked of me.

“Are we ever justified (from Scripture) to have a revolution?”

Tom

In the United States, we have a Constitution and Bill of Rights. In that document there are enumerated freedoms which the founders said were given by God and that no government had the warrant to infringe upon them, e.g., freedom of speech, freedom to own and bare arms (self protection against all enemies both foreign and domestic including tyranny of government), freedom of assembly and religion... et al. Scripture tells us to obey the government since God has established such governments who are responsibility to protect its citizens and to prevent and punish evil (Rom 13). Thus, if a government orders its citizens to violate the freedoms found in the Constitution, we are warranted to disobey such orders. Those of us who served in the military are very familiar with this principle of disobedience of illegal orders. Law Enforcement is likewise obligated to ignore and disobey any and all illegal orders which violate the Federal and/or State Constitution to which they swore allegiance to obey. Those who have no such documents are at a serious disadvantage, of course, but Scripture does require all professing Christians to disobey any government order that forbids what God requires of them or to do what God forbids.

Pilgrim

Thank you.
Your mentioning that about "law enforcement", reminded me of something I read a high ranking police official in California said concerning John MacArthur and GCC. He basically said that if the governor tries to force him to arrest John MacArthur and other elders at GCC, he will disobey that order.

Would I be correct to say (although you did not use the word "revolution"), that what you said means that in some situations, a revolution would be ok according to Scripture and the Constitution of the United States?

Tom

The Second Amendment is the article which was included to protect all other freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. The framers had gone through a revolution which began as political, then social and then finally as is always the case, the disarming of the citizenry so as to have total control, aka: no individual freedoms; only given by government permission. The Second Amendment prevents the government from infringing upon the God-given right of each and every citizen of the United States to keep and bear arms for self-defense against all aggressors, including the government of the United States should it turn tyrannical, which is at this point in history on the brink of doing so. A revolution is a revolt against tyranny, whether from without; foreign or within, domestic. There are numerous biblical passages which are foundational to what the founding fathers included in the Bill or Rights.

Here is a website with many quotes from those men who founded the United States of America which clearly show the true meaning and intent of the Second Amendment of the Constitution: Gun Quotations of the Founding Fathers. And if you are truly interested in the original intent of the founding fathers in regard to the Second Amendment... and the Fourteenth Amendment, see here: WHAT THE FRAMERS INTENDED: A LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE RIGHT TO "BEAR ARMS".

An armed revolution is hardly what the vast majority of citizens desire. But if that be the necessary means in order to preserve the individual rights and freedoms of this country, it shall be as it was in the beginning.