I’m a Christian and currently a minarchist, but I suspect I may be an anarchist soon once I continue to follow my beliefs to their logical conclusion.
I believe taxation by the state is theft because those who pay have not given their consent and have no choice whether or not to pay. However, I came across this verse in the Bible a few days ago and it’s caused me real problems. I’m hoping that someone on these forums has either studied this issue before or can point me to an analysis that will help.
The following passage is from Romans:
1Let every person(A) be subject to the governing authorities. For(B) there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3For 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(C) will receive his approval, 4for(D) he is God’s 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,(E) an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also(F) for the sake of conscience. 6For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7(G) 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.
This passage seems to explicitly state that resisting government is an act of resistance against God himself. It’s a commandmant for paying taxes and for being “in subjection” to the government.
“Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed…” I don’t owe them squat. What are they producing for me to have to owe them in a trade - nothing. Government is not trading me anything back.
Christ should have never spoke about love and peace and all those morals. I mean Rome and Pilot were Christs authority, so, he should have listened and preached the Roman way, and should have forgotten that whole Christ journey he went on. Christ should never have talked about God cause the Romans didn’t express God in a Christ manner. Christ didn’t obey this so called commandment. Christ is going to hell.
I recall being told about this passage by a religious professor. I think he may have called this bit a mistranslation. It may be “submit to the higher authorities”, rather than “governing authorities”.
The same professor argued that if you weighed up all the pro-State and anti-State passages in the Bible, the anti-State ones would heavily outnumber the pro-State ones. For instance 1 Samuel 8:
Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
I agree that the six men you listed were tyrants and that evil should be resisted. The point that I really want to get at is that we know that the Bible teaches that theft is wrong, that Romans 13 and other passages shows that taxation is not generally evil, but that our logic leads us to believe that taxation is theft. Now, the God of the Bible may not be real and the whole Christian faith may be a hoax, but that’s not my angle here. I’m trying to reconcile this apparent contradiction.
I agree that it is a dilemma for you. Of course, if you research the history of the Bible and of Jesus, I do not see how one could believe the Bible to be of God in the first place. Maybe this will force you to do more research into the actual history of the Bible and Jesus. There are some great documentaries by the History channel you can get on Netflix.
Now, am I going to listen to an arrogant atheist kid, with little to no knowledge of the Bible or am I going to take advice from the countless Christian anarchists who have studied the message of the Bible in relation to government in depth and have reached conclusions different from yours?
I’m a Christian, too, and have so far come to the conclusion that “anarchy” or non-aggression is far more consistent with Jesus’s teachings than anything pro-government/coercion.
Here’s a video that someone posted on dailypaul a few months ago.
I don’t know much about the guy in the video, and I haven’t studied Romans 13 too much, yet, so I can’t say how correct his understanding of Romans 13 (or the Bible in general) may be, but his thoughts are interesting. Here’s a link to a page on his website that talks about this, too: http://www.hisholychurch.org/news/articles/Romans13.html
You may also want to look into some of Gary North’s work.
5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours.” 8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.
This passage says that it is actually Satan that can give authority on Earth. Notice that Jesus does not refute satan in regards to authority on Earth belonging to him.
The question is: who do you trust more? Jesus or Paul?
Remember the king before David? That’s right, Saul. He was basically deposed by David and this was according to God’s will. Jewish history seems to contradict this passage.
I would never expect you to listen to reason. First of all, you make unfounded claims. I studied the Bible for years. Second of all, truth is not dependant on the number of people that know it. Lastly, most anything I see you spout on the forum is garbage.
I think that passage assumes that the authority is acting according to God’s laws. If the authority is not respecting God’s laws then it would be acting as a sinful tyrant.
Acts 5:29 - Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. How are we to obey God if we do not resist tyranny and evil?
Psalm 118:8 - It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
“Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.” - John Hancock