5 thoughts on “Christian Ethics 101 – April 6, 2022”
It’s a matter of prioritizing. In other words, it’s the same as being loyal to both God and your spouse. If your spouse demands that you break God’s law or defame, denounce, or discredit Him in any way, God is your priority and your spouse has to be disappointed.
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Loretta,
That is a very good point.
The subject came up because Minnesota State Senator Dan Hall posted about statues dealing with freedom of religion, and a Christian lady started insisting that a pledge of allegiance to anything other than Jesus is not allowable for Christians. Yet there is a valid secular purpose in such allegiances. Security of the United States, for example. And there is no biblical restriction against secular allegiances or paying taxes. Yet she fabricated one.
The danger presented by this lady is one of demanding Christian hegemony. Using the state to force people against their will to be Christians. That does not comport with scripture. I have met people who, for example, (Greg Allen) demand that the US government arrest, imprison, torture, and deport people of non-Christian religions, such as muslims. A government that can do that can also do it to Christians too. Greg does not care about freedom, or inalienable rights, he just wants the world to conform to his whims. So he would build a government with unlimited power just so he could feel comfortable and not have to tolerate non-believers.
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I decided that if I write snippets on Chrsitain ethics I would put them in a blog post and just have the snippet of the day. This is instead of organizing onto a page that has a menus of topics. That is for organized materials. I’m writing a lot of those static pages too. I may write thoughts in response to Doug Groothius because he muses on facebook in an ephemeral fashion. Or in response to others.
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In response to Matthew 22:15-22 Mary Farnsworth Stewart asks me “So you’re equating paying the tax with verbally declaring allegiance to the government?
I replied: “No. Read the words of Jesus in the bible. He said what he said, not me.”
Later I posted this
“I’ve never heard of a biblical doctrine of “swearing allegiance to Jesus.” The bible does talk about “confessing Jesus”. It also talks about “remaining in Jesus”. And it talks about “faith in Jesus.” Can someone tell us what scripture says humans should pledge allegiance to Jesus?
If we are going to conflate these concepts then it would help to have some exposition of where they are treated in the bible just so everybody is CLEAR on what is meant. CLARITY is way more important than agreement.”
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I suspect Stewart is not actually advocating a real biblical viewpoint. She has yet to explain any sort scriptural viewpoint. Instead she is kafka trapping people. Not by making a coherent case. But by instead repeatedly asking their personal beliefs so she can attack them. The actual point is to attack traditional American values, and to try to use Christianity to do that. Thats a demonic sort of thing to do.
It’s a matter of prioritizing. In other words, it’s the same as being loyal to both God and your spouse. If your spouse demands that you break God’s law or defame, denounce, or discredit Him in any way, God is your priority and your spouse has to be disappointed.
Loretta,
That is a very good point.
The subject came up because Minnesota State Senator Dan Hall posted about statues dealing with freedom of religion, and a Christian lady started insisting that a pledge of allegiance to anything other than Jesus is not allowable for Christians. Yet there is a valid secular purpose in such allegiances. Security of the United States, for example. And there is no biblical restriction against secular allegiances or paying taxes. Yet she fabricated one.
The danger presented by this lady is one of demanding Christian hegemony. Using the state to force people against their will to be Christians. That does not comport with scripture. I have met people who, for example, (Greg Allen) demand that the US government arrest, imprison, torture, and deport people of non-Christian religions, such as muslims. A government that can do that can also do it to Christians too. Greg does not care about freedom, or inalienable rights, he just wants the world to conform to his whims. So he would build a government with unlimited power just so he could feel comfortable and not have to tolerate non-believers.
I decided that if I write snippets on Chrsitain ethics I would put them in a blog post and just have the snippet of the day. This is instead of organizing onto a page that has a menus of topics. That is for organized materials. I’m writing a lot of those static pages too. I may write thoughts in response to Doug Groothius because he muses on facebook in an ephemeral fashion. Or in response to others.
In response to Matthew 22:15-22 Mary Farnsworth Stewart asks me “So you’re equating paying the tax with verbally declaring allegiance to the government?
I replied: “No. Read the words of Jesus in the bible. He said what he said, not me.”
Later I posted this
“I’ve never heard of a biblical doctrine of “swearing allegiance to Jesus.” The bible does talk about “confessing Jesus”. It also talks about “remaining in Jesus”. And it talks about “faith in Jesus.” Can someone tell us what scripture says humans should pledge allegiance to Jesus?
If we are going to conflate these concepts then it would help to have some exposition of where they are treated in the bible just so everybody is CLEAR on what is meant. CLARITY is way more important than agreement.”
I suspect Stewart is not actually advocating a real biblical viewpoint. She has yet to explain any sort scriptural viewpoint. Instead she is kafka trapping people. Not by making a coherent case. But by instead repeatedly asking their personal beliefs so she can attack them. The actual point is to attack traditional American values, and to try to use Christianity to do that. Thats a demonic sort of thing to do.
Eric Metaxis talks about this tactic.