Atheist Thought Experiments Debunked #6

                                                      +AJPM+

"Aren't you being un-Christian by disobeying civil authority in some matters? Doesn't the Bible say to always obey them?"

THE ANGEL POSSENTI:

In light of the recent disagreements (to put it lightly) concerning government policies, many have raised the question of why it's always Christians protesting these policies; some wind up further confused when the protestors are against measures designed to help the less fortunate, because "aren't Christians supposed to be for helping the less fortunate?"

It may interest people to know that the Bible actually teaches Christ's followers to question things.

"What?" you may ask. "How can that be? Look at all the things in the Bible that people accept without question. You're telling me it teaches people to be skeptical?"

Yes…that's EXACTLY what I'm saying…and example after example can be shown in the Bible.

-Jesus tells those who doubt Him to search the Scriptures to see if what He says is true. (John 5:39)
-Paul preaches in Berea, the citizens double-check his claims and he does nothing to stop them from checking. (Act 17:10-11)
-Paul tells people not to trust right away anyone---even a supposed angel--who preaches anything different than what the Apostles taught. (Gal 1:8)
-John writes to test all spirits to see if they are of God. (1 John 4:1)
-Even in the OT, the prophet Daniel doesn't believe the claims of other priests.  (Daniel 14)

Is it any wonder then that Christians also learn not to put their faith in princes? (Psalm 146:3-5)

                                                                     --------

Speaking of not putting trust in princes, Christianity teaches a principle called subsidiarity. This is defined as an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. Let's look at this closer:
Centralized- is it as local as possible?
Competent- can it prove it can do the job?
Authority- does it have the authority to do so?

If this is a little complex, ask yourself this: if you wanted to donate money to a cause, do you give the money to a charity or do you give it to the government? If you answered charity, then you believe in subsidiarity. True, not all charities do a good job, but overall their track record is far better than the government.

                                                                    ------------
Lastly, there is a particular hierarchy to how the world works:

                                                             GOD
                                                              then
                                                         CHURCH
                                                              then
                                                           STATE
                                                              then
                                               EVERYDAY PEOPLE

Now, before people get all atheist-level nuts over this, this DOES NOT MEAN the Church or the State can do whatever they want nor does this mean people can't move to the others.
What this does mean is as people move to either Church or State, more will be expected of them and the more humble they are expected to be.

For those who think that the Church has no place in the state or policies, let me remind you one thing:

You can no more do that than you can tell people what they can or can't use for evidence. It just can't be done!

If you think otherwise, then you're an atheist idiot.