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Gregory Baus's avatar

Brad, when point 11 says "Christians are commanded to... submit to [these magistrates] unless they command us to do evil," is this intending to say that Christians are commanded to *always* submit to magistrates with the *sole* exception of when they command us to sin? If so, that would contradict the WCF.

23.4 specifies "It is the duty of people... to obey their *lawful* commands, and to be subject to their authority, for *conscience* sake."

19.4 specifies "they who... oppose any *lawful* power, or the *lawful* exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God."

Wouldn't you agree that these necessarily imply that it is *not* the duty of the people to obey a magistrate's unlawful commands, and that any one *may* oppose unlawful civil powers, and unlawful exercise of civil power? (And that, as C. Hodge and many others understood, such unlawfulness is not merely identical to commanding us to sin, but may include their commanding such things as are outside their God-given jurisdiction/authority?)

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nick's avatar

Maybe it's more of a "reaffirnation" since all read Christians should be able to agree with what you wrote. Mr. Peacock doth err greatly in his comment btw, and Mr. Sims...well, you just don't pay him no mind.

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Bill Peacock's avatar

The Scriptures do not "describe us as pilgrims and strangers in the world." Rather, they describe people who lived 2000 years ago in that way.

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Jordan Sims's avatar

So you're a Christian Nationalist after all, eh? Maybe not of the Stephen Wolfe variety, but a CN nonetheless.

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AlexCer's avatar

Adhere to scripture and don’t worry about what people call it.

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Larry Edward Ball's avatar

Sounds like Christian Nationalism to me.

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AlexCer's avatar

Is that a bad thing?

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Tom Potts's avatar

Thank you for the reminder and excellent summary.

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