Romans 13 and Protesting Government

[master_catholic]

I have a friend who saids that:

“All government authorities are in place by God and to rebel against your authority is to rebel against God and you will face consequences and that all is according to Romans 13.”

What makes it hard about my friend’s interpretation about Romans 13 is that it puts people like me into choosing between tolerating any and all government injustice and taking it all in the ***, or rejecting scripture. Can you imagine what hay day Hitler would’ve had if we had accepted that out-of-context interpretation of Romans 13? - Protesting/Resisting Hitler would’ve violated Romans 13! (Sorry 6million Jews - you can’t resist, Romans 13 saids so. To the ovens…uch

This of course is nonsense but my friend is of course protestant. Are there other verses I can quote that would put Romans 13 in context? The CCC already provides an answer to Romans 13, but knowing anything outside of scripture would not be accepted as an answer for my friend forces me to look elsewhere within scripture.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

 

[stephe1987]

That sounds a bit like divine right… people are appointed by God so they can do whatever they want.

If something goes against the teachings of Jesus, you have every right to protest. But for the most part, we have to obey the law. Otherwise, there can never be peace because someone will always be protesting something.

 

[Cachonga]

I think I would take himi to Acts 4 and ask if Peter and John were in violation of Romans 13 when they refused to obey the command of the leaders to stop preaching Jesus. Take a trip through Acts, and ask if the believers who fled from Saul of Tarsus were in violation of Romans 13, since Saul was acting with the blessings of the God ordained authority of Israel. Was the angel that took Peter out of prison violating Romans 13? What about Peter’s actions after being released by the angel? Should he have gone back to prison and death? While it is true that the authorities are ordained by God, it is not true that they are always good (wasn’t Pharoh raised up so that God could show His power by delivering Israel with a mighty hand?). We do have a right to resist laws that violate our beliefs in God (certainly, Chinese Christians have a right to resist forced abortions and sterilization). If the government is unjust, flee if you can. If not, resist as best you can (where else do we get martyrs?).

Hope this helps some.

BTW - not all Protestants are like your friend.

 

[MACHIU]

Going back to the Catechism.

The following is taken from the Conpendium

1. When is authority exercised in a legitimate way?
   Authority is exercised legitimately when it acts for the common good and employs morally licit means to attain it. Therefore, political regimes must be determined by the free decision of their citizens. They should respect the principle of the “rule of law” in which the law, and not the arbitrary will of some, is sovereign. Unjust laws and measures contrary to the moral order are not binding in conscience.

1. What is the common good?
   By the common good is meant the sum total of those conditions of social life which allow people as groups and as individuals to reach their proper fulfillment.

1. What is involved in the common good?
   The common good involves: respect for and promotion of the fundamental rights of the person, the development of the spiritual and temporal goods of persons and society, and the peace and security of all.

1. Where can one find the most complete realization of the common good?
   The most complete realization of the common good is found in those political communities which defend and promote the good of their citizens and of intermediate groups without forgetting the universal good of the entire human family.

So basically being given authority does not give you the right to be abusive, like Spiderman was told - with great power comes great responsibility.

We must obey the authorities as far as they do not contradict with God’s Law.
Act 5:29 - We must obey God rather than men

Hope this helps
God Bless

 

[master_catholic]

Thank you all! Great replies!

 

[DaveBj]

First of all, even Jesus agreed that Pilate had the authority to condemn Him to death, and that his authority had been given to him by God. Therefore, he said, the ones who were really to blame were those who had delivered Him into his hands (John 19:10-11).

Now, with regard to the title of the thread, there is a difference between protesting and rebelling. The latter refers to trying to overthrow a government; the former refers to publicly pointing out to the rulers and to the ruled that the rulers’ policies are wrong. In the Acts passage that Cachonga referred to (and all through the book of Acts), the apostles placed the law of God in a higher position than human law, but they also accepted the punishment of the human authorities for breaking the human law.

DaveBj