"Anarchists"
by Kathy Brown on September 4th, 2009 | 0 comments
My husband lovingly calls me an “anarchist” because I went to one of the tax tea parties. With my signs in hand, I joined hundreds of other citizens working to bring accountability back into the political arena. It was recently pointed out to me that perhaps I have created (on this website) a misunderstanding concerning the Biblical view of rendering to the government what belongs to them. This is probably true, since my discussion of taxes began with two assumptions that may not have been clearly articulated: (1)the Constitution requires taxation for the purpose of paying debts and for protecting, defending and providing for the general welfare of the United States (Article 1, Section 8) and (2)Christians are duty bound to pay taxes (Romans 13:7). What remains for us to carefully consider is what is the role of government?
So, this discussion here centers around whether or not the practical and theoretical solution to social (moral) problems is government "welfare". For the Christian, the matter of worldview seems to be in the mix of this matter. All of life is under the authority of God. In Scripture, three “institutions” have been ordained: the church (collective body of believers everywhere), the family and the government. These intertwine, but also function for different purposes. Focusing on the latter, we can assume that the phrase “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21) indicates that the world’s system is different than the Kingdom of heaven. On this earth, as believers, we live under Christ and also under earthly rulers who, among other things, put boundaries around evil.
Even institutions adopt a worldview; not perfectly, of course. Originally, this country and its Constitution were based on a Biblical worldview because our founders were steeped in Christianity. Although we still benefit from that foundation, we have drifted into the shadow of the Enlightenment. As God was excluded from the public arena, by default, secular humanism has prevailed. (Foundational Presupposition Chart) Our political entities have taken on the role of dealing with the fall-out of immorality using the ideas spawned by a framework of relative ethics.
The ideology fostered by our taxes is not rooted in Truth; therefore, the end result can only be a temporary fix. We should not expect money to buy changed hearts or behavior; Christ is the only foundation for transformed lives. Christians are “anarchists”, one might say, because we reserve allegiance to a government on the shoulders of Christ, not on the elected officials that make decisions on our behalf. We optimize our own resources to be used, not for momentary humanistic solutions, but for the true and rightful Owner of everything and in the advancement of His Kingdom.
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