The Israelites had it made. Think of it, God was their King, they only had Judges that would listen to their legal problems and they only dealt in matters that involved the individual vs. other individuals, and in matters that involved God's Law.
Eventually, they cried for a king, and why not...every other Nation had a king, why couldn't they??!!
Samuel tried to discourage them, and reminded them that a king would bring taxation, military conscription, and the potential for tyranny. But they demanded it anyway.
It's interesting that God tells Samuel to give them a king, and says that in this request, they are rejecting Him, not Samuel.
We could say that God saw the people wanting someone to rule over them instead of individually ruling over themselves as a rejection of Him.
And look what they got.
Fast forward several hundred years, and God's law is given to us in a nutshell, "Love the Father with all your heart, and love your neighbors as yourselves."
That's it.
We could have a perfect (as perfect as man can be) society based on those two laws. If you love your neighbor as yourself, what need is there for any law anyway? Based on that Law alone, you could truly live free.
We are never told to force this law on anyone, but to spread the "Good News." And in part, the Good News is that man can live free, free from bondage and slavery.
Fast forward to today. Today we have people who want to use this "Good News" to enslave a free people.
Of course, it's for your own good, and for the good of society, but it requires that individuals conform to a certain idea that THEY decide is right.
Does "love your neighbors as yourselves" mean to support laws made by a government you know to be evil but that throws people in jail for not following their own personal beliefs?
So then it is ok?
"Well, even though I know this government to be evil, and that it sanctions the murder of the unborn, and murders the innocent at will, that it steals from our posterity worse than the most villainous mobster, I will support it when it is in line with one of my moral beliefs."
Really? Are you willing to let a murderous, thieving government be your "moral compass" when it passes a law that fits into your own moral code, even when that law is punishing someone who is harming none other than himself, or, more often than not, no one at all??
Where in the Bible are you told to support government-sponsored "moral laws" that merely image what you deem to be good? If you are willing to allow the government to be your moral compass, you cannot pick and choose which morals you will decide to be right. The government has and does decide that for you. I hate drugs. But I see no biblical authority to force others to not use them. I like to have an alcoholic drink, but I know some "Christians" think that it is wrong. What authority do they have to force their belief on me?
None.
Yet we see the religious ones clamoring for the government to legislate their morals on others. Because it is "right." They allow themselves to be blinded by the fact that some day, that same government could decide that the views they hold should be illegal, and what recourse would they have then? They already had everyone who they disagreed with locked up, so who is left to defend them?
They have told God, "give us a king," and they pay the consequences of their desires, forgetting that in supporting this king, they have rejected God.
Eventually, they cried for a king, and why not...every other Nation had a king, why couldn't they??!!
Samuel tried to discourage them, and reminded them that a king would bring taxation, military conscription, and the potential for tyranny. But they demanded it anyway.
It's interesting that God tells Samuel to give them a king, and says that in this request, they are rejecting Him, not Samuel.
We could say that God saw the people wanting someone to rule over them instead of individually ruling over themselves as a rejection of Him.
And look what they got.
Fast forward several hundred years, and God's law is given to us in a nutshell, "Love the Father with all your heart, and love your neighbors as yourselves."
That's it.
We could have a perfect (as perfect as man can be) society based on those two laws. If you love your neighbor as yourself, what need is there for any law anyway? Based on that Law alone, you could truly live free.
We are never told to force this law on anyone, but to spread the "Good News." And in part, the Good News is that man can live free, free from bondage and slavery.
Fast forward to today. Today we have people who want to use this "Good News" to enslave a free people.
Of course, it's for your own good, and for the good of society, but it requires that individuals conform to a certain idea that THEY decide is right.
Does "love your neighbors as yourselves" mean to support laws made by a government you know to be evil but that throws people in jail for not following their own personal beliefs?
So then it is ok?
"Well, even though I know this government to be evil, and that it sanctions the murder of the unborn, and murders the innocent at will, that it steals from our posterity worse than the most villainous mobster, I will support it when it is in line with one of my moral beliefs."
Really? Are you willing to let a murderous, thieving government be your "moral compass" when it passes a law that fits into your own moral code, even when that law is punishing someone who is harming none other than himself, or, more often than not, no one at all??
Where in the Bible are you told to support government-sponsored "moral laws" that merely image what you deem to be good? If you are willing to allow the government to be your moral compass, you cannot pick and choose which morals you will decide to be right. The government has and does decide that for you. I hate drugs. But I see no biblical authority to force others to not use them. I like to have an alcoholic drink, but I know some "Christians" think that it is wrong. What authority do they have to force their belief on me?
None.
Yet we see the religious ones clamoring for the government to legislate their morals on others. Because it is "right." They allow themselves to be blinded by the fact that some day, that same government could decide that the views they hold should be illegal, and what recourse would they have then? They already had everyone who they disagreed with locked up, so who is left to defend them?
They have told God, "give us a king," and they pay the consequences of their desires, forgetting that in supporting this king, they have rejected God.
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