By Joffre Swait
So this is a few days late, but I’ve just gotten around to it. The day after the so-called “government shutdown” began, Jim Wallis of Sojourners fame put out the video above explaining to us all that “what we call ‘correct theology'” meant that the government shutdown was a violation of God’s holy law. Well, he didn’t say that, of course. But he did say it was unbiblical.
“As a Christian, I want to say, shutting down government in unbiblical. Read the thirteenth chapter of the book of Romans. The government’s role is to protect us from evil, to promote the good. We call that ‘the Common Good.’ And Scriptures make clear throughout Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, the book of Kings, that rulers, kings, governments, are responsible for how they treat the poorest and most vulnerable. They’re judged for that by God. Those political extremists…who want to shut down the government are against the poor. They get hostile to the poor because they’re hostile to government.”
There are so many things I want to say in response to this dumbness. Must. Pull self. Together.
Okay. We’ll keep it short.
Let us put to the side any responsibility the government might have to glorify God and submit to King Jesus. Let our eyes slide past any responsibility Christians and the holy Church might have to remind rulers that Jesus is King. Let us focus simply on the commands of the thirteenth chapter of Romans. Be subject. Do not resist. Do good, not evil. Pay taxes. Revenue to whom it is due, respect also, and also honor.
Let us now imagine a political scene in which Christians followed those commands (which, by the way, they do in these here United States). Let us further imagine a scene in which the Church does not insist that our rulers remember God (which, except for the occasional threatened excommunication of Nancy Pelosi, is what it does in these here United States).
In a world like that governments still go bankrupt. Governments still default. Governments can still shut down.
Too many American Christians take Romans 13 to mean “help the government as much as is possible”. There is no such command.
Even without Biblical categories for resistance to government, which exist, why on earth do we suppose we should be helping our governments and rulers in their insanities? If the government votes to shut itself down, let it. What has Washington to do with Jerusalem?
If the government shuts down, you say, maybe evils like abortion and government schools will be defunded. I can get behind that. But what, Joffre, of the poor and oppressed?! Remember what Jim Wallis said about hating the poor! Dear God, what of the poor?!
Exactly. Time for the church to do its job.<>
