On Taxes (and Submission to Government)

Are taxes biblical? If so, how do we go about paying them?

The first part of this question is fairly straightforward. Yes, taxes are biblical. I’m sure you all have read the scenario in Matthew 22 where the Pharisees walk up to Jesus and ask, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” Of course, being Pharisees, they did not want to merely have Jesus answer their pressing question. Instead, they meant to trap Jesus and use his answer against him. As Calvin says in his commentaries, it is likely they would have accused Jesus of sedition if he had said that it was not lawful to pay the tax, but would have accused him of faithlessness to Israel if he had said it was lawful. Jesus, of course, cannot be fooled by any man and saw through the Pharisees’ disguise immediately. Jesus’ then scolds the Pharisees’ for their hypocrisy, and gives this answer:

"Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?  Show me the coin for the tax." And they brought him a denarius.  And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?"  They said, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

There are two things immediately apparent from this passage. First is the fact that it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar; the money is, indeed, Caesar’s so it is alright to pay him taxes. Second is the fact that we are to render to God the things that are God’s. This too, is clearly stated in the passage.

But after a little closer look, we find that these two conclusions are not quite as clear cut as first imagined. For example, if we are to render Caesar’s money to Caesar, and the things of God to God, but everything is God’s, how can we render something to Caesar and God at the same time?

We then begin to see the wisdom of Jesus’ answer. Yes, we are to pay taxes to Caesar, but we are to serve the Lord in everything. In essence, Jesus told the Pharisees that to submit to Caesar in no way hinders or changes our service to the Lord.

So, we are to pay taxes to the government, serving the Lord above all. But how should we respond to something a little harder to obey, such as China’s one child law? How do we serve the Lord and obey our country at the same time with something like that.

Well, to answer this we should look at passages that say that children are blessings, that one of the purposes of marriage is to raise godly offspring, and other such sections of scripture. Thus, children are a good thing. That is clear in scripture. Scripture is also clear about how we raise our children, what their role is, how to discipline them, etc. But scripture does not condemn those who do not have children. It is not unbiblical to have no children. (Off topic: I originally tried to pick some command that was so contrary to scripture that it would have to be disobeyed and immediately thought of this. However, once I wrote it down, I began to think more closely about this and found it a little more complicated than I first thought. I kept it, though, because it brings up two points and not just the one I originally thought of) Thus, I believe it would be alright to obey the one child law. Of course, if the government forced someone to have an abortion in order to comply with this policy, it is imperative to disobey, if possible. Abortion is so completely against scripture that we must disobey any government that tells us to abort a child.

Thus, we should obey the government where possible, but only if what it commands does not contradict scripture. However, we must serve the Lord first, above all things.

Random Discussion question: Which president of the U.S. do you think was the best president, and why? You may not pick George Washington :)

I leave you with the following passage, which aptly sums up some of what I've talked about:

1 Peter 2:13-17

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Casey

On Creation

Hello everyone!

If you are reading this, you have found my serious blog. Some of you may know that I aspire to do multiple things, and among those multiple desires is the desire to one day hold a political office. For those who have talked to me on this subject, you may know I am adamant on my views politically. Most of this blog will be devoted to my those views (I will back all my views with Scripture, where possible).

However, I want to talk about a different topic today and build upon a conversation I had with my grandfather recently. Some of you may know how strongly I feel about the creation-evolution debate (actually, some of you may know that I feel strongly about a wide variety of topics). My grandfather believes the same things I do regarding Creation, and we have several times expressed our feelings about this topic.

I don’t believe in evolution…  Okay, that’s not really true.  I will be terminologically correct and say that I believe Macroevolution is false. I believe there is much proof for Microevolution, but the differences between Micro- and Macroevolution are many and profound. If you don’t know what microevolution is, feel free to ask me in person or leave a comment below and I will answer to the best of my ability.

Macroevolution is a lie meant to distract people from the truth about the universe. I could talk for days with my scientific, biblical, and experiential proofs about why this is. The list of proof goes for pages and pages: molecular biology, chemistry, complexity, and entropy – all are proofs against macroevolution. Just to give an idea of my personal proofs against macroevolution, here are a few.

Entropy. During my conversation with my grandfather, I thought of this. Entropy is the physical law that states that all purely random processes cause things to become more and more unorganized as time goes on. To give an example of this, an explosion does not make a house appear; rather, it scatters parts of house over a large area. Thus, the completely random processes in our universe could not possibly form a living thing. However, an intelligent being, such as a human, can make some sense out of the world we live in. Of course, a human can only do so much, so there must be a supreme intelligent being that has created the world we live in.

Biology (and botany). This is one of the biggest proofs for creationism. The “simplest” organism is so complex that biologists are still trying to figure out how it could even be produced by macroevolution. The simplest part of a human is even more incredible. And when we look at things like the human brain and the eye, the mind bursts with the incredibleness and wonder of it all. And we have only seen a small portion of the wonders that can be revealed! I can look outside and see a leaf. What a wonder a leaf is! The fact that such a small object could possibly make food using sunlight and water is truly amazing. When I search closely, I see even more amazing things. There is a bug under that leaf that can fly. How incredible! These short glimpses at “ordinary” things make me realize how small I am and how great and awesome our God is. I could go on and on about the many, many things that we take for granted every day. If you want to hear more, just ask me and I’ll be happy to tell you.

Chemistry. All life could be reduced to a matter of chemicals, but I don’t think it is helpful to view life as stuff. Life is so much more that a jumble of chemicals thrown together. Of course, even if you viewed life as a conglomeration of chemicals, you would still discover things that would blow your mind. If you have ever studied chemistry, you will have found that there are so many characteristics of chemicals that would change drastically if even one thing was changed. If there was no water tension, for example, resulting from hydrogen bonding, there would be no way for trees to receive their water from the ground. If there were no hydrogen bonding whatsoever, then life as we know it would be impossible to sustain. And this is ONE TINY PART of the structure of our world. As in other subjects, there is so much meat to take from chemistry.

These are just a few examples of how wondrously complex our world is. Of course, man does not want to be subordinate to a God who created anything, and who, in the blink of an eye, could cause all creation to cease to exist. Man does not want to know how hopelessly lost he is. As a Christian, though, I know that I am hopelessly lost on my own. It is only through the death, resurrection, and strength of Christ that I have hope. And so, even if I could convince a macroevolutionist to believe in creation, it means nothing if he does not trust in Christ.

These are my thoughts on this subject. Please, share your thoughts with me! I encourage all conversation. If you believe me wrong in anything I have said, don’t hesitate to say something! As Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

In closing: no post is complete without Scripture. I leave with the following passage:

Isaiah 40:6-8

All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 

Casey

Welcome! You have reached my serious blog, where I will reveal some of my views on politics and other subjects for your perusal. Here are a couple things I want to do with this blog.

Promote discussion. I do very much want to hear your views and comments and not just my own.

Raise awareness.

Sharpen others in the Lord. Proverbs 27:17 is my motto verse for this blog: "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

Enjoy!

Casey