Some of the oldest and most affirmed truths in all of Christendom are that Jesus Christ commands us to love our enemies, to renounce violence, and to reject all other worldly loyalties – be they nation, empire, or people – for the Church, the Gospel, and Jesus Christ Himself. These truths can been in the writings of the earliest surviving Christian leaders and writers. What follows below is the first part in an effort to share a small sampling of these statements which I have tried to place within a rough chronological order. Hopefully they will help the reader, whether Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, Pentecostal, Christian Scientist, Latter-day Saint, etc. to understand the role of what we now call nonviolence, civil disobedience, rejection of world powers -what we today call the State – and loving and serving your enemy as central beliefs in the long history of true Christianity, ancient and modern.
Tag: Only Serve God
When We Should Break The Law
From our earliest days, when the Prophet Joseph and Patriarch Hyrum suffered in Liberty Jail and died in Carthage Jail, to the Saints spending nearly 30 years resisting Federal anti-polygamy laws, practicing civil disobedience and being willing to go to prison in order to serve God, on down to the modern day we have examples of the lives of great Saints who have repeatedly broken the laws of the land in order to do what is right and to serve God. Latter-day Saint history is full of rebels and rogues, people who would rather be exiled from the nation, who would rather be killed, than disobey the Lord. So how is it that so many of us have become so milquetoast about standing up the government tyranny? Why is it that so many of us think that the Saints should “strictly obey the laws of the government in which they live,” even when such laws aren’t just wrong or immoral, but even when said laws actively compel us either to disobey God or punish us for obeying Him? While there are numerous reasons, one of the largest is because Latter-day Saints have misinterpreted the Twelfth Article of Faith, D&C 58:21, and D&C 134:5 as giving commandments to the Saints to obey the law and to comply even with evil laws. A close examination of these scriptures though, as I attempt here, show that such interpretations are, by the large, gross nonsense.
What Does It Mean To “Render Unto Caesar”?
“Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and to God the things which are God’s,” is one of the most abused and least understood scriptures in the Standard Works. For nearly 2,000 years it has been used to justify the violence, brutality, and evils carried out by the State and used by its defenders to argue that Christians should obey their governments when it robs and oppresses them. But this interpretation is way off from the true meaning of the scripture.
By delving into the scriptures themselves and examining the historical and scriptural context in which Christ was speaking not only do I conclude that the classic interpretation of this scripture is wrong, but that it means almost the exact opposite of what the classical interpretation says the scripture means. It is not a call to submit to Caesar, to obey our governments, and do what we are told by these in power. Rather it is a call to rebel against the powers of the world and serve God alone.
I also talk about how this scripture has special applications for endowed Latter-day Saints as they have covenanted to give everything they own and are to Christ alone for the building of His Kingdom, not to Caesar for the building of Babylon.