Romans 13 in the NIV has me thinking I might be the wrong faith "6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes;" KJV has it as tribute which has a better connotation and meaning.
its the same thing. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and render unto God that which is Gods. It’s Casesars face on the coins, it’s the symbols of America on the dollar. The things of this world back to the things of this world. If paying taxes and being a good citizen is a stumbling block for you, you’re completely lost.
I find myself at a strange crossroads unable to rectify my own inadequacy. Based on The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and from Paul's writing in Philemon we are not meant to judge or hate.
"Hate the sin not the sinner."
But I can not rectify this in my heart or mind. Am I truly meant to look at the man who kills me or the man who would rape my wife/children and forgive him? If I am not to seek justice or pass judgment then I am expected to forgive and forget?
What is the point of building anything in one's life or caring for anything if the next moment it can be taken and you are expected to do nothing about it?
It is logical to me that if a group hates me and wishes for me and my kind to be wiped from the Earth then I am to defend myself and speak out against them. But if I decry them I am going against what is lain out by Christ. If the rich create a system by which only they benefit and I am told "then go to the lawmakers and urge for change" but the lawmakers will not change for they are in league with the rich. If a group claims my Savior the Son of God to be false and that their prophet is the true way to salvation when he raped children and laid out rules to allow such am I to simply do nothing as they plan to kill me and all my fellow followers of Christ?
Is there truly a point in living a life where one strives to do right when in the end he may end up in the same glory as the man who sinned his entire life and only in his last moments repented? Am I ignorant as Jonah was to the Ninevites when God warned them and they repented?
Are we to only be doormats who question nothing and never learn from history?
It’s not “don’t judge”, it’s “don’t judge unjustly”. Verbatim “Judge not lest ye be judged, for by whatever measure you mete shall be measured unto you.” It just means that however you judge a man is how you will be judged. Are you a child rapist? Then do not be overly worried if you pass judgment that he’s wicked and evil. Taking that lesson alone stands against everything in Proverbs, against the whole of the Old Testament.
Even further, Christ said, “do not worry about the mote in your brothers eye when you have a log in yours: Remove the log in your eye, then help remove the speck in your brothers.” That is not saying “just mind your own business and take it”, it’s saying “fix yourself before you fix the world”. Consider Lot; He was the witness for Sodom, yet he failed because they were totally wicked. He could not lead them back because he was not set right, he acquiesced to their insatiable demands. He offered them his daughters, and they wanted his guests, and so they turned on Lot and were going to take him. He gave to them what was Gods, not what was of man, and so they were punished and he suffered.
Philemon’s slave broke the law, but Paul interceded and asked him to treat his slave not as a slave, but as a brother, and to lay his crime on Paul, to treat Onesimus as Paul. This could only work because all three of them were Christians. If Philemon weren’t Christian, it’d be a bigger issue, but we would still ask for this, but the expectation would be lower.
There is more to say, but I’m losing my thoughts to tiredness, hopefully this at least starts some thoughts for you.
