Thursday, February 2, 2017

Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.

"Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk.  And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Hero′di-ans, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men.  Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”  But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?  Show me the money for the tax.” And they brought him a coin. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”  They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Render therefore 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.
Matthew 22:15-22

What is our duty to God?  What is our duty to Caesar?  We know that we must never support that which is immoral, such as pornography, abortion, and gay "marriage". We live in a time, when we're told that gender isn't a biological reality, and even the absurd notion that the Bible doesn't support the idea of gender (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 5:2, Matthew 19:4, Mark 10:6), where we have politicians that are ignoring God's warning to those that mistreat foreigners, widows, and orphans (Zechariah 7:10) and a time where the average of the first time viewing pornography is often before the start of puberty (though not always), people are getting mistaken ideas about what sex (much pornography DOES violate obscenity laws, but the government rarely ever enforces it).  So why in the world should we "Render, therefore to Caesar"?  Well, we are Christians.  We can argue that government programs often do help the poor (though, one could argue, private charity does a better job of it), we use public libraries, we send our children to public schools (though, an argument can be made that sending a child to a private school would cost about the same amount if it were paid by taxes), we use public parks, public roads, and the like.  These are not a necessary evil, they are a necessity.  That said, paying for abortion is immoral, paying for it by force is evil.  Not protecting the youth from the dangers of pornography is an evil that we can not and should not tolerate.  And gay "marriage" (which was forced on us by our Supreme Court Legislature) should not be tolerated.  Christians (ALL Christians, not just Catholics), if they want their religious liberties protected, they need to speak out against these unjust laws.  The need to run for office.  They need to seek to change our Godless culture.  So should we still pay taxes?  Yes, but at the same time we needn't accept the immorality they support.  The taxes the Jews were paying in Jesus's day supported government corruption and immorality on par with the things we deal with. (Contrary to how it seems, things have not always been great). You want to make a change?  Bring your Christianity to the public sphere, and if you get ill-treated, push through harder.  

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