Concepts Of Civil Disobedience

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Addressing Ethical Concepts Paper
Recently on a trip to St. Louis, my family and I drove through the town of Ferguson, Missouri. This city was the site of several violent protests over the alleged unequal treatment of black Americans by the Ferguson police force. A year after the events had ended, the destruction in the area was still evident with several boarded up storefronts and business. These types of protests are seen fairly regularly on the nightly news due to social injustice concerns from one side or the other. Violent protests are seemingly out of the question for most Christians, however, at what point does civil disobedience become an appropriate course of action for a Christian?
The world in which humans live is a fallen world, …show more content…

Civil disobedience is defined as “refusal to obey governmental demands or commands especially as a nonviolent and usually collective means of forcing concessions from the government” (Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, n.d.). The first view on civil obedience is anarchism. Anarchists believe that all civil disobedience is appropriate for any reason and at any time. Anarchism is not suitable for the Christian as it is not biblically based (Geisler, 2010). The second view on civil disobedience is radical patriotism. Those with this view believe the government should always be obeyed (Geisler, 2010). To corroborate this view, Romans 13:1-7, is used to show governments are ordained of God and should, therefore, be obeyed (New International Version). To disobey the government would be to disobey God. The third view, biblical submissionism, holds that the laws of the government should be obeyed, however, if there is a conflict between God’s law and the human law, God’s law will prevail (Geisler, 2010). Wyma (2014) upon reviewing the perspective of Thomas Aquinas found that when human law directly contradicts God’s law, it is not only proper to disobey the human law, it is a requirement. Of the three views, biblical submissionism is the only view that provides a morally appropriate …show more content…

There are several cases of civil disobedience found in the Bible. In Exodus 1:15-22, two Hebrew midwives are told by Pharaoh to kill all baby boys. The midwives knew this was against God’s law and therefore refused to abide by the law. There was no violence, no fighting, just peaceful resistance. An additional example of civil disobedience occurs in Daniel 3:1-30, when Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego refused to bow down to the king’s idol. The three men accepted their punishment for failure to follow the law and were thrown into the fiery furnace. Each of the biblical examples shows clearly that civil disobedience is only appropriate when the law is in direct conflict with God’s

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