by Anonymous
It’s no secret that Trump is a big hit with evangelical Christians. Despite the many scandals that have plagued his presidency, people can’t wait to chant “Four more years!” at his rallies on Friday and praise the Lord Jesus on Sunday. But I have one specific bone to pick with the religious right today.
Dear Republican Christians, you need to abandon the idea of law and order.
Finding God's Anarchy
I've been bothered by the amount of bureaucracy and power in government for a long time. How could I reconcile an overbearing central government with the simple ideals of forgiveness and love that Jesus preached? That's when I found the work of Alexandre Christoyannopoulos.
In 2011, Christoyannopoulos published Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel. This book covers all of Christian anarchist thought from Tolstoy to today. Christoyannopoulos does not seek to prove Christianity, but instead compiles anarchists and Christians into the narrative that following Jesus perfectly would put an end to the state.
Little did I know he would articulate so perfectly what I've been feeling for so long.
The Gospel and the Judicial System
On page 47, Christoyannopoulos brings up a simple King James Version Bible verse. (Get a copy of the Gospel here!)
"Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew 7:1).
Here's how I and many other anarchists take that.
Governments are inherently built on laws. To punish people for breaking them, the government has to judge them. Judgement of others is a sin. Therefore, the government is inherently sinful.
To go a step further, supporting that government at all makes us complicit in its sin. What kind of hypocrites are we to preach forgiveness and then turn around to support state-sanctioned judgement?
As Christoyannopoulos puts it, “Men are ill-equipped to make laws and judge other men as good or wicked, let alone punish them for it...Judgement is God’s prerogative” (48).
There are many other sins that government commits, such as murder via war, perpetuation of violence, stealing, and forcing us to swear our lives over to it instead of God. But that's not the subject of my rant today. For all of that, read Christoyannopoulos's book.
Why This Is Important
The unfortunate passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has put the judicial system back into the spotlight. Trump supporters galore beg him to fill her seat with a conservative who will bow to the religious right and overturn Roe v. Wade.
But I say to you, Christians, that that is not our place, whether you are pro-choice or pro-life.
To be true Christians without judgement for others, we should not take others to court. We should not serve on juries or as judges. We even have to overturn the idea of human law itself.
Our concepts of trial and verdict by our peers are nothing more than a sophisticated version of ancient people stoning an unfaithful spouse in the street. Who among us hasn't broken even the tiniest of laws?
What about the Golden Rule? Would you want to be sued, thrown in prison, or put on death row? If not, don't enforce that on others.
We owe it to Jesus to be a better example.
-- Dominic
About Dominic
I'm a writer in my freetime living in Connecticut. I'm getting a degree in English and Communications.
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