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Render unto Caesar

Should Christians break the law "to advance the greater good"?

It came up with the destruction of the domes at Waihopai, one of the culprits being a Dominican friar.

And again with the vandalism of the National Party signs, organized by an Anglican Priest.

To get our heads around this we need to realize that there are God's Laws and there are Laws written by men.

The former are inviolate but easy to understand, the later are imperfect, complex and sometimes self contradictory.


But unless they contradict God's laws we must obey them - "λεγουσιν αυτω καισαρος τοτε λεγει αυτοις αποδοτε ουν τα καισαρος καισαρι και τα του θεου τω θεω".

But then, let's face it, we live in a society and culture that has turned its face from God. Thus God's commandment "Thou shalt not Kill" while written into our homicide laws is air brushed out off our abortion laws - is it not?


It's not easy as we muddle our way through life to keep sight of what is important or how we should interact with others as they muddle their way through their lives. We mess up, they mess up, we are all fallen creatures in a fallen world.

But if we stop we can apply the "What would Jesus do" test. Can we see Our Lord Jesus Christ doing this?

If not then we shouldn't either.

A question about Green politics and Christianity: is it possible that the resources in the ground, such as oil are there because the Good Lord wants us to use them.

It is clear to me that exploiting oil, despite some downsides has been for the most part beneficial to humanity, resulting in societies where people no longer live under the shadow of famine while living longer and have more fulfilling lives. And perhaps we should see it as a blessing not a curse and use the extra time given to us as a result for advancing God's agenda rather than our own. (You might like to consider the Parable of the Talents at this point)

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