I believe as you do that this so called election is a sham. I am one of those waking up out of a deep sleep and seeing for the first time what has been there all along. I respect your wisdom and ask for your help. I am most likely missing the obvious but Romans 13: v1-7 escapes me as it applies to our elections. Could you shed some light on this for me? I would greatly appreciate it.
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Rom 13:1 Let every soul submit to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God.
Rom 13:2 Consequently the one resisting the authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and those opposing shall receive judgment to themselves.
Rom 13:3 For rulers are not a fear to good works, but to evil. And do you wish not to fear the authority? Do what is good, and you shall have praise from the same.
Rom 13:4 For he is God's servant to you for good. But if you do evil, fear; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's servant, an avenger for wrath to the one practicing evil.
Rom 13:5 Therefore it is necessary to be subject, not only on account of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
Rom 13:6 For on account of this you also pay taxes, for they are ministers of God, always giving attention to this very thing.
Rom 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
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Father Symeon: There is no mystery in it. The key is the framework Saint Paul himself gives it. He is not speaking of all authority, but only a certain kind of authority that fits the parameter he gave it, "For rulers are not a fear to good works, but to evil." What happens when they have become a fear to good works, as certainly they have in this country? None of the rest governs then. Saint Paul would argue against Holy Writ, if he argued that we are not supposed to resist evil and actively do so. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? . . .And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday . . " This is the language of Liberty and Justice and NOT of servitude, to evil and injustice. Nothing St Paul could say could contradict it.
This passage is talking about what is true and acceptable religious service, so that Liberty is our Bounded Duty and apathy and compliance to and with evil is participation in the evil. When we take the cornerstone of basic Christian theology and understand how we may participate in another's sin, we may also participate in a group's sin, in a community's sin, in a state's sins, in a nation's sins and hundreds of millions have and do. So how can that happen? Christianity 101, we can participate in the sin of another by counsel, by command, by consent, by provocation, by praise or flattery, by concealment, by partaking, by silence, by defense of the sin committed. Where does that leave us?
One degradation of Orthodox Christianity, not part of her Big T Traditions but part of her small t tradition - the rationalism for capitulation to evil rulers, and institutionalized injustice and oppression, Czars, Caliphs, Atheist Dictators, the Muslim Brotherhood, has been this perversion of the very text of scripture you site and ignoring Saint Paul's own words in the text and the understanding of the whole. The Judeo/Christian scriptural Tradition is the record of LIBERTY and not servitude, across centuries of time and multi-cultures. It is the record of the recognition of the dignity and Liberty of the individual. That recognition is firmly held in the words of the Declaration of Independence, which at this moment is our Countrymen's ONLY legitimate rule of law.
Father Symeon: There is no mystery in it. The key is the framework Saint Paul himself gives it. He is not speaking of all authority, but only a certain kind of authority that fits the parameter he gave it, "For rulers are not a fear to good works, but to evil." What happens when they have become a fear to good works, as certainly they have in this country? None of the rest governs then. Saint Paul would argue against Holy Writ, if he argued that we are not supposed to resist evil and actively do so. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? . . .And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday . . " This is the language of Liberty and Justice and NOT of servitude, to evil and injustice. Nothing St Paul could say could contradict it.
This passage is talking about what is true and acceptable religious service, so that Liberty is our Bounded Duty and apathy and compliance to and with evil is participation in the evil. When we take the cornerstone of basic Christian theology and understand how we may participate in another's sin, we may also participate in a group's sin, in a community's sin, in a state's sins, in a nation's sins and hundreds of millions have and do. So how can that happen? Christianity 101, we can participate in the sin of another by counsel, by command, by consent, by provocation, by praise or flattery, by concealment, by partaking, by silence, by defense of the sin committed. Where does that leave us?
One degradation of Orthodox Christianity, not part of her Big T Traditions but part of her small t tradition - the rationalism for capitulation to evil rulers, and institutionalized injustice and oppression, Czars, Caliphs, Atheist Dictators, the Muslim Brotherhood, has been this perversion of the very text of scripture you site and ignoring Saint Paul's own words in the text and the understanding of the whole. The Judeo/Christian scriptural Tradition is the record of LIBERTY and not servitude, across centuries of time and multi-cultures. It is the record of the recognition of the dignity and Liberty of the individual. That recognition is firmly held in the words of the Declaration of Independence, which at this moment is our Countrymen's ONLY legitimate rule of law.
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