The Bible Mandates Respect for Our Government and our President

I said in my introduction that this blog would be controversial.  I promised I would touch on religion, politics and other hot topics.  With this post I will probably do all three.  If I make you mad, I'm sorry you're mad;  I'm pretty good at making people mad.  I hope you got mad enough to read this all the way through, check my sources out, and see for yourself.   I sincerely hope you will make comments that will urge people, including me, to think.

If you believe, as I do, the Bible was written by man, but inspired by God, and is the True Word of God, you should find the following interesting..

I will start with two commentaries, the first from John Wesley, 6/1703 - 3/2/1791.  John Wesley was an Anglican cleric.  He founded the Methodist movement, which became the Methodist Church.  He established several churches in Georgia.  The second is Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary.  Henry (10/18/1662 - 6/22/1714) was a Presbyterian Minister who wrote several commentaries on the Bible, and is studied in modern times..


Romans 13:1-2  New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.  Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves
 
Wesley's Comments:    Thou shalt not revile the gods -  That is, the judges and magistrates.  Princes and magistrates are our fathers, whom the fifth commandment obligeth us to honour, and forbids us to revile.  St. Paul applies this law to himself, and owns that he ought not speak evil of the ruler of his people, no, not though he was then his most unrighteous persecutor.
 
Whosoever resisteth the power - In any other manner than the laws of the community direct. Shall receive condemnation - Not only from the magistrate, but from God also.
 
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary: The grace of the gospel teaches us submission and quiet, where pride and the carnal mind see only causes for murmuring and discontent.  Whatever the persons in authority over us themselves may be, yet the just power they have, must be submitted to and obeyed. In the general course of human affairs, rulers are not a terror to honest, quiet, and good subjects, but to evil-doers....
.......Thou hast the benefit of the government, therefore do what thou canst to preserve it, and nothing to disturb it. This directs private persons to behave quietly and peaceably where God has set them....The lesson here taught it becomes all Christians to learn and practise, that the godly in the land will always be found the quiet and the peaceable in the land, whatever others are.  (Italics are mine)
 
You can read all the comments here:  
 http://bible.cc/romans/13-1.htm
 http://bible.cc/romans/13-2.htm
 
There are many other supporting Bible verses.  I could quote them all night and not get finished.  Here is one I really like:
 
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Furthermore, in your bedchamber do not curse a king, and in your sleeping rooms do not curse a rich man, for a bird of the heavens will carry the sound and the winged creature will make the matter known.
 
I think the Bible is pretty clear on showing respect for the government and the people in power.  Yes, The verses say Princes, judges, magistrates, but the Romans, to whom St. Paul wrote, did not have Presidents, we do. 
 
Romans 13:2 says we cannot resist a leader "In any other manner than the laws of the community direct."   If you want to remove a President from office in the US the only ways are impeachment, voting him out of office, or proving he is mentally unfit.
 
You can protest in a lawful manner. You can campaign for those whom you think represent your ideals.  You can vote for candidates you like.  You can educate voters.  You can provide rides, babysitting and other services on election day.  There are many ways to get your voice heard without making yourself look bad when you are seen screaming like a banshee, refusing to allow people to speak by shouting them down.  . This clearly says, to me, that placards and comments of a racial nature, and showing President Obama as a monkey fall directly into that category, are against God's Word. So is making fun of his wife, or his children.
 
To my friends in the conservative Christian right, and I do have some.  When I see the above behavior, I think to myself that if you were the only model I have for what a Christian is all about I would turn and run in the other direction.  I am sure there are others who feel the same way, because I have heard them say so.  That was was caught my eye in Henry's comment, where he wrote:   The lesson here taught it becomes all Christians to learn and practise, that the godly in the land will always be found the quiet and the peaceable in the land, whatever others are. (Italics are mine)
 
Sending all these nasty emails that are not true is in violation of of the 6th Commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor".  It is so easy to just hit the forward button on your email program, but before you do, how about taking a couple of minutes to go to http://www.factcheck.org/ or http://www.snopes.com/,  or any other fact checking sight you want that is unbiased, and check it out.  If it is false, and all of the ones I have received have been false, then stop it right there on your desk.  
 
The last one I received was labeled something like, "don't let the Post Office fool you with pretty stamps."  It went on to say that the Post Office was going to issue a stamp with butterflies on it to commemorate a Muslim holiday, and this stamp was being pushed on the Post Office by President Obama.
 
It turns out that this stamp was issued 8 years ago, 1 year and 3 months after 9/11, and was approved by GWB.
 
"Bush himself marked Eid al-Fitr with an address at the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., Dec. 5, 2002, in which he praised the spirit of the day:

George W. Bush, Dec. 5, 2002: The spirit behind this holiday is a reminder that Islam brings hope and comfort to more than a billion people worldwide. Islam affirms God’s justice and insists on man’s moral responsibility. This holiday is also an occasion to remember that Islam gave birth to a rich civilization of learning that has benefitted mankind.

Bush issued statements of personal greetings to Muslims in connection with the Eid al-Fitr holiday not only in 2002, but again in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and his final year in office, 2008."

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/09/muslim-stamp/

Note that I did not take anything out of context, so I would appreciate that you do me the same courtesy.

This is Miss PittyPat's Truth for today