The True Authority
Civil disobedience has been a debatable issue for many years. It grows whenever presented in front of believers of Jesus Christ. I shall disclose my opinion on this matter clearly and straightforwardly: civil disobedience, for Christians, is right when interpreted properly. I will be defending my perspective in three points.
Firstly, I would like to refer to Daniel 3 and Acts 5:17-32. These are great examples of properly interpreted civil disobedience. In Daniel 3, three servants of God (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) defied authority to obey God’s command of not worshipping other gods. Even when they were put under life or death circumstances, they chose to keep the worship of God sacred. In the end, God showed His greatness through that act of civil disobedience. Same goes with Acts 5. My point is that this is how far we must go when put in a circumstance wherein we must choose between God or man.
Secondly, there is no higher authority than God’s. It said so itself in Romans 13. Our God is love, and we should let love be the highest authority in our lives. If there is a person who is put in power that does not love, we must not follow them. The event is similar to Daniel 3, wherein, even in life or death, we must always choose God.
Lastly, the reason why I mentioned that civil disobedience must be interpreted the right way is because there are times when people, even believers, misinterpret civil disobedience as hate. I have one thing to say: hate is NOT love. It is very far from it. That is why, as Christians, we must do our best not to hate, for that is against God’s command of loving our neighbours.
In conclusion, civil disobedience for Christians is right because we are following the True Authority: God’s. It is just highly misinterpreted as hate. While they do share similarities, one difference stands out: we disobey the worldly leaders because we love God. It is not because we hate the said worldly leaders, rather, it is because we love them and desire for them to know and experience God’s amazing love.