A badge don’t make it right…

We have been conditioned to submit to anyone wearing a badge by our society, schools, and often even our churches. The result of unquestioned submission to authorities often produces the opposite result to the ideals of the civil society  and equally applied law and order that we are seeking.

Consider the badges below:

1. Why is it ok for the DHS and FEMA to treat Americans like terrorists, but it’s not OK for the KGB to send Russian “dissidents” to Siberia?
2. Why is it OK for the UN and the CIA to be involved in the overthrow of sovereign nations but nullification and secession is always and everywhere a seditious and treasonous act?
3. What advice would you have given the super-majority of Russians that were Christians at the time the Bolsheviks came to power?
4. What advice would you have given the super-majority of Germans that were Christians as the Nazi’s came to power?

Other questions for your consideration

Are American badges intrinsically more pure and worthy of trust and submission than the badges of dictatorial rulers in countries we consider totalitarian regimes?

Did the founders of our nation believe that unlimited submission to authorities was the duty of citizens?

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive. Thomas  Jefferson

Is the U.S. government comprised of a structure and body of law embodied in the Constitution and bill of rights or is it whoever happens to hold high office under the flag?

“ In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” Thomas Jefferson

If we are rightly submitted to the governing authorities, what do we do if a usurper rises to a position of power and grants himself more power than the constitution permits? What if someone usurps the usurpers position? Are we now to submit to the usurper that usurped power from the other usurper? Where does it end?

the American political system, first of all, is a system of limited, delegated powers, entrusted to political officers and representatives and leaders for certain well-defined public purposes. Only through the recognition of this theory of popular sovereignty, and only through this explicit delegation of powers, the founders of the American Republic believed, could be the American nation keep clear of tyranny or anarchy. Russel Kirk

Did Jesus submit to or openly oppose the Jewish authorities which were the political and religious ruling class of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time?

Matt 12: Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” ¹¹ He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹² How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”¹³ Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

Did Jesus readily answer the questions of Pilate (the roman political authority) or did he point out that there was a higher authority that governed his behavior?

^{John 19: 10} “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” ¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.

The reality is that God’s moral law stands on its own and people of conscience retain their conscience and do not delegate it to those with badges. God has instituted rulers among men to punish evil, not to punish good. Appeal to authority via office holding is merely another form of the “might makes right argument”.

There is no such thing as a right to do wrong. A badge certainly does not make wrong right.