The Bible Explained, part 20A/40: Government: Rights and Authority

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THE BIBLE EXPLAINED

A Guide to the Holy Bible
for Parents and Teenagers

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Where did you come from?
What is your purpose?
What happens when you die?

These questions--and more--are answered in 'The
Bible Explained', which is based on the teachings
of the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible is a collection
of ancient books which claim to be the word of the
one and only God. This one and only God claims to
be the sole creator, owner, and sustainer of all
things; he further claims to hold the one and only
key to eternal life. Are these claims true? Get
the facts and then decide for yourself.

This document is meant to be understood by everyone,
and is therefore written in plain, simple language,
avoiding complex religious jargon.

Understand the Bible like never before.

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Introduction
Quest for Truth
The Holy Bible
Origin and Destiny
The Big Picture: Good and Evil
The Story of Man
The Purpose of the Earth
The Standard and the Test
Work: The Key to Success and Life
Pyramid Society
Failure of Man
Male and Female
Family Relationships
Marriage and Family
Sexual Immorality
The Value of Life
Multiplication and Overpopulation
Racism
Creation and Evolution
Government
Politics
Justice
Words, Speech, and Censorship
Church Matters
Monotheism, Jews, and Christians
Temptation
The Nature of Evil
Life and Death of Satan
Reincarnation
The Rapture
The End Times
The Near Future
Preparing for the Future
Groups and Labels
Understanding Judgement
Preparing for Death
Conclusion
Appendix A: Questions and Answers
Appendix B: The Ten Commandments
Appendix C: Marriage

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TITLE: "The Bible Explained"
AUTHOR: "Arrant Knave"
ISBN-10: "1468197061"
ISBN-13: "9781468197068"

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-----<excerpt from book>

Government

The Oxford Dictionary defines 'government' as: "The system by which a state or community is governed; a body of persons governing a state."

God created man and gave him freedom and dominion over the earth and its creatures; however, God did not give man dominion over man. Nevertheless, there are men who freely and willingly yield up their God-given freedom to other men, thereby creating hierarchical systems of masters and slaves. In modern times, the masters are called 'governments'; and the slaves are called 'taxpayers'. Governments extract resources from taxpayers to fund themselves and make laws; taxpayers willingly (or unwillingly) support their governments and follow their laws.

Why Laws: Laws are everywhere and guide everything; nothing can exist without laws to guide them. Humans seem obsessed with making laws. Even children in a playground will make detailed rules for the various games they invent. Why the human preoccupation with laws? From the biblical point of view, humans have a passion for laws because they are made in the image of the one and only lawgiver -- and they naturally desire to be like their creator: like father, like son. If humans are products of chance and randomness, one would not expect them to be concerned about laws, since laws would be foreign to them and, therefore, incomprehensible to them. In fact, one would not expect to find laws in a random universe.

Legitimate Authority: Who possesses the authority to make laws? The owner of a thing is the only legitimate authority over said thing. Who owns the universe? Who owns man? Their creator. If God created the universe and man, then he is the only one qualified to issue rights and wrongs regarding his creations. God has given us his system of government in the Torah/Pentateuch; nevertheless, he has also granted us the freedom to invent our own systems of government.

Human Rights: Rights regarding a thing are legitimately decreed only by the owner of said thing. Who has the authority to grant rights to humans? Their owner. Who owns them? Their creator. If humans have no creator, then they have no owner; if they have no owner, then no one has authority over them; if no one has authority over them, then the issue of rights and wrongs is null and void, since no one has the authority to decree same. On the other hand, if God created humans, then they must turn to him for their rights. If humans turn to others to grant them "rights", they become beholden to them -- and effectively become their slaves, subjecting themselves to their decrees.

Freedom and Bondage: Since God created man, he is his legitimate master; however, God has given men the freedom to deny him and his laws. When men reject God as their master, they must then find a new master from among men: "The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them. And they said to the olive tree, 'Reign over us!' But the olive tree said to them, 'Should I cease giving my oil, with which they honour God and men, and go to sway over trees?' Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You come and reign over us!' But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I cease my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to sway over trees?' Then the trees said to the vine, 'You come and reign over us!' But the vine said to them, 'Should I cease my new wine, which cheers both God and men, and go to sway over trees?' Then all the trees said to the bramble, 'You come and reign over us!' And the bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you anoint me as king over you, then come and take shelter in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon!'" [Judges 9:8-15] Notice that the best plants decline to rule over the others, so the job falls to the worst one. "The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men." [Daniel 4:17] Notice that God is ultimately in charge, but why does he give dominion to the basest of men? Because the wise do not desire to rule over anyone; it is only the insecure and vain who desire power over others. Nevertheless, God will occasionally raise up good leaders to fulfill his purposes.

Warning About Human Kings: Electing human masters inevitably leads to enslavement: "This will be the behaviour of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day." [1 Samuel 8:11-18] With such a sombre warning, why would humans elect other humans to be their masters?

Legitimate Government: A government is legitimate only if people willingly and freely give their support to it; if people are forced to support a government, it is not legitimate. If a group of people elect someone to rule over them, the elected person has the authority to rule over those who elected him; however, he does not have the authority to tax or rule over anyone else.

Course of Human Governments: Ideally, man-made systems of government aim to ensure peace, prosperity, and security through the passing and enforcement of laws which divide right from wrong (or legal from illegal). A perfect system of government may be drafted on paper, however, because of human weaknesses, it will fail in the long run: A human government may be established in good faith to render useful services to its citizens, but then it grows lazy, fat, wasteful, and oppressive -- until the people can no longer support it, and then it collapses. The same thing happens every time -- because human nature does not change.

Perfect Government: The only perfect system of government was given by God and is recorded in the Torah. A perfect system of government can indeed be set down on paper, however, in practice, human nature will ensure its failure. A perfect society requires peaceful individual members. A man is not at peace with his neighbour because he is not at peace with himself; he is not at peace with himself because he is not at peace with his maker; he is not at peace with his maker because he does not know his maker. If each individual person kept to himself, there would be peace; however, humans are prone to interfere with their neighbours, resulting in conflicts.

Source of Conflict: "All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone." [Blaise Pascal] One man alone is at peace; however, when two or more humans get together, conflicts arise. Why? Because our adversary the devil seeks our destruction by setting us against each other. How? The devil whispers in our ears: 'You're better than your brother; you deserve to rule over him.' When we believe this lie, conflicts arise; however, if we consider others better than ourselves, conflicts are averted: "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." [Philippians 2:3]

Why Governments: God created humans to be free individuals; however, some humans will form groups in order to do evil, prompting others to form other groups to oppose them, thereby creating governments and nations which oppose each other.

History of Human Governments: In Daniel 2, God tells us that human governments will grow increasingly inferior as time progresses. Today, we see the worst form of government man has yet devised -- so-called 'democracy' or 'representative government'.

Representative Government: When people deny their creator and his laws, they must find a new master. In times past, humans worshipped pharaohs, kings, emperors, etc.; today, humans worship presidents, prime ministers, etc.: they worship them by electing them as their masters via the process of voting -- in which the voice of the majority prevails over the voice of the minority, which is sometimes called 'democracy' or 'representative government'.

Majority and Minority: A government official is usually elected by a majority of voters. Thus, the minority loses its voice to the majority, so the minority is not represented, which is unfair to the minority. Although the government is supposed to represent the majority, it is sometimes hijacked by vocal minorities and used to do their bidding, which is unfair to the majority. As you can see, democracy is inherently unfair to certain groups at certain times and under certain circumstances, yet people continue to support it. Why? Because voters are unaware of their God-given freedom to refuse human masters, since they have been propagandized into believing they are unpatriotic if they decline to participate in an inherently unfair system.

Winner Pays: Imagine a system in which only those who voted for the winning candidate are obligated to pay taxes. This approach may encourage a more thoughtful electorate.

Checks and Balances: One way to keep a democratic system in check is to mandate that each ballot come with a 'none of the above' option. If 'none of the above' gets the nod, then the government should be dissolved and all taxes lifted: The system has failed; a new one will eventually arise. Additionally, a government should be deemed illegitimate if a majority of voters refuse to vote.

Voluntary System: Imagine a voluntary system: Taxes would be voluntary; and only those who pay will have the right to vote; and votes will be weighted in accordance with contributions; and contributions would be spent as directed by individual contributors.

Freedom to Opt Out: If citizens disapprove of a system, they ought to have the freedom to opt out of it, which would free them from the burden of paying taxes into a system which they do not approve of. Why should people be forced to support things which they do not condone?

-----<availability>

The above book is available for purchase at:

http://www.amazon.com

Search for:
TITLE: "The Bible Explained"
AUTHOR: "Arrant Knave"
ISBN-10: "1468197061"
ISBN-13: "9781468197068"

Or try this direct link:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Bible-Explained-Parents-Teenagers/dp/1468197061

-----<copyright notice>

The above excerpt from 'The Bible Explained' is copyright
2010 by Arrant Knave. All rights reserved. No part of this
document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means without the
prior written permission of the publisher, except by a
reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be
printed in a newspaper, magazine, or journal.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are
taken from the New King James Version (R). Copyright (C)
1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.

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