Unjust Rebellion

Rebellion is an idea so deeply ingrained into our human nature it is almost impossible to look anywhere without seeing a rebellion. So often rebellion has a negative connotation because in order to rebel one must break rules and breaking rules is considered by most people, a bad thing. But obviously there is justified rebellion because sometimes governments have become unjust and the people had the right to rebel against the governing authorities. So where is the line between a just and unjust rebellion? A rebellion is justified when governing bodies create rules and laws that contradict laws instituted by God and then it is the responsibility of the people to rebel in order to reinstate God’s law in the governing body. In order to

During this time the Catholic strayed from its roots as a collection of God’s people to a political entity that was focus on the personal gain of the clergy, pope, cardinals, and other such positions of power than the salvation and the relationships of the people with God. There were also many other problems such as purchasable indulgences that were lies that had been institutionalized into the system of the Catholic church. In his 95 theses he laid out his argument against the church. The Bible says that, “only God can forgive sins” since when we sin it is God’s law that we are breaking (Mark). But at the time the Popes was claiming that he could forgive sins; Luther address this in his fifth theses specifically when he that, “The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those imposed by his own authority or that of the canons,” along with many other problems with the Catholic church (Luther). Simply put, God calls us to glorify Him in all that we do and the rules of the Catholic Church were restricting people from glorifying God to their fullest potential. Martin Luther saw this and other practices that were violating God’s law and decided to first try to reform the problems he saw. But this was unsuccessful so in order to restore God’s law to the governing law Luther had to rebel and his rebellion was

In Romans Paul says that, “the authorities that exists have been established by God” (Romans).Some would say that because all government has been instituted by God that we should follow whatever the government tells us to do. The problem is that man is fallen and cannot be a perfect ruler and can create rules that do conflict with the rules that God has set for us. Even in the bible there are stories in the Bible that are in this very situation. In the book of Daniel is under the rule of Darius. Through trickery and deceit people who wished to see Daniel killed had Darius pass a decree that no one is supposed to worship any god or entity besides Darius. Daniel, being a devout jew, rebels against this decree and worships God and is thrown into the den of lions. But, “[Daniel’s] God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They [did] not hurt [him], because [he] was found innocent in [God’s] sight” (Daniel). Because Daniel disobeyed his earthy ruler so that he could obey God’s command he found favor in God’s sight. If the cause of our rebellion is true and pure to fix a system that is oppressing our right and duty to follow God’s command then it is not only recommended that we rebel but in fact