Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience

Henry Thoreau wrote an essay about it in the 19th century. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached it in the South. Mahatma Gandhi encouraged it in India. Nelson Mandela went to jail for promoting it. The Bible says that Paul, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were all guilty of it.

According wikipedia.org, "civil disobedience encompasses the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government or of an occupying power without resorting to physical violence."

As Christians, the dilemma is to follow the precepts of government to the letter and violate the commandments of God, or remain faithful to God, and become an enemy of the government. Martin Luther King fought against government regulations that had effectively placed African-Americans underneath the feet of Caucasians. His faith had taught him that all of God's children were to be loved and treated equally because we were all made in His image . King approached the problem through nonviolent protests which included sit-ins at lunch counters where he was not welcome, boycotting buses were he was not allowed to sit where he pleased, and marches through cities that treated him as an animal. Being a strong man of God, there is no doubt that King saw how his disobedience to the law was in direct conflict with the word of God.

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men .

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men .

So, Dr. King chose to subscribe to and to witness about the commandment to "love your neighbor as thy self." In keeping with this commandment, he was on the wrong side of laws that were meant to keep a portion of God's creations as less than rest of the community. But he was also keeping with the commandment of God.

The Old Testament has various examples of men of God practicing civil disobedience. When Nebuchadnezzar built huge idols and demanded that every one worship them whenever music played, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship anything or anyone other than God himself. Nebuchadnezzar made it clear that they would be tossed