Who's law ought we to obey, God or man's?

Question

This is the question that Peter presented to the council when the Apostles were warned not to preach, teach or heal in the Name of Jesus, Acts 5:17-29. After this they "......called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worty to suffer shame for his name.And daily in the temple, and in every house, (they ceased not) to teach and preach Jesus Christ" Acts 5:40b-42.

Today we are told the same thing. Are we not willing to suffer shame for His Name as they were. Are we any different that we should obey man rather than God?

JOEY , Do you know anything at all about Christians? Its apparent that you have never read the Bible.I am not saying that to be mean, but my Lord is the Prince of Peace. If you knew anything about him you would never make such a statement.

QUEEN__OF__TARTZ, what a terrible thing for you to say. I have no idea what laws your referring to but you might ask yourself if you would like to live in one of those Countries that put Christians to death. There you wouldn't have to worry about those laws that your refering to. I hope this opens your eyes and allows you to see the truth. Please email me if you like, I promise not to be mean. Your in my prayers.

WALLY, I would love it if you would share what you know about God. He is a really Big God. I am sure that we can all learn from one another. Feel free to email me or you can share right here with all of us.

Answer 1

Jesus says, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God's."

That means obey both when they do not conflict.

In The United States, they are trying to remove Christian principles and beliefs from everything within our local, state, and federal government & education systems. They think if they remove them, rewrite or erase history it will be as if it never existed. That will not happen as long as people have memories. And it will not change the facts. It will just be a cover-up...but you can not completely erase the truth. It is written in indelible ink on the heart and minds of man and God.

Someone commented to me, obviously a young kid, that Christians were trying to PUT prayer, The Ten Commandments, The Golden Rule, into our schools. We were trying to MAKE abortion wrong, and PUT it into our legal system. I was/am amazed at such naivete, such ignorance of America's history, if you will. No disrespect intended.

I grew up in America. I remember in ALL the public schools I attended, and even when I attained high school in the 70's, we still opened the day in homeroom with The Lord's Prayer and The Pledge of Allegiance. We were allowed and had Christian clubs within school for the Christian kids involved in sports, literature, science, etc. etc., as well as clubs for those who were not in any of the above. The Ten Commandments and The Golden Rule were prominently/openly displayed in the front halls of our schools. We said a prayer before each PTA meeting. A prayer was said for both teams before all sports events/games began. We were led in prayer before our meals as young children & most kids prayed before they ate alone or in a group when we got into high school. The Golden Rule & The Ten Commandment Awards was a coveted end of the year honor in school for people who best exemplified its precepts in each grade. We all strove to obtain it. We were allowed to pray before tests...or anytime else that we felt the need. Other religions were given the same right and their religious holidays, if different from Judao-Christian were respected and the students given a pass on that day(s) if they were different than the local, state, and national holidays America recognized.

I was in 6th grade when they began busing black children across town into all white areas and busing white children across town into all black areas. I remember our elementary school had one little black girl, Corine Fain. She arrived all alone in a school bus from the other side of town. And she was terrified of being forced to go far away from her mama and daddy and all her neighborhood friends to come to an all white elementary school. The sight of her that first day, with such abject fear, with tears welling in her eyes has never left me. She ended up in my homeroom at school. We took her in. Invited her to be a cheerleader for our 6th grade basketball team. I taught her how to cheer. We included her in all things that year, our last year in elementary school. And that was the way it was to be for me in our town with children of different ethnicities and religions all through my college years.

We had teens and adults who misbehaved, committed crimes, and were not kind to others, but they came from all races and all religions or those who had no religious beliefs as well. But all knew The Ten Commandments and The Golden Rule never were objected to or found objection to either and parents, teachers, churches, synagogues, whatever religion, police and everyone else expected people to abide by them. And if they did not, the families were the first ones to get in their faces for it and teachers, churches, & police backed the parents up. Where God Almighty does expect us to be civilly disobedient is when anyone government, police... tell you you can not pray, you can not believe, you can not worship God Almighty, under penalty of incarceration or death.

Today, in America, Christian people, preachers, kids, and judges are being sued for their refusal to not pray, not omit Almighty God/Jesus/The Holy Bible from their speeches, but in other countries, Holland, Amsterdam, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Pakistan, Phillipines, Africa, & India, Christians are being hunted down, tortured, beaten, killed, jailed, and beheaded for having a Bible; talking about Jesus; praying to Almighty God. And they are NOT afraid. They are my heroes, and my Christian measuring of what a true, fearless Christian is.

I try to remember to behave as Daniel, Esther, Ruth, & Joseph did. They were Christians in a harsh situation or a foreign land. They practiced civil disobedience all the time, but they did so with intelligent argument, and with humble respect & as a request. And because of this, all found favor with their rulers/captors and all found favor, blessings, and protections from Almighty God.

That is how I try to be...a strong, tell the truth, stand my ground, yet be humble & respectful in the process and let God Almighty deal with the rest of it for me.

So be a Daniel...a Ruth...a Joseph...an Esther and let God do the rest.

Answer 2

I don't even need the NT for that. To establish courts of justice is considered in Judaism one of the seven laws that are given to all of humanity. By implication that means that breaking the "laws of man" would break a commandment from God (unless, of course, such a law contradicts a Biblical law). Society has the responsibility to enforce the other laws (like the prohibition of murder or theft). Even when that system ignores some of God's laws, it's still better than no laws at all. If you break those laws, you weaken the system. When I speed-drive, chances are that others will observe it and come to think it doesn't really matter; and soon enough, we have lots of dead people due to everybody's irresponsible driving habits. It's certainly a challenge to be that meticulous about every "small" law; but I don't see how that would cause "constant disappointment and pain day in and day out".

Answer 3

I think we need to use Common Sense here. The law is a good thing most of the time. When it is not being abused or used or manipulated for wrong ends or purposes. Yet we know that many times the law is manipulated for this or that cause. Lets take a modern example: Abortion.
In Roe V. Wade 1973(2) the United States Supreme Court gave the go ahead for Abortion to become legal, a woman's right, throughout the land.
Was this a good law? Was this God's will? Did it really help the country? What's the legacy of this landmark decision?
Many Chrisitans, and others do not like this law. But it is the law of the land. But what does God say? "Thou Shalt not Kill."
So do I obey the United States Supreme Court, or God? Jesus gave us the answer. He said, "Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's, and render unto God what is God's. Now what is God's? It is LIFE. God gives life and only God gives life. In the Nicene Creed we say, "We believe in the Holy Spirit the Lord and giver of Life." I could spend all day backing this line up with scripture but I don't have the time right now.
There are times when the government is just wrong. It is made up of people and does make mistakes. Roe V Wade was one of the biggest mistakes the United States has ever made. (Slavery was bad, but the intent was not to kill the slaves)
To disobey lawful authority is sometimes our duty, but we must understand that it must be an important matter and one that has many consequences. Should we take the law into our own hands? Not advisable. That leads to anarchy.
So we don't support Abortion in anyway. We pray that this legislation be overturned. We protest at the clinics. We support efforts by the Catholic Church to advertise the horror of abortion. We help establish places for "unwanted" babies. We write to our political leaders and let them know our dissatisfaction, and threaten to vote them out of office if they don't try to overturn this abortion law.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and I pray that my country recover its senses! I do not in anyway support Roe V Wade even if it is the "Law of the Land."

Answer 4

Jesus said who's inscription is on this coin. They replied Caesar' s.Jesus said Give to God what is his and give to him what is his. We must abide by the laws; not by the request of the government. We have a constitutional right to free speech....Man however may not agree with all a Christian does but we have gone to jail for less. Now if we do something that is illegal like bombing a persons business for a sin such as abortion,will that is not something called suffering shame in the name of the Lord....that is a sinful act. God says I will repay vengeance is mine. God said if at all possible live at peace with every man.

Answer 5

We should always obey God instead of man.
Because
the religious teachings are the word of God. As God is our creator so he knows exactly what is good and what is bad for us. Therefore any law which is against religious teachings will never be good for human.
But
What if we do not find instructions from God, as a guidance, to meet with different situations we face in our daily lives? In fact God, through his books revealed on his different messengers in different times, gave us basic principles upon which the legal structure should be built. If we formulate laws based on the principles laid down by God only then we can say that we are obeying God and only then the laws made by human will be beneficial for society.
So far as the man made laws are concerned we can not and we should not refuse to obey these to avoid anarchy in
the society but we should struggle to get these laws in conformation of the teachings of God.

Answer 6

Great question & kind responses back to those that sent you some harsh answers! As a Christian I agree with the following :
As Christians we should always obey the laws of the land, up to the point where they interfere with the Laws of God.
The Laws of God must come first. (stated by one of your other answer-ers)
There are MANY Christians out here in the world that are suffering,..some to a high degree....for obeying God's Laws rather than man's. When you become a Christian (the real deal) suffering is usually part of the program...for many various reasons..all of which we should consider with Joy.

Answer 7

Acts 5:29: Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Men have fleshy desires and those of the flesh cannot please God. God law and order/ requirements are right which leads people on a straight and narrow pathway. If we obey man we will perish but in God's plan, we have everlasting life.

I will obey God because I want him to tell me "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

Answer 8

we have to live by our city/state laws in order to preach the gospel so that others may learn.
first and for most we should obey our Father but to live in this un-civil world we must also obey man as well. if we do not obey man we will end up LOCKED up and then how will we spread the word of Christ!!!
Lord knows people need to hear about him; look at all the things that are going on in this world right now.
wildfires, hunger, homeless, dying children, and let's not forget WAR.

GOD BLESS YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!!!!!!!!

Answer 9

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man. 1 Peter 2:13

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Romans 13:1

Acts 5:29
We ought to obey God rather than men.

How do we reconcile the two opposing commandments?

Give unto Ceaser,that which belong to Ceaser,and unto God,that which belongs to God.

We should be law abiding citizens while on this earth,unless the laws of man are in opposition to the laws of God.

One exaggerated example is concerning the acceptance of the Mark of the Beast. By wisdom and the cousel of the word of God,we will know whom to obey in any given situation.

The best rule of thumb,I believe,is to do ALL things as unto God.

Answer 10

Secular law is mainly concentrated on dealing with humanity's wrongful behaviour. It is extremely rare for this to be against God's will no matter how imperfect. The commonest place for such conflict is within religious groups.

Answer 11

We should obey both. The Bible does instruct us to obey the laws of the land, but now when those laws come against the Word of God, then we should obey God. But if at all possible, we should obey the laws of our land. Also, the Bible says to obey them that have rule over you. But as stated, if any of these come against the Word of God, God's laws come first.