The Sleeper Sin of Insubordination

Some of you probably read my title and thought “what in the world is he talking about?”  Let me explain.  I’ve been thinking some recently about the idea of “sleeper sins.” There are some sins that we clearly label and condemn and stay away from.  There are others that slyly slip in.  They slide under our radar as things that can be seen as virtuous, wholesome, or expedient.  C.S. Lewis spoke of the sin of gluttony this way in The Screwtape Letters, speaking from an elderly demon’s point of view: “One of the great achievements of the last hundred years has been to deaden the human conscience on that subject, so that by now you will hardly find a sermon preached or a conscience troubled about it in the whole length and breadth of Europe.”

Since Sandy Hook, gun control has been the favorite subject of everyone with an opinion.  The subject has become especially prevalent among Christians, many of whom I have found are pro-gun.  Whether you are for or against gun control is not the target of this post.  What I want to point out is the way that some Christians are reacting to proposed gun control laws.  The state of New York recently passed a law that made guns with a capacity of more than seven rounds illegal.  It hasn’t actually taken affect yet (it will on April 15^th), but it has caused quite an uproar among pro-gun Americans both inside and outside of New York.  President Obama supposedly wants to enact similar gun regulations nationwide. 

If I’m ever running out of material to write on, sometimes I just browse Facebook until I find something that gets me going.  Sometimes that doesn’t take any longer than ten minutes.  I have seen a lot of posts in the past few months that basically say something like this: “Obama wants to take our guns away.  I hope he’s ready for a revolution.”  Or something like this: “If you want me guns, you’ll have to rip them from my cold dead hands.”  You get the idea.

There’s a problem here.  A pretty big one, too.  Romans 13 says that we are to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for they are established by God.  Is the man who takes part in a revolution in subjection to the governing authorities?  I think you know the answer to that. 

Here’s what a lot of you are going to be saying at this point: “But Logan, the Constitution gives us the right to fight back!”  Listen and listen carefully: I don’t give a hill of beans what the Constitution gives us a right to do.  Like any patriotic American, I believe in the Constitution and I believe that it should be followed.  However (and I do believe we need to be told this, sadly), the Constitution of the United States of America is not an inspired document.  We do not have the right to do something as Christians because the Constitution gives us the right.  We answer to a higher power. 

Secondly, I’ve heard the argument “Because of the Constitution, the government doesn’t have any authority over us!”  Let me frank.  That’s bull.  It’s a smokescreen that we’ve used because we don’t have a way to justify our attitudes.  Search the Constitution for something that says “The government will have no authority over the citizens.”  You won’t find it.  There’s checks and balances to be sure, but if lawmakers and law enforcement really have no power over us, then why haven’t conservatives kicked out Obama?  Because citizens don’t have the authority to do that.  Not without due process. 

Let’s stop pretending.  God tells us to be submissive, so we should be submissive.  End of story.  Otherwise, we will find ourselves fighting God.