Happy Tax Day 2009!

In the midst of everyone attending TEA parties and silent rallies in opposition to increased taxes and federal deficits...I thought I'd offer two tidbits for your day. First, a passage from the gospel of Mark:

Mark 12:13-17
"Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. When they had come, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?�
But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.� So they brought it. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?� They said to Him, “Caesar’s.� And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.�
And they marveled at Him."

I also love to listen to Jimmy Buffett sing on Tax Day...

[podcast]/music/buffettsunnyafternoon.mp3[/podcast]


Quietly Making Noise,
Fletch

Comments

[keri]

Good stuff!

[Sven LL Rafferty]

Well, I don't see Obama on my coins so I'll be sure to send my tax bill for you to pay since it appears you have little difficulty with becoming bankrupt through taxation. :)

Out of curiosity, what's your feelings on the Revolutionary War?

[Fletch]

My feelings don't matter, but this is what scripture and the Westminster Confession says:

Paul speaking to the Romans: "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."

When Paul wrote this, he was speaking to early Christians under Nero. If Christians wanted to rebel against a horrible government...Nero was the guy, yet Paul doesn't say to start a revolution, he doesn't even say to lead a peaceful protest.

The Confession goes on to say, "It is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to honor their persons, to pay them tribute or other dues, to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their authority, for conscience' sake. Infidelity, or difference in religion, does not make void the magistrates' just and legal authority, nor free the people from their due obedience to them: from which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted, much less has the Pope any power and jurisdiction over them in their dominions, or over any of their people; and, least of all, to deprive them of their dominions, or lives, if he shall judge them to be heretics, or upon any other pretence whatsoever."

Regardless, it's not my money anyway. It's God's money. I recognize that the American Tax System is broken. I don't like God's money being used for unbiblical causes, just like I'm sure early Christians did not like smelling God's children burn as human torches in Nero's garden. Yet God calls us to honor the civil magistrate...and our parents and our elders...because they are good? Not at all, but because God is good.

Just my 2 cents...which is all I have left...

[Andy's Best Friend, Eric]

Very good discussion topic. As my good friend Fletch reminds us from the Confession, "...obey their lawful commands...". My first point (of which I fear I'll have many - and I don't have time to deal with them all now) has to focus on "lawful commands". I don't think we can just marginalize the courage and efforts of thousands of years of heroic examples where Christians made the decision to cast off tyranny and magisterial oppression in the hope of finding a better life while on earth. Should Wycliffe not have translated the Bible? Would it have been better for Martin Luther to have just left his position as monk rather than ruffle some feathers? Should the Puritans have just sat quietly and assimilated into the Church of England? Should the Founding Fathers of the United States be labeled Traitors? Should the abolitionists just waited for the government to change our laws regarding blacks and should we whine over abortion when the government finds it legal? Taxation is just a subset of all of these concerns because in the end, our tax dollars go to support all of these events and activities. Most people run for elected office because they want to see change. Very few politicians run on a platform of "let's keep everything the same. I like everything the way it is now and I'll make sure nothing changes!" I understand that the authorities are appointed by God, but just as God sent Samuel to David to let him know that God was going to find another because David has abused his authority and did not obey God, why can we not seek another or search for a different plan or way when those authorities abuse their authority and disobey God? (1 of ???)

[Fletch]

Eric can be such a pain in the ballot!

[James]

Great post, Andy and great comment as well!

[Grandbro]

No one likes paying taxes, but the capitalist in me rationalizes that we only pay taxes when we make money. How much is enough? How much is too much? If it was left up to us, what would we pay for the infrastructure that our taxes support? Sure, we all wish tax dollars were spent differently and that is why we vote politicians into office to help direct those funds (ahh, idealism!). I think some people like to complain and no matter how much they pay or who is in office that they would still have a problem with it. For now, be happy you make enough money to pay taxes because I’m sure there are plenty of people that would like to have that problem. And if people are fortunate enough to receive a tax-refund, perhaps they would consider themselves so fortunate and in turn contribute it to a more needy cause.

[wedding party]

It’s pretty interesting that the mainstream media has changed the way it looks at this recently dont you think? Now it seems that it is discussed thoroughly and more in depth. Frankly it is about time we see a change.