Quote:
Originally Posted by Ezekiel Bathfire
Romans 12:19 is a much misunderstood verse. If taken literally, it precludes a police force and ultimately, the military. Clearly God did not want this: the OT is filled with military exploits and in the NT, Jesus recognizes the power of the Roman State and indeed the power of the Jews. You will also notice that the Gospel writers constantly harp on about obeying your superiors, etc.
In the light of this, we may wonder why God requires men to stone the abomination to death, or remove an objectionable race from the face of His Land, and simply does not send down a thunderbolt, an earthquake, flood, famine, plague, or simply smite them with blindness, etc.
The answer is twofold:
1. If God did that it would be absolute evidence and that precludes Faith.
2. We often ask “Why are we here?” not only in the narrow sense of “Why did we come to another display of children’s paintings?”but to ask about our purpose on Earth. The answer is that God has given us a job – to maintain His Laws. We do what we are told to do and that serves God.
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Mark 12:17 - And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.
Once that's been done (paid to Rome in this case) does God have a say in what they'd spend it on? Roads. Cops. Schools. Health care. Wine. Would that be up to them? (Or us, in our case.)