With Liberty and Injustice For All

I don’t pledge allegiance to the flag, anymore. There was a time when stardust filled my eyes, when pictures of patriotism were alive but such illusions cannot thrive when the Scriptures reveal all such lies. I whole-heartedly advise you to not be so enamored by the continual tasty morsels offered by the news that avert attention from where a person can make a difference to where he is very unlikely to make any difference. Doing this is quite difficult. Not because the act is strenuous, but those morsels are just so tasty. To stop a flowing river requires the work of not a few men. Standing in a ford is a good place to start, trying to place one giant boulder to stop it is a feat no strong man could dream of accomplishing. Throwing in a large rock and making a splash is no success either, those ripples quickly vanish in flowing water. These things take time, effort, and bodies—not to plug up the river, but to share the work, come on. Having the change in mind, and putting forth the effort takes discipline. “Errors sanctified by long usage are not easily relinquished.”1 But in order to motivate one must need something to cause motivation. I hope to begin that here. In explaining why it is that we are not the ‘land of the free’ that we claim to be I hope there would be seen no easy way out of the discussion. This is your question: What is my standard?

“This Land is My Land, this Land is Your Land”…well, not really

I recently attended our City Council meeting as a concerned citizen in effort to get involved in the community that God has placed me in. Becoming informed of your local government and seeking to make a difference in your community is a way to love your neighbor as yourself. But how do you know if your neighbor is being mistreated? And by whom? Is it possible that your neighbor could be mistreated by the governing authorities? Let me give an example that actually happened during the meeting. An issue concerning zoning was brought up in the council. A property owner, who runs a business on his property, received complaint by a neighbor. The property owner had started a rental business and was using his own parking lot from an existing business to store the equipment. Although he was zoned for commercial use it was not the right kind (he has C2 and needed C3). On top of that he could not change to the required zone. Therefore, he was advised to seek a special permit (I am uncertain as to the length of such a permit). He was upset and left the meeting. Here comes a question you need to ask yourself. Was my neighbor wronged? By what standard? Was he wronged according to City codes? No. But what about God’s standards? Can a man use the land he owns at his own discretion when such usage does not pose a threat upon others? That question itself assumes something, ownership.

Property Tax: A Quiet Thief

Congratulations! You bought your first home! Congratulations! You paid off your home! But let me remind you that you don’t actually own your home. You’re on a never ending lease. That lease is called property tax. "Hogwash" you say. Really? What happens when a man who owes nothing on his home doesn’t pay property tax? See. Ownership is an illusion. Until property tax is abrogated you will never own your home. Scripture tells us that God gives land to man (Acts 17:26). God gave allotments to the Israelites for ownership not to be taken away from them by force of threat from another. Such property taxes are always by diverse weights and measures. Some high and some low. Scripture has a word for this type of treatment. The word is also used to describe homosexuality. It is an abomination. “Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord” (Pr. 20:10). It is one thing, and godly, to come to an agreed price for a property but to impose a tax upon one’s property is tyranny and to impose a different amount to the house across the street is an abomination. We aren’t used to thinking of matters this way. We have been perpetually given to talks on economics, flow-charts, and endless unbiblical guides on how to govern and live in society. God’s economy is free. You should own your land, you may earn a living on your land, and you must not harm your neighbor. I hope questions are floating in your mind about the workings of such a system. “What if the person wants to own a rattlesnake farm?” Okay, maybe that question didn’t come to mind but you might want to ask it and seek to apply biblical principle. Why are we under such a system? Well, God disciplines and judges nations. One way in which he judges nations is by their rulers. “When a land transgresses, it has many rulers, but with a man of understanding and knowledge, its stability will long continue” (Pr. 28:2). 

A Tell-Tale Text

When Israel desired a king God allowed them to have a king. However, he warned them what would happen under a king. Let this text be no less than a standard to understand the minimal punishments on a land for rejecting God as its king.

“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

1 Samuel 8:11–18

Tell me, oh patriot, does your land require more or less than this from you? Do you really think that a land that actually has sought to tax farts is free? I’ll let you look that one up. When a tenth of income was required for rejecting God as king what does 20% and beyond suggest? Now that a few hairs are raised let me suggest that we seek to give honor where honor is due but let us not forget that all are held to a standard. We ought to obey the ordinances of man as told by Peter who also told women to obey their husbands. Are we to be silent when a woman has an abusive husband? Is that loving? What do we do when governing authorities reach beyond their bounds? Is it loving to remain silent when your neighbor is defrauded and treated with differing measures? Is not such an abomination? It is better for us to obey God rather than men. We should not be afraid to be the prophetic voice to those above us.

"Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

Luke 3:12–14

To bring this to a close I want to bring your attention to one particular issue. Abortion. We as Christians know this is an evil that has plagued our land and we often feel defeated by its celebration. Brother, what is there to stop your County from passing a law that rejects all State and Federal law concerning the allowance of abortion? I hope it does come to a Federal level, but that is not the goal. The goal is small, local government, local focus. Start there, where you live, where your neighbors have faces that you see and interact with. Let it become our effort to have Nodaway County pass such a law that we will never allow abortions in our County no matter State or Federal law. Wherever you are, you may have larger obstacles, but you can stop up your creek, I mine, and with enough others doing the same that river will dry out. 

1. Freeman’s Journal, September 26, 1787