Obamacare: A Brief Ten-Point Theology of Resistance

Culture and Politics - Obama Nation Building

Written by Douglas Wilson

Friday, 26 March 2010 07:46

1. Active resistance to tyranny, and to this tyranny in particular, is not just permissible for Christians. It is mandatory.

2. The question is therefore what form the resistance should take, and not whether there should be resistance.

3. The theological basis for this resistance is that Jesus is Lord, and Caesar is not. Jesus is our Savior, and one of the meanings of Savior is Healer. We already have a messianic health care program, thanks. Not only do we not need two of them, but as Christians we are not permitted to have two of them.

4. The great danger in this developing resistance movement is not that it will be unsuccessful. The danger is that it will be successful, and that the credit for it will go to the "conservative, good sense of the American people" instead of to Jesus Christ.

5. Christians may not give lip service to any resistance that by-passes the need for repentance. We elected this man to the White House, and these . . . I believe poltroons is the word I am looking for . . . to Congress. Their presence at the helm of state cannot be blamed on somebody else. The Europeans sure didn't vote them in.

6. Resistance must be corporate, not solitary, and by this I mean more than you and your buddies. I am referring to Calvin's doctrine of the lesser magistrates, and the more the merrier. We need officials who will "just say no."

7. In the political maneuverings that will occur in the months to come, sharply distinguish allies from cobelligerents. Don't think about them, or speak about them, as though they were the same thing. Enormous political dishonesty proceeds from that, and is one of the chief causes of our trouble.

8. Civic repentance means doing something fundamentally different than what we have been doing for a number of generations. It does not entail a rewind to the status quo ante. If you rent a movie and it turns out to be a dog, what would be the point of rewinding and trying again?

9. When it comes to anxiety, panic, worry, distress, or fear, repent of that. When you have repented of it, repent of it some more. God loves a cheerful warrior.

10. Pray that God would raise of an army of men who will preach the ancient gospel in power and simplicity. Apart from that, all the activity referred to in this list will be born as nothing, grow up to a mature nothing, and its gray hairs shall descend to the grave of nothing.

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Last Updated on Friday, 26 March 2010 07:53

Comments

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Matt Taylor

Friday, March 26, 2010 8:55 am

Thank for the blessings. It is great to have wisdom at all times. May God open our eyes to see our individual need for repentance as well.

Jon Swerens - I agree! but need help

Friday, March 26, 2010 9:38 am

So, OK, I agree totally, but I need to be able to encapsulate my agreement with people who ask, hey, what?

Has DW or anyone else posted a brief essay on why Biblical Christian must oppose this kind of big government movement?

deolexrex - the resistance has already begun

Friday, March 26, 2010 9:54 am

Samaritan Ministries International has been actively resisting the current system for almost 20 years. Come and be a blessing to your brethren! or is this no place for consistent theology?

Will S

Friday, March 26, 2010 9:55 am

Thanks Doug!! Sweet post. I will pass it on. Keep up the clear thinking. I particularly like points 4 and 9.

robhoward

Friday, March 26, 2010 12:56 pm

re: #8
for that matter, what would be the point of renting a VHS tape in the first place?

Gianni

Friday, March 26, 2010 1:38 pm

Pastor Wilson, you once thanked God for the caliber of your enemies. I never forgot that. It's one of the wisest things you have taught me. Well, I guess we'll just have to thank God for what is going on then, and for the caliber of this tyranny. Because it's this kind of calamities that bring out the best of you. So I wash my face, grab my sword, and off I go cheerfully, right after you, sir. You were born for such a time as this. Thanks for sticking out your neck. Please keep doing the leading. Please keep walking up front. I may be far away, but I'm not far behind you.

Mike Sweeney

Friday, March 26, 2010 1:46 pm

"Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." Matt. 13:52

I look forward to the day when the world will hear about the one who did not know what it was to be alone, until he took our sins upon him.

Resisting the politics of the day, means there must also be a clear view of the way things are supposed to be, and quite possibly, it is the easiest way to distinguish allies from cobelligerents.

Gianni

Friday, March 26, 2010 2:03 pm

Number eight above sounds like something you are exceptionally good at. More of that, please. No, not the part about rewinding VHS tapes.

Valerie (Kyriosity)

Friday, March 26, 2010 4:06 pm

Re #3, we also need more repentance of our idolatry of health and of the medical profession. Not that we shouldn't like both of those things, but our nation's gotten them out of perspective.

Justin Pullen

Friday, March 26, 2010 7:51 pm

I'm afraid I disagree with most of these points pretty strongly. Not because I support the health care bill (I don't), but because I believe it's going way too far to say this is something that all Christians are morally bound to oppose. For sake of coherence, I'll address the points in order:

1a. Tyranny? Really? To call it such belittles the plight of those who have suffered under legitimate tyranny. To lump socialized healthcare in the same category with people having their right hand chopped off for speaking out against the regime or being burned at the stake for speaking the Word of God is a hysterical bit of hyperbole. You can deem the bill unacceptable without losing all sense of perspective.

2. It's mandatory that Christians oppose this? To say that, I submit that you need rock-solid Biblical proof that this is in direct contravention with the essentials of the faith, and not just one of those topics that Christians who are earnestly seeking God and trusting in His Word may disagree about in love. Obviously, I place in in the latter category.

3. Using the "Jesus the healer" logic that you present, we shouldn't see doctors at all. Ever. Now, I am fully aware of the sin of Asa, and am in full agreement that we should seek God in prayer when we have ailments, and ultimately our faith is in our Savior and healer rather than medicine. But I also think that God works through doctors, and that Scripture and medicine are not inherently at loggerheads. So if we accept doctors in general, we have to acknowledge that the health care bill is not about whether we trust God or doctors, but how we're going to pay for medical care that is going to be provided anyway. May it be that this plan causes people to trust medicine rather than doctors? Possibly. But you can make the same argument for modern agriculture making it cheaper and easier to get food. I don't have to till the land and sow crops by hand, so I'm less appreciative of "my daily bread." But if you really want to argue that point, then the logical conclusion is that we should all become Amish.

4. I'm basically okay with this point, and would add that the other danger is that Republicans will shamelessly manipulate the resistance movement so they can accumulate power, rather than to respond in a way that will legitimately improve the American way of life.

5. I'm all for repentance and accepting responsibility for what is going on in this country. It's what makes democracy work. Still, the statement carries with it a whole raft of assumptions about right and wrong in American politics that I have some heartburn with, but that's a much broader issue.

6. To the extent that this is a political statement made to politically like-minded souls, I'm entirely okay with it. To the extent that this is a statement made by a church leader to other Christians, I am deeply bothered by it, mostly because I think it splits the church over something inessential. (I would be okay with this statement if it concerned something like abortion, where I think the Biblical mandate is much clearer.)

7. This is sound political advice, and worthy counsel for any student of realpolitik who is attempting to amass temporal power to make a change in the government.

8. Agreed. There are some "conservatives" who are the political equivalent of a middle-aged woman who undergoes endless beauty treatments in a futile attempt to reverse or at least stop time. Both efforts are sad, painful, and ultimately doomed. This doesn't mean that you cast aside the virtues of the past, just that you have to recognize that every virtue must be recreated anew, just as God recreates the day with every dawn.

9. I fully agree.

10. Whatever my other disagreements, I deeply appreciate this point, and pray that all Christians will be able to live in community with one another in this spirit.

Will S

Saturday, March 27, 2010 6:47 am

Hi Justin,

Here are my thoughts.

1. "Tyranny? Really? To call it such belittles the plight of those who have suffered under legitimate tyranny."

All tyranies start as ways to protect the public. Hitler didn't take power by saying 'I want to enslave the country and kill all the handicaps and jews'. He took power by saying, 'the government will give you stuff.' Obamacare is tyranny. By the way, it will kill untold numbers of babies and use my money (and yours) to do it. It will mount piles of debt on my children. It will steal from some to give to others. It will enrich the government while impoverishing the people. This is plain and simple tyranny - old school style.

"2. It's mandatory that Christians oppose this? To say that, I submit that you need rock-solid Biblical proof.."

Romans 10:9 - The declaration of Jesus as Lord is central to salvation. The reason the early church was killed was not that they were too nice or that they were too spiritual. The reason they were killed is that they had some very 'this-world' things to say about who was in charge. The Romans mandated that Christians confess Caesar was Lord. Christians instead took Caesar's titles and applied them to Christ. Christians have gotten themselves in trouble throughout history by standing up and declaring "Christ is Lord. Caesar is not."

"3. Using the "Jesus the healer" logic that you present, we shouldn't see doctors at all."

You sort of answered your own question here by discussing Asa. But I would take this further and say that if we embrace tyranny to give us something that only God can ultimately give (health) we are embracing idolatry. It is one thing to go to a doctor - that is not a sin and may be of God. It is another thing to embrace a government program that steals from some to give to other, kills babies, and impoverishes our children - in the hopes of getting health. This is clearly not of God.

4. I'm basically okay with this point.

ok

5. I'm all for repentance and accepting responsibility for what is going on in this country.

ok

6.... I think it splits the church over something inessential. (I would be okay with this statement if it concerned something like abortion, where I think the Biblical mandate is much clearer.)

Tyranny is essential. And you may want to review the bill and abortion a bit more. A lot of children are going to be killed on the public dole.

7. This is sound political advice, and worthy counsel for any student of realpolitik who is attempting to amass temporal power to make a change in the government.

Er. OK. I think your statement implies that politics and religion don't mix (which they do) but ok.

8. Agreed.

ok

9. I fully agree.

ok

10. Whatever my other disagreements, I deeply appreciate this point

ok.

Justin Pullen

Saturday, March 27, 2010 8:02 am

Will,

Thanks for the response. A few thoughts on your comments:
- I freely concede that much hangs on the abortion question, and obviously the passage of the bill itself was snared on that very issue. I wasn't pleased with Stupak's "compromise," because I think that the preservation of the Hyde Amendment outlined in Obama's Executive Order only preserves the status quo with regard to abortions, and very temporarily at that. This is a very particular issue requiring close reading of the legislative language, made all the more difficult because Congress unsuccessfully attempted to write the bill with language that would satisfy all sides on the abortion debate. So I'm opposed to the bill's position on abortion funding, but I'm not convinced that it's much of a departure from the status quo on that particular issue.

- I don't know that all tyrannies start as a way to protect the public, although some certainly do. In particular, your Hitler argument is basically flawed, since the fascists in the Nazi party were ideologically the polar opposites of the communists, vividly illustrated by the way Germany and Russia waged proxy war on one another through the Spanish Civil War. Hitler's appeal was more based on outrage because of a sense of injustice and loss of national honor in the wake of the Versailles Treaty. But this is a digression. In any case, I still don't concede the tyranny point.

I fully agree that the healthcare bill will be hideously expensive, and that it will generate a significant cost for the average citizen. But this does not equate to tyranny, in my estimation. I also don't think it will "enrich the government." Quite the contrary, in fact. Providing healthcare for the entire populace will leave the government with a mountain of bills that they will not be able to pay. These costs will be passed on to us, of course, but it will be a huge headache for the government.

What I'm most concerned about here is not whether the bill is a good idea--I've clearly stated that I think it's not--but whether I have cause to berate a Christian on purely theological grounds for supporting it. And I really don't think the Romans 10:9 argument works at all, because I just don't concede that supporting a nationalized healthcare system is contrary to proclaiming that Jesus is Lord. If Romans 10:9 is your only defense, then please let me point out that by that logic you could use the verse to justify almost anything, from establishing a militant theocracy to Islamic-style repression of any semblance of free speech. The verse is absolutely true and I will freely proclaim it, but because it is not remotely specific to the healthcare debate I don't think I have grounds to use it against Christians who support the bill.

There is more to say, but I think I'll stop here for now.

Matthew Hoover

Saturday, March 27, 2010 5:53 am

Justin Pullen, please prayerfully and carefully read this and consider whether you ought not to rethink your position on this matter: http://bit.ly/aoAqLL

Justin Pullen

Saturday, March 27, 2010 7:09 am

Matthew, I'm hardly an expert on all the nuances of the bill, but as far as I can tell that particular argument is basically a straw man, as addressed here and here. However, I'm willing to be convinced otherwise, if presented with actual proof that shows where the bill directs euthanasia. The abortion point is a crucial one that I'm going to address separately. But I appreciate the link, and please believe me when I say that whatever else I might believe on this issue, I am fully in agreement that we should seek God first, and submit to Him fully.

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