Ep. 6: Why Is The Right Of Resistance Important?

The Reformed Libertarians Podcast

A summary of the doctrine of the Right of Political Resistance, with four reasons for its importance. Plus, a little about the life of John Chrysostom and his early church contribution to this important doctrine.

https://reformedlibertarians.com/006

00:00 start

00:32 episode description

00:52 What is the doctrine of the Right of Political Resistance? See episode 2: https://reformedlibertarians.com/002

01:11 summary of the doctrine No obligation to submit to tyranny since it is not God's ordinance

02:03 taught in the Reformed confessions

05:05 Reformed Political Resistance Theology annotated bibliography https://tinyurl.com/RefoPoliResistBib

05:17 One reason this doctrine is important: the Right of Resistance is a non-indifferent ethical matter addressed in Scripture and church's subordinate doctrinal standards

06:47 A second reason this doctrine is important: the Right of Resistance is required to be taught, and contradicting it is subject to discipline

08:55 A third reason this doctrine is important: decisions related to one's view of the Right of Resistance are frequently encountered

10:12 Examples of resisting injustice:

a. feeding the poor without govt approval https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/05/fort-lauderdale-pastors-arnold-abbott-arrested-feeding-homeless

b. buying govt-unapproved necessities https://www.aier.org/article/how-government-created-the-baby-formula-shortage/

c. sheltering the homeless without govt approval https://tinyurl.com/GastoniaShelter https://libertarianchristians.com/2022/11/25/episode-302/

10:45 obsta principiis / resist at the beginning https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2018/09/27/obsta-principiis-nip-the-shoots-of-arbitrary-power-in-the-bud/

11:59 of course, there are prudential considerations in strategic defense

12:50 A fourth reason this doctrine is important: teaching the Right of Resistance is a matter of the church's faithful witness to the truth of Scripture as God's Word

15:55 there is a great need for greater familiarity with this doctrine in Reformed churches today

16:52 John Chrysostom's historical context https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Later_Roman_Empire#Towards_Christianization

19:55 John Chrysostom's biography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chrysostom

22:02 Chrysostom's 23rd Homily on Romans 13 Paul is addressing God's prescriptive ordination of an office of administering civil justice, not addressing providence or requiring submission to whomever wields power https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf111.vii.xxv.html

The Reformed Libertarians Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute: https://libertarianchristians.com and a member of the Christians for Liberty Network: https://christiansforliberty.net

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