Why Independence Day isn’t sinful (pt 2) by Jesse Johnson
Yesterday my friend Jesse Johnson supplied the first of his dextrous parry-riposte replies to my facetious question of why American Christians don’t consider Independence Day to be a celebration of a sinful rebellion against the British government.
1) The Colonialists were not rebelling against their government.
Here is his second (admittedly brilliant) counter-argument…
2) The claim of authority of the Americas by England was arbitrary.
If you were a fourth generation American, and had never been to England, a legitimate question to ask is:
“Why is the British King my authority?” The British parliament claimed that they had the right to tax the citizens of the Americas. Why were the Indians not the governing authority? Why not the French? Why not the American governments? They all also claimed that same right.
In fact, this is precisely the issue that solidified George Washington’s understanding of British rule in the Americas. As an officer in the British military, Washington’s first mission was to tell a French military outpost in Ohio to disband and leave the area. The French claimed the area fell under their authority, and the Indians agreed with the French. The British claimed it was theirs, and their claim was in essence based on their maps, which simply extended the boarders of the colonies indefinitely to the West. Obviously this kind of claim is not a valid use of Biblical authority and does not compel submission.
Simply because a government makes a map with you under their authority, does not then bind you under the obligation of Romans 13 to that government (remember how Iraq, after invading
Kuwait, quickly published new maps showing Kuwait as a province of Iraq?).
In the colonies, Americans were bound under the government that was constituted to collect taxes, pass laws, and enforce peace. By 1775, this was the colonies’ government, not the French, not the Indians, and not the British.
The final installment in this trilogy arrives tomorrow!
