FAITH AND LIFE
Once per week or so, Fallon’s faith leaders offer their thoughts on faith and life. Any church or faith community of any kind is welcome and encouraged to participate. If you have ideas for topics we should write about, or if you are a faith leader and would like to participate, please call Pastor Dawn Blundell at Epworth UMC, 775-423-4714.
If you’d like to talk more about anything you read here, or if you would like prayer or a listening ear, we hope you will reach out to one of us. If you don’t already have a church home, you are invited to join us for worship, too! You’ll find contact information and worship times below.
What role does our faith play in submitting to the government?
Celeste Buswell, Licensed Worship Leader and Homilist, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
Worship Sunday mornings at 10:00am and Wednesdays at 7:00pm
Prayer services via Zoom Sunday morning at 8:30am, Tues and Thurs at 6:00pm
For more info or to join the Zoom prayer services, please call 775-423-3551
This year has seen more evidence of Church vs Government than any in recent memory. While the government was placing restrictions on in-person gatherings, the governing body of the church was also instituting their own policies.
Romans 13:1 states: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." By adhering (submitting) to the government, we are praising God as it is only by God's authority that government exists. “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and render unto God that which is God’s.
Stephen Duarte, Parkside Bible Fellowship
Sunday School at 9:00am, worship services Sunday mornings at 10:15am and 6:00pm
For more info, please call 775-423-3855 or visit www.parksidebible.com
To put it simply, God calls us to submit to the government as long as the government does not forbid something God commands or command something God forbids. Ultimately, when we submit to the government, we are submitting to God who has placed those authorities in place (Rom 13:1). Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and fully man, is the ultimate example of this in that he submitted himself to Father God by willingly taking the punishment of the sins of his people and providing the righteousness that they need. In doing so, he has accomplished salvation for all those who put their faith in him as their Lord and Savior.
Adam Bayer, Command Chaplain at Fallon Naval Air Station
Worship at the NAS Fallon Chapel at 10:00am, or on Facebook Live beginning at @10:25
For more info, please call 775-426-9189
*The views or opinions expressed herein are solely his, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense or the United States government.
Fear, contempt for others, even hysteria. While too many of these words describe Christians in America’s current political landscape, none of them describe Jesus. How then, should Christians striving to follow Jesus’ example live in these times? The Bible offers two clear and relevant instructions. The books of Romans and 1 Peter direct Christians to submit to the government, and no matter how badly one might view America’s next president, he will pale in comparison to the Roman emperor in power during the writing of those books. Second, the entire Bible encourages trust in God. It clearly demonstrates that the next American president will not surprise or undermine the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. This causes me to ask, is God whom America trusts?
Rev Dawn Blundell, Epworth United Methodist Church
Worship Sunday mornings online at 9:30am on Facebook Live and KVLV AM980
For more info, please call 775-423-4714 or visit www.epworthfallon.org
In word and example, the Bible tells us to obey the laws of the land, and also to criticize and even resist evil authorities. We cannot reasonably declare, on the strength of Paul’s words about obedience in Romans 13 or Jesus’ instruction to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s in Mark 12, that we must always submit to the government, because slavery, Jim Crow, Hitler, etc. And we can’t just disobey governments we don’t like based on our personal definition of “justice”, because anarchy and power-hungry, self-justifying nonsense. So we pray, learn, and vote. We stop seeing injustice where there is only inconvenience or disagreement. We work together for the peace and prosperity of everyone. And we hear cries of true injustice and work boldly against it, even when our government does not.
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