OK, so first, if you haven’t heard about how the government of Moscow, Idaho arrested Christians at a hymn-sing/ protest, then you can read about it on Doug Wilson’s blog or at the Moscow-Pullman News. But I would recommend Wilson’s blog because he gives some VERY pertinent information that the news doesn’t. Though, Wilson says plainly that his daily-local did a good job. So, if you haven’t heard about this issue, don’t be surprised. The outrage-mongers who perpetuate the incessant charade also known as mainstream news have no interest in this case. And they have no interest in this case for several reasons. 1st, because all masking is good masking and everyone should be wearing a mask, except when it’s a leftist politician getting caught, or a radical anarchist or communist screaming in the face of a major city cop, or a thug looting or burning – IN THOSE CASES mask wearing isn’t necessary – but heavens to Betsy, not wearing a mask at a public hymn sing! These people are monsters! 2nd, because Doug Wilson is the provocateur par excellence. He’s Reformed Christianity’s enfant terrible. And frankly, I doubt many if any in the News Industrial Complex know who he is. 3rd, because the News has long demonstrated that they have no interest in ever showing Christians in any kind of sympathetic light, unless of course they’re the kinds of Christians who call for riots and advocate for abortion on demand – you know the kind of Christians that are kinda ambivalent about Christ – those kindsa Christians. 4th, because they would much rather keep fomenting riots about a perfectly legitimate decision in the Breanna Taylor case, or whatever the misinformation du jour is. I’m sure there are more reasons why you won’t hear about this, but, either way, unless you’re listening to right-wing or explicitly Christian sources, you’re not like to hear this story.
But what IS the story? Well, 5 people were cited and 2 people were arrested. And one of them, a man named Gabe Rench who was arrested is currently running for county commissioner. According to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, he was arrested for, and I quote, “for suspicion of resisting or obstructing an officer”, but he was not charged.
OK, so if all you were to know about this situation is what the arrests and citations were for, you might, if you were me, for instance, say – well, ya know, bad laws are still laws and unless a law forces you to sin or prevents from doing something God has commanded – then you probably need to follow it. You might think that mask laws are great and you want to wear them – great! You might think that they’re dumb and that masks don’t do anything – suck it up, buttercup. If you don’t like it, change the law. Like I said, that’s USUALLY my response.
But this case gives us a FASCINATING look at a little thing I like to call conscience. You see, there is a problem for people who, like me, on one hand believe that Christians are obligated to obey onerous and stupid laws as long as they don’t contradict any of God’s commands, but who also think that there are legitimate places for civil disobedience. I’ve said before and I’ll say again, human laws and legal systems need 3 things to have any chance of creating justice. To be a good law, the law must be: enforceable and reasonable, and its application and sentencing must be predictable. And when laws are not enforced, public confidence fades. If you don’t enforce, I don’t know, let’s pick a random, non-specific example, I don’t know…umm…what’s a crazy thing to not enforce, something no one would ever choose to not enforce unless they were either stupid or corrupt…ummm…rioting. If you don’t enforce riot laws, then you will get more riots. And people will not have faith in a city’s political will, and people who don’t like riots will leave – or vote out the stupid/ corrupt politicians – or they’ll suffer silently. If a law is unreasonable then people will hate it and a lot of people will disobey (rightly or wrongly) because they hate onerous laws.
Then we come to predictability. And this one is tricky. Because I see, every single stupid day in this stupid world we live in, people posting images of one person who committed a slight offense and had the book thrown at them, and someone who committed some egregious offense and got off on basically nothing. OK, until you have all the facts, that means NOTHING. Does the facebook post tell you their prior criminal history? Does it tell you the strength of the evidence the prosecution had – were they confident in a trial or did they plea down the sentence? What about the judges – let’s not forget judges are local political officials. They’re political lawyers. They can be voted out. But did the two cases have the same judges? Judges are local political officials — if you like their adjudications, keep voting for them, if not vote for someone else!
See, that’s the funny thing about a Federalist system is that just because cops aren’t arresting maskless rioters in Portland doesn’t mean that it’s OK to flout the law in Moscow. And people, my dear Christian brothers and sisters who are saying things like, “well if I were at a BLM riot in Louisville I don’t have to wear a mask, but in Moscow, Idaho I do?” Well, yeah. They’re not the same legal jurisdiction. They’re not in the same state! They’re not on the same side of the Mississippi! So, yeah, bad behavior in Louisville doesn’t mean it’s ok to break the law in Moscow, Idaho!
But what about when the law is unfairly applied in Moscow. What about when there’s one set of laws for the mayor and the important Muscovites and another set of laws for the Plebs? Well, that’s not really a law anymore, that’s an absolutist dictate. And this is where I struggle. On one hand the Scriptures are plain. We are to obey the government. Unless the government commands what God forbids or forbids what God commands we are not free to disobey.
Now, I’ll grant that that stance needs to be modified a little bit in the United States because we have a constitution and we have the right to violently defend ourselves from government tyranny in this country. I swore an oath when I was 18 to support and defend the constitution. Although I’m no longer in the military, I feel like I’m still bound by that oath. I have not been freed from my responsibility to support and defend the constitution. And I believe that because of the system we live in, a Christian can, in perfectly good and clear conscience REFUSE to obey an unconstitutional law. In fact, I think a Christian MUST disobey an unconstitutional law, because to obey an unconstitutional law, is, in fact, lawbreaking.
But what about the masks? The problem is not that Moscow has a policy that seems stupid. So what?! That’s an issue for voters – suck it up, buttercup. No, the problem is that the law is not only not being applied uniformly, it is being used as a weapon against political opponents. When the mayor and the hoity toity folk have one set of rules and hoi polloi have another, now we’re in territory where I, as a biblical scholar, I don’t know what to say. On one hand I want to say – too bad, suck it up, buttercup. But on the other hand, Americans are supposed to resist unjust and tyrannical forms of government. Here’s a passage that may shed some light on the issue.
Hosea 4:14 says this:
“I will not punish your daughters
when they turn to prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law
when they commit adultery,
because the men themselves consort with harlots
and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes—
a people without understanding will come to ruin!
Now, in this instance, God is telling the people that they have come to such a point of corruption, that prostitution is commonplace – man I can’t imagine living in such a society – yet a lot of the menfolk who, themselves, were going to the whorehouses and committing adultery were, simultaneously, trying to enforce the laws which punish prostitution and adultery against their daughters and daughters-in-law! Like Judah who wanted Tamar burned for harlotry, only to have his own disgusting immorality shoved in his face, God is telling this immoral and corrupt and hypocritical generation of Israelites that God is not going to hear these men’s curses against their daughters and daughters-in-law, when they themselves are committing adultery with whores. God’s saying, you can’t go a-whoring and then go to law against these girls – I won’t hear it. You don’t bring that kind of hypocrisy before God. When you’re a hypocrite in your application of the law, the law is meaningless.
Or at least that’s one way of interpreting this. Because when God says he won’t punish the girls because the men are hypocrites, that doesn’t mean the girls aren’t engaged in sin – perhaps it simply means that there will be no especial punishment for the girls…but they will face the common judgment coming on the nation for being a nation full or prostitution.
Perhaps we’re to take this at face value – perhaps we’re to understand this figuratively. I tend to think this passage is figurative. But that doesn’t explain it away. Here’s what we can say FOR SURE: the theological consequences for lawbreaking are diminished when those in authority are hypocrites.
Let me say that again. I believe that Hosea 4:14 teaches plainly, and clearly, that the theological consequences for lawbreaking are diminished when those in authority are hypocrites.
In other words, if the Mayor of Moscow is presiding over weddings, with law enforcement present and nobody has to wear a mask, and then that mayor has the audacity to sic the police on a church gathering to sing songs as a form of protest, a protest against a law that is unequally applied, if that happens, then I don’t know that people not wearing masks are wrong. If people are protesting the unequal application of law and the mayor responds by unequally applying the law, I don’t know that the Christian is bound here.
It really is a matter of conscience. I don’t know what’s right or wrong. Maybe everyone is wrong. And the sad irony is that as our country moves farther and farther from God, we see more and more issues where conscience matters deeply, yet so very few have a fully functioning conscience to help navigate.
Here’s the final point. God is very clear about a lot of things. Some things are less clear. Some things seem clear on paper but are tough in real life. Some are unclear on paper and clear in real life. Navigating this crazy world as a Christian is difficult and only going to get harder. And we NEED to pray, think, and talk deeply about issues of conscience so we can have our minds made up ahead of time on what we believe is the godly way to respond, so we will not not get caught unawares.