CLARITY
A Biblical Response to Current Events – 9-28-20
The Question Is: Who Was Disorderly?
What’s Happening: “This time it was the police doing the disturbing, if you talked to bystanders, diners, and Molly Dillon, policy adviser to State Senator Alessandra Biaggi who observed the whole scene. Originally police were called and responded to reports of protesters blocking traffic, but there was reportedly no one in the street when the 100-200 police officers rushed the crowd, arresting twelve, eight of them receiving summons for disorderly conduct. The good news was that there was no violence…on the part of the protesters, or the police (https://www.yahoo.com/news/nypd-officers-charge-small-group-180424670.html). Quoting from the NBC News article: ‘The police department said in a statement that ‘a group of roughly 150 demonstrators came to the 6th precinct and blocked traffic’ and that officers took people into custody ‘after multiple warnings to clear the sidewalk. Brad Hoylman, a state senator from Manhattan, said his office was in touch with police about the use of force.’”
Knee-Jerk Response: “I guess they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, huh?”
Biblical Response: “It depends on who ‘they’ are. If the police, then they were just responding to a call…there may have been people in the streets previously. If you are talking about the protesters, perhaps they should have kept to the areas permitted for protesting…and apparently that does not include the street or the restaurants. If you are talking about the diners…surely they were only there to eat.”
“Disorderly Conduct and Disturbing the Peace are real crimes and have real penalties and are based on our preference for a peaceable society (1 Cor. 14:40).”
“Christians? Oh, we believe in order and decency (as the above scripture might indicate, though some would argue it was taken out of context). In any case, we need to submit to governmental authorities (1 Pet. 2:13; Rom. 13:1).”
Here’s a Prayer You Can Pray: “Heavenly Father, help us to ‘bend our knee’ realizing, ultimately, that all legitimate authority comes from You; in Jesus’ Name, amen.
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