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Ask Pastor John

When Do Christians Resist a Government That Kills Its Citizens?

Ask Pastor John

Desiring God

Christianity, Pastor, John Piper, Theology, Ask, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, Desiring God, 163859, Religion & Spirituality, Questions

4.94.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2017

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

By default, Christians should submit to public officials. But how should Christians respond to rampant injustice in government?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Well, if you watch international headlines, you know that vigilante killings are happening

0:09.7

with some level of regularity in the Philippines.

0:13.8

Names of drug suspects are put on a list that's made by the government, and reportedly now

0:18.6

over 1 million suspects are on that list.

0:22.1

And is raising important questions about whether Christians in the country are complicit

0:27.3

in the government's activity towards these suspects.

0:31.0

The question comes from a podcast listener named Hannah.

0:34.2

Dear Pastor John, I'm a listener to the podcast in the Philippines.

0:36.6

I'm not sure what global news sources reveal about our current political situation, but

0:40.6

there's plenty of local news about extra judicial killings happening in our country.

0:45.9

And a number of stories about young people being killed by policemen because they have supposedly

0:51.1

been identified as drug dealers, though many witnesses reject those accusations.

0:56.9

These events have occurred and have become highly publicized since the president declared

1:00.6

a war against drugs.

1:03.0

My intent is not to ask for a political commentary.

1:06.1

As a Christian, my concern is that many Christians here in the Philippines are supporters of

1:09.7

our president and his agenda, and are thus perceived as supporters of this violent war against

1:15.2

drugs and by extension, implicit supporters of the killings.

1:20.0

Though it would not be fair to say that the approve of the killings outright, it does

1:23.9

appear to us and other people who are against these political agendas that there seems to

1:28.5

be a willful ignorance or a lack of discernment among these Christians who willingly declare

1:33.8

their support for this leader without any qualification.

...

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