Tag Archives: Justice

Is Anarchy Correct?

Anarcho-capitalists have taught me a lot. My worldview is informed by the Bible, and I think a lot of what even unbelieving anarchists say is more biblical than the typical Christian. Anarcho-capitalists are willing to say provocative things to make you think. I will describe the proper, biblical form of government, and if that’s anarchy, fine, and if not, fine.

Romans 13 is the clearest New Testament passage on government. Romans 13:4 says that the magistrates’ only job is to be God’s servants to carry out God’s wrath on the evildoer. It’s not their job to educate kids, give out welfare, maintain roads, inspect buildings or anything else. So, we can eliminate 90%-95% of government right there. That leaves us with the criminal justice system.

But Romans 13 is not an exhaustive passage about government and how they are to punish evildoers. The Bible doesn’t allow government to do whatever it wants as long as they’re only punishing evildoers. Romans 13 is presupposing that you know what the Old Testament says. The Old Testament does give us adequate information about what government should be.

Let’s look at the criminal justice system.

Are cops biblical? No. Cops didn’t exist in this country until the 1840s. There are no cops in Scripture. There shouldn’t be a socialist-funded force roaming around looking for crimes. And as if cops protect anyone, that should be done yourself and with the help of your neighbors or you can hire a security company if you’re really worried.

Is prison biblical? No. Prison is an unust punishment. Why should the people have to pay for the food and shelter of criminals? Rape, murder, kidnapping are death penalty crimes. Other crimes such as assault or theft require restitution.

Is taxation biblical? Romans 13 says you ought to pay your taxes, but the Old Testament doesn’t say there’s a criminal penalty for not paying your taxes. It might be a sin, but it’s not a crime. Taxes are essentially voluntary, and only for a government that’s acting as God’s servants.

We’re down to about 1% of our current government. Courts are the only biblical function of government, but what does a biblical court system look like? The courts are made up of judges who are the wiser, older guys around who know God’s law and can judge righteously. There might be a volunteer judge on your street who might judge the occasional case from your neighborhood. Maybe there’s another judge in your part of the city who’s a little more experienced in tougher cases. The highest judge might be a guy in your town who can handle serious, death-penalty cases. The death penalty is carried out first by the witnesses against the perpetrator in the trial and then by the townspeople.

Ideally, all the participants are volunteers, or maybe there are professional judges that are paid by court fees from civil trials or voluntary taxation. I call myself an anarcho-capitalist or anarcho-reconstructionist. Would the anarchists I respect such as Larken Rose, Jeff Berwick, or Doug Casey call me an anarchist? I don’t know for sure. I’d guess that since I say there is no compulsory taxation, that they’d say I’m an anarchist. I tell people I’m an anarchist.

Not Everyone Is Fully Human, Right?

How many jokes have you heard about dropping the soap in the jailhouse shower? I’ve heard many, and often they’re told by people who are making the point that if someone breaks a law, they deserve whatever they get. If you don’t want to suffer homosexual rape in jail/prison, don’t commit the crime. However, being sodomized is not a just punishment for any crime.

This is so important that I don’t see how Christians are not all over it. Justice is an absolute. Absolutes come only from God. It’s impossible to speak of justice apart from the absolute standard of justice provided in God’s law. Anytime someone utters something about justice, they’re demonstrating that they’re created in God’s image.

Christians can know what justice is. How is this not a huge selling point for Christianity? How are we not proclaiming justice from the rooftops? But not only are most Christians not giving the life-giving solutions found in God’s laws to our dying society, we join in with non-Christians in misunderstanding and mocking Old Testament laws.

I don’t know Fremont County Sheriff Jim Beicker personally, though I believe he is a regular church-goer. He is accused of covering up the abuse and death of an inmate in his jail. Those who say that criminals get whatever they deserve, probably love Beicker all the more.

However, the punishment for whatever crime this inmate received was not the death penalty, or medical malpractice, or whatever. It is the job of the sheriff to keep inmates alive and safe while depriving them of their freedom.

Of course, it is possible that the just sentence for whatever crime this guy committed was the death penalty. The Bible gives the death penalty to murderers, adulterers, kidnappers, rapists, blasphemers, and those who revile their parents. If he wasn’t convicted of any of those crimes the proper course of action for the civil magistrate is to make him perform restitution.

Whatever crime he committed, he was treated as if he was subhuman, and a Christian like Beicker is supposed to treat everyone, even convicted criminals like they’re created in God’s image.

We all have God’s law written on our hearts, and this terrible situation is an opportunity for Christians to pluck those strings on their hearts to convict the local civil magistrates, and show them what they ought to be doing, and what God expects of them.

The United Police States of America

The founding fathers of this country declared independence because of unjust taxes, and being forced to quarter British troops, among other reasons. The battle of Lexington and Concord took place because the British were trying to seize weapons.

I believe the colonists had the right to defend themselves. The taxes were unjust (because there is an absolute moral standard for justice), and they were right to fight for justice.

Watch this and tell me this is not much worse than what the colonists were facing in the 1770s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNzc1E-3U58