With the internet, mobile computing, and social media, we have a false sense of personal authority. With “information" on anything at our fingertips, strong opinions, and a worldwide platform, we think we have authority in just about anything. Spend time on Twitter, Facebook, or listen to people share on TV/radio, and you get very strong, often negative, opinions framed as though the person is an authority on the subject, especially when it comes to government and taxes. Test this at a dinner party, on social media, or after worship on Sunday, by starting a conversation this way: “wouldn’t it be great if we had a sales tax in Alberta so that we could all share the cost of building/developing (insert service/infrastructure of choice here)?
As Paul continues working out Christian conduct in his letter to the Roman churches he says, “…it is necessary to submit to the authorities…as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants…” And yet Peter is recorded in Acts as saying, “We must obey God rather than human beings!” (Acts 5:29). So what are we to do? How do we obey God and submit to the authorities? The answer, as odd as it sounds, is to pay taxes joyfully.
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