Do you think that Christians should obey the tax law, even if the rules required that taxpayers must donate 99% of their income in taxes?<\/p>\n\t
This is a facetious hypothetical argument. The implication is that if the answer will object in the extreme, then it is justified to reject the point when it isn’t extreme. See\u00a0Hypothetically Speaking<\/a> and Exclusions and Hypothetical Arguments<\/a>\u00a0for more on this style of argumentation.<\/p>\n The simple fact is that Christians are to obey governmental authority. “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves<\/em>” (Romans 13:1-2). Since governmental authority is derived from God, the implication is that obedience is owed, so long as the government is following God’s laws.<\/p>\n The question poses an absurd situation because the simple fact is that no government can survive on such a tax rate because its citizens would not survive. The closest one could come is a communistic style of government where the government controls all commerce and fixed amounts are returned to the citizens. Such governments have shown themselves to be unstable over the years and do not survive long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Do you think that Christians should obey the tax law, even if the rules required that taxpayers must donate 99% of their income in taxes? Answer: This is a facetious hypothetical argument. The implication is that if the answer will object in the extreme, then it is justified to reject the point when it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[310,416],"class_list":["post-25606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-government","tag-submission"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45770,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-hold-us-responsible-when-we-pay-taxes-to-a-government-that-uses-the-money-for-sinful-purposes-such-as-funding-abortions\/","url_meta":{"origin":25606,"position":0},"title":"Does God hold us responsible when we pay taxes to a government that uses the money for sinful purposes, such as funding abortions?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I live in a State where Medicare covers abortions. Since our taxes pay for Medicare, will God hold us responsible for this? We are told in the Bible to pay taxes, but as citizens, we don't have control over how the money is spent. Thank you for your reply.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16300,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-christians-choose-not-to-pay-an-income-tax\/","url_meta":{"origin":25606,"position":1},"title":"Can Christians choose not to pay an income tax?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Recently, a man teaching a Bible class made the\u00a0comment that \"We as Christians can choose not to pay our income taxes with a clear conscience as it was an unconstitutional act when these taxes were brought into law\" I disagree because\u00a0my understanding is that\u00a0Romans 13\u00a0and \"rendering to Caesar what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11799,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-a-christian-wife-obey-her-non-christian-husband\/","url_meta":{"origin":25606,"position":2},"title":"Must a Christian wife obey her non-Christian husband?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible states that a woman should obey her husband, but what if he is not a Christian husband? He believes in Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit, but he does not set forth a Christian lifestyle. I know a woman can still be religious on her own and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39444,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-christians-treat-illegal-aliens\/","url_meta":{"origin":25606,"position":3},"title":"How should Christians treat illegal aliens?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How should Christians feel about illegal aliens? The Old Testament teaches us to be welcoming and hospitable, but they are technically breaking a law. Many of them are coming here for safety, and my heart goes out to them. How do we balance God's mercy and love for everyone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":25606,"position":4},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35319,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-christians-fill-out-census-forms\/","url_meta":{"origin":25606,"position":5},"title":"Should Christians fill out census forms?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to know how a Christian should react to government requests to fill out census forms. Answer: \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}