God will help those who help themselves.

No, God help those who are helpless.

On the other hand, recall why Jesus had to be resurrected in the first place – because he chose to exercise radical civil OBEDIENCE *for the sake of God’s love for the world*, enduring suffering and death so the ‘kingdom of God’ might come.

The Cross was not blind submission, but it wasn’t a demanding act of protest either. Jesus wasn’t anti-political, but neither is He ‘political’ in any sense that we’re witnessing nowadays in the country.

As usual, God keeps doing things we can barely fathom.

I first heard it from Dr Richard Mouw. So, not my original idea..but canggih indeed!

God bless Perak !

Fook Meng

That was a fantastic theological move relating to socio-political ethics!

Changgih!

It’s worth repeating … a quotable quote!
“there is precedent in the resurrection of Christ where the Roman seal over the tomb was broken. That was an act of civil disobedience by Christ!”

With respect, Romans 13 v 1 to 7 is not to be read as encouraging blind obedience to human authorities. Imagine substituting the words “governing authorities” with Hitler. It will read:

“Everyone must submit to Hitler. For Hitler comes from God, and Hitler had been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against Hitler is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.”

Now, I believe that God is sovereign and that He is in the shadows orchestrating events even in Perak for His purpose. But, that does not mean that the purpose is to encourage blind submission to human leaders whose appointment, legally speaking, is questionable.

I believe in a constitutional democracy like ours, we are called to obey the Constitution which is the supreme law of the land, not human leaders per se.

As for act of civil disobedience, I agree with Bob Kee. I think there is precedent in the resurrection of Christ where the Roman seal over the tomb was broken. That was an act of civil disobedience by Christ!

Warm regards,

Wong Fook Meng
Malacca

That is why I view Bob Teoh’s piece as timely. Nonetheless, I am still convinced that there is space, even in the Scriptures, for defiance, dissent and outright civil disobedience. That may be the missing ingredient in the post above.

Tell that to the people of the Philippines who rose up against the tyranny of Marcos.

God will help those who help themselves. The people of Perak have the right to choose who will rule them. It is their God-given responsibility to make their preference clear. If those who wield power refuse to listen to them, it is the people’s right to demonstrate their disapproval.

If they sit around waiting for God to do their work for them, they may be bitterly disappointed.