All posts tagged: Civil disobedience Bible

70 | When do Christians cross the line on civil disobedience?

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In this podcast I discuss the tensions in the Christian community over acts of civil disobedience. Are there times when believers should disobey governments?

UPDATE: Pastor John MacArthur disobeys court order and holds church service

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A few days ago I reported how John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church based in Los Angeles, CA won a court case allowing the congregation to resume church services. The church took the city and state officials to court arguing that the state mandated limits on the number of people attending a church service was unconstitutional. The Covid lockdown limited church attendance to 25% of a church’s capacity or 100 people, what ever was lower. On Friday, Aug. 14, 2020, a Superior Court judge ruled that Grace Community Church could continue services provided that families social distanced and everyone wore masks. They could function under these conditions until a full court case was heard on the matter on Sept. 4, 2020. However, the Los Angeles Health Department immediately appealed the Friday decision to the California Court of Appeal and won a stay against the ruling the next day. This meant the church must abide by the state’s current lockdown regulations until the court hearing in September. But in response, the church defied the second ruling and …

California churches battle back against Gov. Newsom

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There is a battle brewing in California between Gov. Gavin Newsom and Christian churches. According to the state’s lockdown rules, churches are limited to 25% capacity or 100 people, depending on what is lower. This means churches that can seat three to five thousand people can only have 100 people attending a service at one time. But what is bothering churches is that this 100 person cap is not applied equally to other business, including restaurants. And in acts of civil disobedience, several churches have announced that they will be returning to public services and purposefully violate the cap, with or without the government’s permission. One of those churches is Grace Community Church located in Los Angeles. Pastored by John McArthur, the church’s auditorium can seat 3,000 people, and prior to the Coronavirus was handling two services a day, with both running at full capacity. Even though there are threats that the city would cut off power to the church, in a letter posted on its website, the church said it would move ahead with …