>
>Romans 13:1 is a fairly controversial
>passage in the New Testament,
>and one can see why:
>"Let every person be subject
>to the governing authorities. For
>there is no authority except
>from God, and those that
>exist have been instituted by
>God."

Responce: What this passage is saying is to submit to governiong authorities. What Paul is saying is that all goverment authorities are established by God and Christians must honer them. So if they come with a certain tax then we must honer that tax and so forth.

>Anybody have or know of interpretations
>of this that add up?
>I can't really make sense
>of it on its own;
>it's too much of a
>blanket statement. Are we really
>to presume that, say, Hitler
>was endowed with a mandate
>from God and that Germans,
>as good Christians in the
>1930s and 1940s, were obliged
>to follow him? That's one
>obvious example but one could
>come up with a lot
>more. Maybe I'm reading it
>too literally...

Responce: No, Christians were not to follow anyone but Christ. But we are suppose to honer the laws that the government has bestowed in front of us. Back in Pauls day even the threat of Christians being persecuted by the state did not change his convictions.
>
>---