David Simpson: God and Governing

"Do not strive with a man without cause,
If he has done you no harm."
Proverbs 3:30

David Simpson spoke with the Trib last fall about the intersection of scripture and civil government:



Highlights:

• "We only really need government when we don't use that Freedom responsibly and we harm our neighbor."

• "Under the new covenant, I don't think we even need civil government."

• "Most sins are self-correcting."

• "We're not made to be robots, we're not to be slaves, we're to be free and responsible independent human beings."

• "When I do talk about my Christian convictions it's usually to speak to other Christians, because many times they are conservatives but they just want to take the gun out of the liberal's hands and turn it on them, and I want to take the gun out of everybody's hand and lay it on the table and have a voluntary discussion."

• "The only time we should really use force is when you commit aggression."

• Influence should be through discourse, not coercion.

• "I don't think you should have to have a licence from the government to defend yourself in the means that you think is best."

• Pot is a plant, compared to the chemical substances uses to make hard drugs.

• Death Penalty has a place "when you commit aggression."

• Sex Ed: "I think it should be taught at home."

• "I did not support government's expansion to pre-K."

• "Government is not our savior."

• "One of the problems right now with the border is the drug war, and until we solve the drug war, we're going to have a porous border."

• "Churches should do much more that the government is doing today."