Christ versus Caesar: Two Masters, One Choice

by Connor Boyack

No man can serve two masters, yet both Christ and Caesar demand our allegiance. The prince of this world, and the political institutions he supports and controls, entice us to rely on the arm of flesh as a means of solving our problems. But God seems to want something different to us and His commandments carry political implications that we ignore at our own spiritual peril. Christians seem to find themselves torn between Christ and His counterfeit, looking for ways to compromise and satisfy both. Jesus tells us to love one another, yet His disciples routinely intermingle with Caesar's mortal institutions, seduced by their promises of power and wealth that inherently violate God's foundational commandment. Because we cannot serve two masters, any loyalty to Caesar entails a rejection of Christ. Those who would be disciples of Jesus must therefore, once and for all, choose whose side we are on.

Genres: Religion, Politics, Government

174 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 18, 2020

About the author

Connor Boyack is founder and president of Libertas Institute, a libertarian think tank in Utah. In that capacity, he has spearheaded important policy reforms dealing with property rights, civil liberties, transparency, surveillance, and education freedom.

Connor is the author of several books, including the new Tuttle Twins series that teaches the principles of liberty to young children. Other books include Latter-day Liberty: A Gospel Approach to Government and Politics and its companion, Latter-day Responsibility: Choosing Liberty through Personal Accountability.

Connor's work has been publicly praised by former Representative Ron Paul, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Tom Woods, and other nationally recognized figures. He is a frequent commentator on current events and has appeared in local, national, and international interviews to publicize and comment on his work.

Reviews

[Maddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like his other books better.

Connor Boyack wrote this book to accomplish a specific objective: to convince religious people to stop supporting collectivist, socialist policies. Even though I'm not a libertarian, his frustrations with tyrannical government and apathetic citizens are all too real and very relatable. However, I don't agree with the overall message of the book: that government is, literally, Satan; that relying on government to solve societal problems is equivalent to denying Christ; that to be ideologically consistent, Christians must not support the State, either through taxation (which is theft) or pledging allegiance to the flag (which is idolatry).

I get -- and sympathize! -- with Boyack's vision of the State as holding a monopoly on crime. With the exception of America (in its better moments!) must governments in the world, past and present, have been injurious to the rights of their citizens. However, as a natural-rights conservative (not a libertarian) I think a bleak view of the Big Bad State is actually harmful. Who wants to get involved in fixing or running a machine that is as evil as Boyack says it is? Further, I believe Boyack's conception of government as one that only keeps people from stepping on each other, rather than promoting actively moral, prohibitive, laws to restrict behavior, is inadequate to solving the deeply moral issues of our time. For those reasons, I can't fully buy into his argument.

On a more surface level, I found the book to be too surface-level, heavy on platitudes and low on practical solutions. Not all his books fit this bill; Latter-day Responsibility is much better.

[Amy Egbert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like this book. It presented a bunch of ideas that feel contradictory in nature and felt like a setup to believe some wild conspiracy theories. The premise that following Jesus inherently means never ever feeling loyalty or actively participating in other organizations doesn't make sense to me. I don't think taxes are slavery, I don't think all politicians are secret combinations, I don't think it's wrong to follow (or advocate for, or make) laws.

I do like the idea that if we are going to proclaims to be Christians Christ's teachings would come above all else. (sometimes the American pride I see and hear about feels weird, and this did a good job of explaining why I don't love that)

The missing piece for me is the lack of acknowledgement that we're doing our best to understand and be like Christ and we may not always perfectly understand, so it's super cool to say "being like Christ means never paying taxes or expecting other people to do that" but I don't actually think that's in Christ's teachings and I could argue that "being like Christ is taking care of the people around us and paying taxes helps us do that". So I can't draw the clear lines the author wants to draw here.

[Que Robison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this book. This usually means that I may have missed some details to it or wasn't completely focused at times.

I honestly really liked this book. I could be biases because I enjoy Conners other kids series, the Tuddle Twins and his podcast Sunday Musings and have been influences from his thoughts before. .

This book made me really think about the state or "Cesar" or the government and how it's so intertwined with our lives when it really has no place. An example of this is how marriage is now required by law when it should be first consecrated by God. Or how the government tries to control our worship by putting it first before God. I mean, how odd is it that we all stood up and pledged alegence to the flag everyday? Kinda seems like we are putting that as our God.

[Diane K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Connor Boyack is a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and also politically libertarian. An unusual combination, but one I share. This is a good reminder that not only is resistance to looking to the state to fix all societal ills a foundational libertarian stance, but also a fundamental Christian stance.

[Kent · Rating 2 out of 5]

A logical disaster -- Boyack fails to confront even the most basic challenges to his theories. He approaches the subject of religion vs. politics from a very black and white perspective. There is no middle ground. Either you are for religion or for government.

And in the process, Boyack also never answers basic problems of politics, such as: How should a community be organized? How do disputes get settled in a community? If you are a believer living in an unbelieving community, how do you live with neighbors who follow "Caesar"?

Its very easy to say that government is evil and opposed to religion. It is much harder to figure out how to live with it, and how to work to make your community better. Boyack's attack on government doesn't help with any of that.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd give it 6 stars if I could