Bowing to Caesar Rather than God? What's a Christ-Follower to Do?

Apparently Oklahoma legislators are attempting to criminalize helping illegal immigrants.  Now, I'm not a political expert nor do I pretend to be one.  But if this is true this raises some issues for Christians in Oklahoma. 

Roger Olson, who teaches theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University, has chimed in on the issue.  You can read his entire post here (A Case for Civil Disobedience May Be Necessary).  With that said, here is a little taste of Olson's post:

In my opinion, as a Christian theologian, this law reeks of hate toward a particular group of people and blatantly contradicts the biblical injunctions to treat the outsiders and aliens in our midst justly. (And please don’t argue that it means retributive justice! The contexts make clear the Bible means justly as in lovingly.)


I believe this is a clear case of the state criminalizing Christian behavior. In effect it is no different from the Roman Empire criminalizing refusal to worship Caesar or from the so-called Holy Roman Empire criminalizing refusal to baptize infants during the Reformation.

In my opinion, the authors of this bill have bowed to Caesar rather than to God.

Similarly, today I saw a facebook post by Shane Claiborne.  Claiborne mentioned that the city of Philadelphia is looking to criminalize homelessness (click here for more info).  It would be a criminal offense to sleep in parks, etc., as well as be a criminal offense to feed the homeless.  Again, if this is true there are implications for Christians in Philadelphia attached to this.

As a Christ-Follower, I believe that we are to reach out to, love, and help all people regardless of their social status or lot in life.  If Jesus was here today these are the people he would be spending time with.  As Christians I think we would do well to remember that we too are "aliens" in a foreign land.

What are your thoughts on these current events?