Talking about Leaders

I'm reading in Acts these days. Good stuff. In Acts 23, Paul is taken before the Sanhedrin. Paul makes the simple claim, "I have a clear conscience", and the high priest, Ananias, orders someone to slap that man. Paul says, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?" (Acts 23:3). It seems like a reasonable response, but those standing near him warn him that he's speaking to the high priest. Notice his response to this news. "I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people'" (Acts 23:5). Paul withdraws his comment, which seemed perfectly suitable, because Paul believed that the comment violated God's command of Exodus 22:28, which he understood to say, "You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people."

Yes, yes, I know. That was then. That was a different time. And, yes, I know, "We are no longer under the Law." A different time; a different law. Okay. But I find it fascinating that Paul didn't seem to think that, even though he was right and even though he was the one who wrote, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law" (Gal. 5:18), he didn't believe that it was right to speak evil of a ruler of the people. It didn't matter that Ananias was twisted, himself violating the Law. It didn't matter that Paul was right and Ananias was wrong. It didn't even matter that Paul withheld personal judgment while leaving it in God's hands ("God is going to strike you."). Paul believed, despite the fact that the ruler was wrong and that Paul was not "under the Law" that it was wrong for Paul to speak evil of a ruler.

Where does that leave us? I see it all the time. Oh, I know, non-Christians hate our current government, and they will speak evil of it all the time. But what is the Christian excuse? What is my excuse? If I don't think that the president or the Congress is doing the right thing, am I within my rights as a Christian to "speak evil of a ruler of the people"? If I am, why am I? I mean, what changed? When did God change His mind on that count? Why was Paul right for withdrawing his statement but we Christians are perfectly right in verbally raking our leadership over the coals?

When I was a kid, my mother told me, "You can disagree with me, but you have to show me respect when you do it." When I got to be an adult and joined the military, they told me, "You don't have to respect the man, but you must respect the office." And it is exactly this that concerns me. Have we Christians become so immersed in the world that we think that we can do what they do? I wonder because we read in Rom 13:1,
"There is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." We may disagree with those in authority, but if they are established by God, isn't our obligation to show respect? And even though we disagree with them, if we disrespect them aren't we disrespecting God?

Well, here I am again, wondering.