Questions From Readers

● If, for taking a course in harmony with the Scriptures, a Christian were to be arrested and then sentenced by worldly authorities to pay a fine, would it be an act of compromise to pay it? If given the option of either paying the fine or serving a sentence in jail, would this alter matters?

Jesus Christ foretold that his followers would be ‘delivered up to local courts’ and be ‘put on the stand before governors and kings for his sake, for the purpose of a witness to them.’ (Mark 13:9) Such official action toward Christians may be due to their preaching the good news of the Kingdom or for some other action involving their Christian conscience. (Compare Acts 4:1-3, 18-21; 5:27-40; 1 Peter 4:15, 16.) A court may rule against them and the judgment may call for paying a fine. This may be the sole penalty or it may be as an option to going to jail or may be part of a combined punishment involving both jailing and the paying of a fine.

In the past Jehovah’s witnesses have generally taken an adverse position toward paying fines where their preaching activities were involved. It was felt that paying the fine might be viewed as an admission of having committed an actual wrong. It was also felt that refusal to pay and suffering jailing instead might contribute to better success in the “defending and legally establishing of the good news.” (Phil. 1:7) In many cases this accomplished much good, impressing authorities with the firmness of our determination as to serving God, and it manifestly had Jehovah’s blessing. And in some cases today, due to prevailing circumstances, it may be viewed as a wise course to follow. The question that primarily concerns us here, however, is whether the paying of the fine is Scripturally acceptable or not.

Fines are mentioned in the Bible and were used in the Law covenant as a form of penalty or punishment. (Deut. 22:19; compare Exodus 21:29-32; Proverbs 19:19; 21:11.) Ezra 7:26 shows that the Persian officials listed a “money fine” as a form of punishment along with imprisonment, banishment and death. In modern times, as the 1973 World Book Encyclopedia states, “A fine is often the punishment for a misdemeanor (minor crime).”

So a fine should not be confused with an effort by the offender to “buy” his way out of being imprisoned. It is not like the bribe that Governor Felix hoped to obtain from the apostle Paul and that Paul did not pay. (Acts 24:26, 27) A Christian, then, may rightly view a fine assessed against him as a form of punishment, and, even though he may be satisfied that he was guilty of no wrong, having acted in harmony with God’s Word, his conscience may allow him to pay the fine in submission to the superior authorities of this world. (Rom. 13:1, 2; 1 Pet. 2:13, 14) While it is true that in the minds of some observers our payment of a fine may imply the stigma of guilt, it is also true that being imprisoned would carry the same stigma in the minds of most observers. We are not primarily concerned with the viewpoint of those of the world but with that of God. Whether we are paying a fine or serving a prison sentence, it is all because of our insistence on ‘obeying God as ruler rather than men.’​—Read Acts 5:29, 32; Hebrews 10:34; Philippians 3:8, 9.

The granting of an option either of paying a fine or of being imprisoned generally reflects a measure of judicial mercy or clemency. Persons who are judged a genuine threat to the community usually are imprisoned, whereas fines are imposed as a less severe measure that allows the family life and employment of the individual to continue uninterrupted, the individual not being removed from family and community life by being confined to jail. There is nothing in the Scriptures that rules against a Christian’s availing himself of this more lenient provision, nor do the Scriptures require us to take a course that will force authorities to show how deep their opposition to God’s kingdom may go. (By contrast, compare the apostolic counsel at Romans 13:3, 4; Titus 3:1, 2; 1 Peter 2:12-17; 3:13-16.) Where an option is presented of either paying a fine or undergoing imprisonment, then a Christian may feel that he can accomplish more for the advancement of the good news by paying the fine and maintaining his freedom of action. It is a matter for individual decision according to one’s conscience and careful judgment, and whether one decides to pay the fine or views it as better to endure imprisonment one’s decision should not be subject to criticism by others in the congregation.

Fines may be imposed by others than governmental officials; for example, by trade unions in cases where a Christian’s conscience will not allow him to engage in certain union activities that he finds contrary to Scriptural principles. Here, also, he may consider that his paying the fine is simply the suffering of an unjust penalty for being a Christian.​—1 Pet. 2:19, 20; 3:17; compare Proverbs 17:26.