Thou shalt not speed?

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I got another speeding ticket, my second on US-2 by Michigan State Police. I missed a 45 mph speed limit sign, and was going 62mph like I do in the UP on 55 mph roads... oops! It got me thinking a bit about such things, and I realized that I sped quite a bit, and otherwise frequently disobeyed civic traffic laws. I remember distinctly before I came to Tech - I held the opinion that as a Christian I should not willfully violate the law, and identified breaking traffic rules as violating the law. I wrestled with that for quite a while, until I eventually just gave up & just stopped thinking about it. Everyone else does it! Let's note that such reasoning has been used to justify all kinds of sinful behavior.

After that ticket, I resolved, at least for a while, to stop speeding. Period. I wanted to give it further thought, and while I figured things out, I'd err on the side of my conscience. But then wouldn't you know that the very next day, after I left work driving up to Walmart, I didn't even realize that I sped quite fast up Military Rd past the elementary school. I was pumping gas at the Walmart gas station, when a Houghton police officer stopped in front of me and asked to have a word with me, informing me that I had been speeding. He gave me a firm warning, then drove off. Was that a coincidence? I don't think so. I was so relieved - a 4th speeding ticket could have seriously threatened my driving priviledges. But my reasoning goes beyond just fear of punishment - it's a matter of conscience, that I've been ignoring for some time now.

Romans 13:1-7 (ESV) :

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

This passage seems quite clear: as a Christian, I am to obey & submit to the civil authority put over me, unless it would be contrary to God's standard to do so. And clearly, there is nowhere in God's word, nor have I received additional revelation from God, that I am to break traffic laws for Christ. In fact, my conscience has been condemning me ever since I first started driving me. I'm going to add 2 and 2 together and get 4: God's word says to obey the civil authority over me + my conscience tells me I should not violate traffic regulations = I should resolve to not violate traffic regulations. This means, no speeding, but also many of the other things I learned about in driver's ed: make complete stops! actually dramatically slow down for yield signs! turn into the first available lane! etc. But speeding is the big one, especially since it's been costing me!

I encourage you to ponder this: what is your personal policy in regards to breaking traffic regulations? Have you reconciled this view with scripture? I would very much like to hear a solid case for holding a lax view. I can conceive of the possibility of such a view, since Paul says "I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean" (Romans 14:14 ESV). I had the easier way out: my conscience condemned my behavior. But what if one's conscience doesn't condemn such possibly sinful behavior? Obviously murder is still murder even if one's conscience is OK with it - so one must honestly go before God & relevant scripture and ask: is this OK? Even if our spirit has been regenerated, our body & soul is still depraved from original sin, and we naturally repress sin so that it is possible for our conscience to be hardened against particular sins. I would love to continue this dialog if you have an opinion!