qondio.com/GcXQ

Authority and the Christian Faith

There has always been a traditional understanding of the role of authority in the Christian faith: authority belongs to God.

A newer philosophy – coming and going throughout Christian history but especially prevalent in the last 50 years or so – is that we can choose how to think about authority – that we can change the traditional view that God holds the ultimate authority by assuming that we do – or that God granted it to us.

This difference is one way of defining progress, church development, enlightenment, denominational differences, church differences, and deterioration of the faith as humanly expressed – each concept is embraced by some members of the Christian faith, and each can be viewed on a continuum of its relationship to where the proponent locates authority.

If you adopt a more modern view you may not even realize that you have taken over the authority to define your understanding of Christianity for yourself. You would be in good company if this is your view. Many groups, from the Jesus Movement researchers to the leaders of many denominations – believe that the church must adapt to the ways of the culture; must stay culturally relevant; must be socially active; and so on. Representatives of some of the mainline “Christian” churches have even decided that they have the authority to declare that Jesus was not divine – acceptable if that’s their opinion, but incompatible with the Christian faith.

Orthodox Christianity states that belief in Jesus Christ as God, fully human and fully divine at the same time, will always be the basic tenet of the faith, not subject to cultural interpretation. This is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. Therefore, to be Christians from the traditional standpoint, we must accept, on faith, the humble position that we are not God; that God is different from us; and that in all humility, if we choose to be Christian, we choose to believe in an authority that much of the world considers unbelievable, if not downright laughable.

Why would anyone make such a choice? Not because of the demonstrated perfection of Christians because, although throughout Christian history there have been exceptional Christians, there have also been many all-too-flawed Christians. No, we choose to believe in Jesus Christ because in so submitting to Someone who transcends our mental capacities, we find a relationship that functions exactly as represented. Faith equals relationship with God.

Does that mean every prayer will be answered the way we want it to be answered? No.
Does that mean we can influence our earthly destiny – in earthly terms, probably.
Does that mean every good thing we go after (attract) is from God? No.
Does that mean that when I submit to an authority greater than myself, trusting in the goodness of the Spirit, a relationship is established? Yes.

All this, because we choose, as Christians, to locate authority in God, not in us, and thereby choose to accept what happens in our lives as something perfected by God, not by us. This means we cannot be good enough to earn what God has granted, so God makes of our lives something that will draw us closer to Him if we let it. That’s the relationship of authority that never fails, never betrays.

Contributor's Note

For increased physical, spiritual, and mental health - one step at a time - reflect deeply and do not shift easily from your examined faith.

		biblefreeorg respected this intel. Jul 14, 2011
		R Foreman respected this intel. Jul 15, 2011

Belief is motivated by fear. The church doctrine says, if you do not believe what we tell you, you will burn in hell for eternity. There is nothing more frightening than eternal torture. You refuse to admit it, you conceal it with platitudes. There is no other motivator that will work well enough to make people believe in the absurdities involved with religion. You should read the old testament sometime. Read how God discusses how to properly wring the neck of a pigeon for sacrifice (Leviticus 1:15). Read how God instructs Moses to kill the young boys but "keep the virgin girls for yourselves" after conquering the Midianites (Numbers 31:17). This is a being that created the universe? You have to close your eyes and ignore reality if you can believe that a being which designed all life and matter in the universe also discusses how to kill pigeons and advocates the murder of children.

Thank you very much for offering your personal insights. As I understood your comment about my article on authority and the Christian faith, you ascribe authority to something/someone other than the Christian God, which I respect as your sincerely and passionately held position, but which was not the subject of my article.

For Christians, belief is not based in fear as you described it; you made a common error that is a mischaracterization of religion (and of psychology, for that matter): the word 'fear' (of God) for Christians refers to awe, reverence, and respect. You speak of "no motivator" - except for platitudes, apparently - and yet millions of Christians throughout the world are motivated to believe in what you call "the absurdities involved with religion." I don't think platitudes could cause millions to believe - but love for God, incomprehensible as that may seem to you, does cause it.

As in my final statement in the pink box at the end of my article - do not move easily from that which you believe, do not move at all, actually, unless and until something else is revealed to you...
God blesses us in many ways, and He has blessed me with your comment, for which I again thank you.

The copyright for this content entitled "Authority and the Christian Faith" has been specified by the contributor as:

This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.