Authority Matters

Tough Questions for Christians #36—Collateral Damage
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AZ gives us a Bible theme—when one person makes a decision, other people get punished for it. So he asks, “Why does God punish people for actions they did not participate in?”

This has to do with the principle of authority. Anyone who has authority over others—a parent, a king, a church leader—has power over the other’s lives and how they are responded to. Thus, Adam’s decision causes the rest of us to suffer because we are all born children of Adam. David’s sin caused his people to suffer because his action related to his responsibility to the people.

This principle continues on today. If Congress passes a law, we are all responsible to obey it and we will be punished if we don’t. If our father is an addict, that effects his children severely. If our mother has AIDS when we are born, that effects the rest of our life. The actions of those who have authority over us effect us, even if we don’t want it.

This is true even if we didn’t choose the authority over us. Everyone born in the U.S. is a citizen of the U.S. even if we wished that were not so. This means that whatever the leaders of the U.S. choose, that effects our lives. If they decide to enact war against another country, then it is our sons and daughters who will die in that war, and also we will all suffer the moral and mental damage of them killing others in that war. A slave in a household is stuck in the system of his master, even if he didn’t want to live in the household. When it is a choice between stealing from a master’s enemy’s or dying under the master’s whip, the choice to the slave seems clear.

This is why if we have a choice of authorities to live under, we should choose carefully. To join up to the military is to accept the military as one’s master, and they train one to kill if they say kill. That effects everyone’s life. If we choose to be a citizen of a nation, we accept their laws and accept the consequences of the decision of their leaders.

This is why Jesus is so important. He is offering us citizenship in the kingdom of God. He offers to be our King, our Lord. If we choose Him, and release the ties to all other kingdoms, all other masters, then we receive the consequences of His actions and not the weak leaders we have around us.

Authority matters.