Perhaps as a Kindergarten teacher I get stuck on this issue a bit, but it is startling how little it is understood. I am just beginning to understand the necessity and beauty of authority structures. Most recently I have been thinking about the authority I don't have.
"I believe that murder is wrong," is an authority statement. Unfortunately it is an appeal to a faulty authority, myself. Murder isn't wrong because I think so. Murder is wrong because God says so. So I must be willing to leave off the "I believe" and "I think" because that is an appeal to a false authority. When I say "Murder is wrong," I am appealing to the ultimate authority, God's revealed law in Scripture.
However, with this must come a humility because I am not the authority. I must be willing to hold on tight to what I believe, but rest my reputation in the same place I find my authority. That also means that when confronted with Scripture that says I must change, I don't really have a choice but to obey. It has many other ramifications that I am still learning.
By the way, Taylor Mali's "Speak with Authority" Slam Poetry thing, is based on authority outside ourselves. The real answer to his question, "why don't we speak with authority" is that , so often, we don't want to admit an authority outside ourselves. Check yourself. When you say "I think..." are you really being humble, saying that you might be wrong, or are you not wanting to admit - or search for what God has already said. True humility points to another authority.
I am not there yet. But by God's grace, He will lead me, and I will follow, where he wants me to go.
Please, offer your comments, critique my point of view, strengthen my argument, tell me what you think of it all. I want to learn more.
It seems to me that "I think" can be used either as a prideful assertion ("I think... ergo end of discussion") or as an honest expression of sourcing ("I think... because I don't have another source ready, but am willing to be contradicted or challenged to support the position"). But I don't have a source for that ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnd to quibble on one point, murder is not wrong because God says it is, but because it tautological. Murder is the wrongful killing of another, so for a killing to be murder, it must have been wrong in the first place. For a particular killing to be called murder, of course, would invoke the God's Law part of your discussion, which is a point well made.
It seems like the authority of reason is valid authority. From the perspective of Christianity or religion, we believe that God gives us or created us with intellect, and so it's a good thing for us to use and even trust. Part of the reason I use "I think" or "I could be wrong" a lot is that even if you base every decision on the Bible alone, which (honestly) I don't, there are so many different interpretations that it's hard to know which one is most accurate. seems like reason plays a huge part there.
ReplyDeleteAlso, with the murder example, it's not wrong only because God says so: that's why even most nonreligious people would agree with you - it violates human life and freedom, and nearly everyone agrees that's a crime, even without knowing what God says on the subject.
Those are my thoughts right off hand.
As I see it, if you say that you know something based on an outside authority (the bible), you are still basically saying "this is what I think." Because the truth is, there is no way to know that the bible is the ultimate authority. You trust it and have faith in it, but that's a choice that you (and of course circumstance) have made. So at the end of the day, when you say "this is what I believe based on the authority of the bible," you are still saying "this is what I think, and the reason is that it lines up with my belief system."
ReplyDeleteHere's the Mali Video.
ReplyDeleteAs a Christian, my life must hang on revelation - which implies outside authority and action. There is truth and it is shown to me by its author. My own thinking, as often as not, blinds me, since it - like every component of me - is tainted by sin (total depravity). The Holy Spirit illuminates and can make use of circumstance or experience.
There are differing interpretations of many things in the Bible. But there are many more that are painfully explicit. As Paul wisely writes, "If on some point you think differently, that too, God will make clear to you; only let us live up to what we have already attained." (Phil 3) Or as Martin Luther boldly and humbly declared, "My soul is captive to the Word of God. Here I stand; I can do no other."
Dear sister, the Baylys speak with authority. They speak humbly. They speak boldly. And they're fallen men, saved by grace.