Authority @ MindSay

I was thinking about it recently, how much I dislike authority and why that is. I have no choice but to tolerate it at work, but I believe that nobody should be subject to orders (what gives right for there to be any hierarchy of will?), and particularly from people who don't deserve it - that would be 'out of order'.

The phrase 'out of order' is interesting because it seems to largely order rights by what people deserve - which is good - but it got me thinking, maybe there's a hierarchy to this 'order' by what people do deserve - not as a hierarchy of power/will, and it's not a right to command, but still I suppose when you have a spread of people deserving different things then it's kind of an automatic concept - it's our perception of that concept that says to us whether what we get is/isn't deserve
 - however that is a perception thing, people can and do usually assume they deserve because unfortunately, they can't factor in what they haven't recognised - if they don't acknowledge mistakes their concience has the bliss of ignorance. If anybody really does genuinely try to recognise mistakes and deal with them but still feels pure then they probably really are.

If there is such thing as god, even if I have the same ideals as him, I wouldn't take orders from him unless it somehow was in my best interests to (i.e. a threat). My attitude is that I do whatever I want as far as I can and screw anyone who gets in my way :D - (if they exist) god and satan included. Anyone at all who supports what I want to do on a certain level is a welcome ally who will get equal treatment as an ally, not a lord or subordinate, and they would be free to do what they want on their own free will too, and free to oppose me at will on any level knowing that they would be accepted back if they want, there would be no command hierarchy and they'd choose who and what they fight with. No single will should control anything beyond itself, and nobody should be punnished for following their own path, even if that leads to conflict with me, but the conflict would be fought on that issue.

I was thinking also, I can use people's choice of whether they want help or not as a decider for whether they get sympathy - if they turn down good intentions then they deserve what they get, and their woe shall be their own, but if they have the foresight to see help, then there exists a good side in them that deserves help... This way, our choices can decide what we deserve to get. I sometimes try to help regardless of whether it's deserved, to move things on anyway, I suppose when they realise, they will repent anyway... so it doesn't matter too much how they learn it - be that the easy or hard way. I shouldn't have to go to an effort though when it isn't deserved, because that is out of order, I suppose that's why I ceased my activity on stupidevilbastard.com .

Rebel against it, respect it, heed it, ignore it...  People have all sorts of responses to authority.

It's an unusual quality. An intangible that carries with it some very tangible results.  Forced authority is harsh, uncaring, brittle.  True authority is deep, strong, quiet.  It doesn't have to make an issue out of itself. It just has to speak.

Too often, I think, people assume a mantle of authority to which they have no right.  You'll hear them in front of classrooms and boardrooms, on the field and in front of cameras. People who have to try -- and they do! -- to convince you they do indeed have authority.

Yet these people do not truly possess that intangible quality.  If they have to proclaim they possess it, they don't have it at all.  No, it is the quiet look, the firm hand, the decisive acceptance of a task or position and following through on all implied ramifications that make for authority.

Authority.  How did Jesus teach that was so very different from how the usual scribes taught from Scripture?  He did not, likely, shout or sweat a lot or use violent body language in order to get his point across.  He taught as one having authority. As having the right and responsibility to share what was in the Scripture with those who were listening. And they did listen. They were amazed. 

I imagine he spoke in love. Compassion. And when his eyes met the eyes of the congregants, they could tell he was sincere.  Did they see the profound wisdom in his  eyes? I don't know. But I do know they sensed it. 

They weren't the only ones.

Mark relates here, in this ever-active gospel, that Jesus was confronted by a possessed man. The "unclean spirit" within the man knew Jesus.  Knew him well.  Proclaimed his identity, in fact, before the entire congregation.  Instead of bowing, smiling and saying, "Yep, that's me, you just tell the people, here,  who I am so they'll listen and support me and my friends," Jesus told the unclean spirit to be quiet and to leave the man alone.

Of course, his authority was absolute and the spirit left. Loudly.

Again, the people were amazed.  First, Jesus had taught as if he were utterly familiar with the material, without making an issue of it, and then he told an unclean spirit to leave.  No hokus-pokus.  No fancy ritual. Just the sheer  authority of who he was -- whom he was recognized to be! -- was enough.

Jesus got to be really popular. But this wasn't always a good thing, as we'll read later.

Authority.  Those who saw Jesus in the flesh knew he had it.  Those who heard him speak.  Those who did not wish to obey him were still compelled to do so, simply by that intangible quality.  Thing is, we are given free will, as human beings.  Freedom to choose to follow the definite authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  We can still read what he said.  We can pray and seek to feel his authoritative presence in our own lives.

But do we submit to that authority? 

Jesus will not scream and shout and wave his hands around and sweat and promise happiness and health and peace and safety in your life as a bribe to get you to heed him.  His authority is the quiet authority of a gentleman on his own property -- unquestioned by him and his servants. 

Are you a servant of the Lord?  Have you encountered that authority before? Have you accepted his authority with your will free to choose?

 

Documented case of demon possession by Dr. Richard E. Gallagher who is a board certified psychiatrist and also a Professor of clinical psychiatry at New York Medical College. Dr. Gallagher documented the demon possession in the February issue of the New Oxford Review.

 

The story goes on to tell of Roman Catholic exorcists going to work on exorcising the demon.

 

I find the Roman Catholic ritualizing of exorcising fascinating; however that does not line up with a “What Would Jesus Do” moment. Jesus always was prayed up and cast a demon out with a command. Jesus gave this authority to all who Believe on Jesus. Believers can cast out demon by being prayed up and using the NAME OF JESUS.

 

·       ...they brought to Him [Jesus] many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, (Matthew 8: 16)

 

·       Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!" But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He [Jesus] commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." (Mark 1: 23 – 27)

 

·       When He [Jesus] had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. So the demons begged Him, saying, "If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine." And He said to them, "Go." So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water. Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. (Matthew 8: 28-33)

 

·       Then He [Jesus] appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: (Mark 3: 15, 16)

 

·       And when He [Jesus] had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. (Matthew 10: 1)

 

·       And He [Jesus] called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. (Mark 6: 7) [Scripture References from TheBibleSpeaks.com]

 

Trust me; there are more New Testament references which are similar.

 

Now you Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox or other ritualized Christians; don’t send me the haterade because I believe in the simplicity of the Word. I am not saying the ritual thing is ineffective or wrong (as many of my Pentecostal/Word fellow Believers would). For Jesus the Lord said,

 

38 Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.”
39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. 40 For he who is not against us is on our[c] side. (Emphasis mine - Mark 9: 38-40 NKJV)

 

I am saying don’t play with demonology if you don’t know what you are doing yet if it concerns you find and meditate on Scriptures that build faith and the sense of authority that Jesus gave to those who Believe on Him.

 

In either case it is fascinating that a secular trained psychiatrist is publishing in a respected psychiatric journal the case of a demonic possession and the use of Christian Faith to get rid of the bugger.

 

JRH

 

It's not so hard, really.

Sometimes, people think that God is harsh and unloving. Other times, people think that he is all loving and has no punishment left in him, for his anger has been spent already, on an innocent man who became Guilt for all who believe.  At still other times, folks feel as if they have been left hanging in a nebulous place, wondering what it is God expects, anyway. How to translate "love the Lord your God with everything you are and love your neighbor as yourself" into tangible standards.

I can completely understand the wish for concrete notions.  Though we as a society praise those who can express themselves in abstract (even occasionally abstruse) ways, we are like children, wanting to see and touch and hear and smell and be given concrete demonstrations of an idea before we feel we "understand" it.

The Lord God Almighty, who made Man and loves him dearly, knows that wish and need. So, he has, in many different parts of his word, let us know what he wants to see and what he doesn't want to see in the people who claim  him.


In this scripture, originating with Paul the Apostle (the 11 meant well when they chose Matthias, but God himself had another fellow already picked out...just took a little seasoning), there is rather more detail than a mere Golden Rule delineated. Those who practice the actions or savor the negativity spelled out in verses 19 through 21 "will not inherit the kingdom of God."  This is not a nebulous "will have made God mad, so be nice" consequence. It is a direct denial of a blessing. Now, this chapter is preceded by an extensive dissertation in how faith is what saves, not law, but the faith in the God who made the Law. In the Son who brought all into fulfillment. That is faith that saves.  So these actions, heinous as they are to God Almighty, will not send one in a relationship with Christ straight to Hell, no. But they are a warning that those who are not in such a relationship cannot believe they will be in God's Kingdom if they continue to hold to such behaviors and offenses toward their Creator.

On the contrast, as Paul often will in his letters, he also spells out what it means to love, as well as showing those who claim Christ how it will be known. What fruit they will exhibit if they are truly the kind of tree they say they are.

"But I'm patient! I'm gentle! I'm oozing self-control!" some folks will say when they try to justify their deserving Heaven without Christ.  There's no law against those things, certainly, and everyone appreciates them.  And sure, there are people out here who claim Jesus as their Lord but who don't live as if he truly has authority in their lives. 

But living as if you are the son of the king and being the son of the king are not the same thing. It is the relationship that will give you entrance to the Kingdom.

Now that I have tossed out jumbled metaphors as if it were my life's work to utilize as many from my toolbox as I could (see, there's another one), I'm off to do some laundry.

Even a daughter of the King has to wash her own clothes. :)

last night ... pretty lazy...got home and had awesome dinner...i ate a lot...it was healthy food...still...i ate a lot. i love moong beans and chick pea curry...just love it.

then went to wal-mart and saw sale in sports athority...decided to go there after wal-mart. bought cookies, fruits, serial and milk ... and also a nice cookie sheet for mother. then spent 60 bucks at sports athority...bought two pairs of shoes and 2 pairs of t-shirts. thats expensive isn't it? i'm gonna find out how good these sandals are...they feel pretty comfy right now.

baked cookies...ate them too....wrapped them...and watched provoked: a true story with aishwarya rai and kevin andrews?...it was ok movie...nothing impressive...the story itself it not quite true...so i don't know what it has to offer. some of the quotes from kiran were good...about women and abuse.