Authority IV - 500th POST!

 . . . and since I was so furiously enraged at them . . . 

 - From Acts 26

Over the weekend, most recently, a news item made the viral rounds, got everybody mad, was debunked, and then everybody settled  back in to their routine: the next thing to make them mad.

It seems like the early days of the Church were like that. There were people chomping at the bit, just to be mad at someone, or something. 

Read your Facebook, just a little bit. People are eager to be angry! They would rather read something inflammatory, than something uplifting.  The Apostle Paul spent his time, prior to his conversion, being mad, angry, furious. He was so worked up, that he couldn't see straight. There must be a narcotic effect to being angry, otherwise we want want to be mad so much.

Paul always appealed to authority. He was mindful of his superiors. As a pharisee, he persecuted the Christians, with the support and encouragement of the higher-ups. As a Christian, he appealed to Christ. When at trial, he appealed to Caesar. He always worked the chain of command. He respected it, and used it. 

Paul practiced the acknowledgement of who's in charge, and the debt he owed his elders . . . and it made him very effective and quite possible, spared his life for many years. 

This is my 500th post in the "reflectionary" series, or . . . "The World and the Real World." I want to look at the Bible as real people do . . . not those with seminary degrees. Not the people that can translate Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic. 

My background is filled with men and women that never went to college. I always had more regard for their understanding of Scripture, than I did for someone highly educated. 

I always deferred to the wisdom of a mechanic, or blue collar laborer, over that of a professor, or teacher. I've never had much respect for an ideological person that uses a position of authority, like a teacher, professor, or preacher, to lord it over those in their charge, that trust them, and follow them.

My regard for the true individualist does not lend itself to joining any mass movements. I do not want to be "on the right side of history," or popular. I do not want a large following. I want people to trust themselves, and lean on their own wisdom. I want people to listen to their true elders - the family members and neighbors that actually will give them time of day. We should not be overly influenced by people that get paid to talk. 

By this keeping out of any mass anything, I find myself not in a position to make too many people furious. People tend to assume that I'm, of course, on their side. But I do not like "sides" and I do not like partisanship. Well . . . I guess this is an infuriating attitude.

There was a song once, that "God and I make a majority." Indeed, that's true. We do not need to be part of any marches today. 

Think for yourself. When you reflect on the word of God . . . you find yourself in a dwindling group.