BluePhantom
Educator (of liberals)
Authority is a very tricky matter in itself.
Who/what should have it and who/what shouldn't is not such an easy thing to answer.
Turn the other cheek--you do know what is said about allowing a transgression, right? Better, try not to get hit!
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you--pretty sound advice, maybe we should follow it.
The situation and timing does come into play when considering advice as authority.
Well I tend to think that authority is granted by the subordinate. It's a concept I keep firmly at the front of my mind in my business leadership style. I am only in control insofar as my staff is willing to follow me. Thus they must trust me and believe that I have their best interests at heart. I think that can be applied to most situations. Politicians get elected on similar principles. A congregation will follow their pastor on similar principles. A soldier will follow a superior officer into battle on such principles.
When it comes to Biblical authority, we have a slightly different dynamic because for centuries their authority was the threat of death. Peasants who questioned the church got torched at the stake. Even learning to read Latin was punishable by death for anyone but clergy and nobility. The reason for that, of course, was because the church didn't want the peasants to be able to read the Bible for themselves and neither did the monarchies.
It's created confusion because even though the church doesn't kill people anymore for disagreeing, there are traditions in Christianity that have no scriptural basis. They have simply been pounded into everyone's heads for countless centuries and they remain. That creates a conflicting authority with what the ancient prophets, for example, had to say that often comes into conflict with tradition. So which authority is one supposed to listen to? It's tough. It creates a lot of inner turmoil within the community of faith.