Brian Blackwell
Senior Member
- Mar 10, 2018
- 994
- 129
- 45
- Banned
- #1
The etymology of the word "jurisdiction" is as follows:
Middle English: from Old French jurediction, from Latin jurisdictio(n-), from jus, jur- ‘law’ + dictio ‘saying’ (from dicere ‘say’).
Jurisdiction means to speak the law. So who has the ultimate right to speak the law? Is it God, or is it man? Whose jurisdiction are we living under?
Man's law - governmental law - claims the right to authoritatively speak law which supersedes all others. If man's law conflicts with God's law, government claims the right to ignore God's law and punish by its own standards. But that is their claim. Where do you believe authority resides in your own life?
A man cannot have two masters. If you believe that man's law holds authority, then it must take precedence over all other law, including God's. If you believe God's law holds authority, then it also must take precedence. If one takes precedence as the authority which may dictate to you the appropriate standard of behavior, the other is obviated entirely, and ceases to exist as authority. Where the two coincide, one is redundant - a hollow echo - and that which is redundant cannot dictate behavior, as it contributes no content of its own. And so again, it ceases to exist as authority.
An authority must be primary to act as a standard; for its role is to judge all behavior, and all other standards of behavior. There can only be one standard in the primary place, and all others have no authority over it, or the being which lives by dictates of the primary standard. The logical implication is that if a person is to honor God's law as the primary authority, they can have no obligation to obey man's law, or to even recognize it as authority. If one does not recognize it, it is wrong for them to support it as such, and to impose it upon themselves, their family, their neighbors, and the world at large.
It appears conclusive that no person can both support government's claim to authority, and be a person of God.
Middle English: from Old French jurediction, from Latin jurisdictio(n-), from jus, jur- ‘law’ + dictio ‘saying’ (from dicere ‘say’).
Jurisdiction means to speak the law. So who has the ultimate right to speak the law? Is it God, or is it man? Whose jurisdiction are we living under?
Man's law - governmental law - claims the right to authoritatively speak law which supersedes all others. If man's law conflicts with God's law, government claims the right to ignore God's law and punish by its own standards. But that is their claim. Where do you believe authority resides in your own life?
A man cannot have two masters. If you believe that man's law holds authority, then it must take precedence over all other law, including God's. If you believe God's law holds authority, then it also must take precedence. If one takes precedence as the authority which may dictate to you the appropriate standard of behavior, the other is obviated entirely, and ceases to exist as authority. Where the two coincide, one is redundant - a hollow echo - and that which is redundant cannot dictate behavior, as it contributes no content of its own. And so again, it ceases to exist as authority.
An authority must be primary to act as a standard; for its role is to judge all behavior, and all other standards of behavior. There can only be one standard in the primary place, and all others have no authority over it, or the being which lives by dictates of the primary standard. The logical implication is that if a person is to honor God's law as the primary authority, they can have no obligation to obey man's law, or to even recognize it as authority. If one does not recognize it, it is wrong for them to support it as such, and to impose it upon themselves, their family, their neighbors, and the world at large.
It appears conclusive that no person can both support government's claim to authority, and be a person of God.