Well, Obama did not self- destruct . What should have sunk any candidate in any normal year, did not even touch The O this year. My husband believes the only reason he won the election was because the conservatives stayed home and refused to vote for McCain. Which would explain Virginia and Ohio going blue.
I have heard several sermons already both before and after the election about submitting to the new president’s authority, citing Romans 13 as the source text (let every soul be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God). You know, I really have mixed feelings about this. Not about submitting to authority. I am a firm believer in God- ordained authority.
What I am having a problem with is this notion that free men must submit uncritically to authority which has crossed its God- ordained boundaries. No one holds absolute authority except God. All humans exercise delegated authority. Every type of delegated authority comes with RESPONSIBILITIES and BOUNDARIES. In other words, someone in authority cannot merely do whatever they wish just because they have power. They have power, in order to do a specific list of things designed to bless those who must submit to that authority (those are the responsibilities), and there are boundaries limiting the power which someone with delegated authority can wield.
So before any more pastors get up and preach any more sermons about submitting to the authority of the new president, I think an eight or ten part sermon series on the nature of authority, and the responsibilities and boundaries of each type, would be a good foundation.
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