Gary discusses recent news stories and responses to the Charlie Kirk assassination.
The question of authority becomes extremely important and practical when we start dealing with life’s most basic issues. Everyday living requires that we make a multitude of decisions. How does one choose between two or more ethical opinions?
Without a basis for authority, a standard of authority, the determination of proper ethical decision-making is left up to the shifting opinions of men. In time, however, such an ethic leads to anarchy: everyone doing what is right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6). Such living conditions cannot be long tolerated, and coercion usually is exercised to bring rebels (as defined by the new and ultimate authority) under control. Those holding the greatest power become the final arbiters of right and wrong, good and evil, just and unjust, true and false.
The Bible is God’s authoritative word to man. Without it he lacks an anchor and must drift in a sea of ethical subjectivism. The Bible secures and stabilizes us and the world in which we live: “We are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14). A dependent and finite creature needs a “touchstone” by which he can test man’s various opinions so he will not be led astray “by every wind of doctrine.” George W. Marston in his book The Voice of Authority gives us a very helpful example:
In the days of the gold rush men used a touchstone, a fine grained dark stone, such as jasper, to determine the quality of the gold which they had discovered. Today a Geiger counter is used to locate uranium and other precious metals. In baseball the umpire makes the decisions in the contest between the pitcher and the batter. In the courtroom the judge decides questions of law. In their respective fields the touchstone, the Geiger counter, the umpire and the judge speak with authority.[1]
In each case a standard of authority must determine truth from error. Man has two choices regarding authority, with the second being no real choice: he chooses either Scripture as his authority for all decision making, or the word of man. Finite, fallible, and fallen creatures need a benchmark so they will not stray in decision-making. The term benchmark is used by surveyors. Once the benchmark is established all other measurements are taken from this single point. If the benchmark is wrong then all the measurements will be distorted.
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Buy NowGary discusses recent news stories and responses to the Charlie Kirk assassination. It is getting more difficult to deny the truth of Christianity and its worldview implications. Leftists are starting to consume their own and fall back on their own “truth” in order to maintain consistency with what they proclaimed last week.
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[1] George W. Marston, The Voice of Authority (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1960), xv.