The Role of Power in Our History and our Future
Spheres of Authority in a Democracy
What is power and authority and where do we want it in our society? What determines who gets it? Freedom Convoy 2022 in Canada got worldwide attention last month and it has revealed a lot by the various reactions it has gotten, from governments, media and average folks. If you haven’t seen any video of what I’m talking about, here are two great reviews for you, or see my blog describing it.
It came to a head when a group of truckers got together and decided to protest the government removing the vaccine exemption that truckers had for crossing the USA border in January. The federal government refused to even acknowledge them, and just got the police to remove them. In my previous blogs, I explain the incredible difference between the legacy media and independent media coverage of this truckers protest and reveal an emerging pattern in the government’s response to dissent.
The Fragility of Democracy
No one would have guessed that the government in Canada would have gone this far. So, what allowed this to occur? Let’s look into what forces are at play in the levels of authority in a democracy. If we understand them, we can live our life using these forces to our advantage, or at least not get wiped out by them.
A free and democratic society is not the norm. When you look to the history books, world history was not based on great democratic societies but on imperialism, absolute rule, kings, queens, monarchs, dictators.
Unless we recognize, with thankfulness, that this world we live in is truly an aberration, we will not protect its fragility the way we need to for its preservation. May it continue to exist for our grand kids. This is by no means a given!
Here are the authorities that need to be kept in their proper spheres of influence in order to have a stable democracy.
Sphere Sovereignty
I can accept that the government is in place for my protection and gets to make decisions on my behalf in the best interest of the society as a whole. Some of these will affect my daily life. The government in a just society respects its limitations.
For instance, the state does not get to determine when the sun will rise each day. That is not within their jurisdiction. They can control train schedules and set up a standard for what time it is in Mountain Time Zone when the sun rises, but not get to actually change when it will rise.
Family Sphere of Authority
Other limitations on the government may not be as obvious. They don’t get to decide who is in the same family, how it is organized, who is head of the household. They have made laws against child abuse, etc , but can not determine the family dynamic is outside of their jurisdiction. Things like: is there one primary bread-winner? Is the father to be the protector of the family? Who disciplines the children?
The family is a unit instituted by God, not by any particular government. There were families in every country before there was any kind of government, and yes, before there was organized Christianity or any other religion.
The highest form of authority is the family. Wherever the idea came from, it is the basic building block of any society. Husbands and wives take care of each other and their children as priorities. In general at least, no one loves us like our parents, who want to do the best for us. This is their sphere of authority.
In our Ministry of Education description, it acknowledges that education is primarily the responsibility of the parents. We may, if we choose, delegate some of that responsibility to the schools, especially if we are not so good in math, or want them to learn a second language we aren’t fluent in.
We need to be very careful what authority we have delegated to others, intentionally or by default.
Church Sphere of Authority
Also with Church. In Christianity, Christ is head of church. He declares who is to manage it, and how. Only he gets to decide whether going to church on a Sunday is a service that is essential to the parishioners or not. There are people worshiping their god in every country regardless of the kind of government they have. As one big happy family of God, they support fellow believers.
In western society, the individual is supreme. While I agree that it is at the level of the individual that consequences must apply, there are natural consequences that affect the person’s whole sphere of influence. My work colleagues, children, wife, extended family are all affected by how I choose to live my life. It’s more comfortable for me to think that any decision I make is in a vacuum — but, it’s not. This is a concept that a faith community drives home for people.
Christians are called to be a voice for the voiceless and support the marginalized in society. The church has a long history of providing healthcare and hospitals as an extension of its ministry of ‘hospitality.’ Many schools, universities, clinics and hospitals were founded and run by churches, even in secular and Muslim countries.
One could argue that hospitals and schools were better run by the churches than how they are currently managed. If the church had not run Indian Residential Schools designed by the state, but rather on Biblical principles, maybe it wouldn’t have so much to apologize for. If the church had continued to run hospitals as a charity and not for profit, without government interference, our healthcare system may have been in better shape to face the pandemic.
None of this is to say that the state does not have an important and legitimate role under the sovereignty of God. But the church has her own king, and it isn’t the state — Even if the President or Prime Minister seems to think he is god!
Christians are to be crying out for justice to God, but also to the culprit or to the government. However, my understanding of the Christian church is that, contrary to the west’s penal system of justice, their focus is not retribution. We don’t take revenge (vengeance is Mine, says the Lord.) So, since He knows all that is in men’s hearts and we don’t, we are to let Him take care of that part! We are not concerned that the culprit gets punished, as long as the injured party gets compensated. This, I believe is God’s sense of justice. God has given us all justice, by having paid us back in full for all that was stolen from us. At the same time, God has paid for all of our sins in full, to those we’ve sinned against.
Government Sphere of Authority
Government carries the sword for a reason — defense and punishment. That’s it! Yes, I realize that governments have taken over a lot of responsibilities over the years. They can also provide roads, access to healthcare, and various things, but their function is only to provide services, not forcing people to use them. The function of the government is to protect the population.
There is nothing historical that points to the notion that the state has the God-given responsibility or authority to determine and control the nature of human health and well-being. This would preclude any Covid state regulations preventing elderly from seeing their grandchildren, blocking the access of pastors to the dying at their bedside, or shutting down public worship.
These are different spheres of life within human society, which have their own laws and do not owe their existence to the state. They are not subservient to the state.
The Love of Tolerance
As the old Rush song goes,
“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”
And I can almost guarantee you won’t like the results of the choice, if we as citizens aren’t intentional about the choices we make!
Tolerance is seen as the current virtue of individuals. Tolerance is good for governments to have, for instance if you are of a different religion, they don’t cut your head off. That’s a good thing!
But, I believe as individuals we can, we must, do better than mere tolerance. Love is what human beings are called to exude. It’s a choice to live that way or not, despite all of our struggles. Church is where many find this love, both from God directly and reflected in other believers.
See my next blog — what are our choices?
