Why Respect Authority?

[Elderman]

Respect for authority does not always come easily to us. Do you sometimes find it difficult to respect those who have a measure of authority over you? If so, you are not alone in this struggle. We live at a time when respect for authority seems to be at an all-time low. Yet, the Bible says that we need to show respect for those who hold positions of authority over us.
(1 PETER 2:17)

[marval]

I have no problem respecting authority.

[Bobbisox]

me either marval but having someone using Bible passages to convince me...well, it does not !

[marval]

I agree Bobbi, I don't need the bible to convince me

[boxtops]

I am amazed that this thread is still going, I've read it and it's getting a bit repetitive now....

[Bobbisox]

what annoys me is the "superior" I am right...la-la-la
tbh when I have people such as JHs at my door, I dismiss them as being annoying,
I am sure God did not want to annoy people this way :-)

[DaisyNonna]

Define Authority
Define Respect

[Bobbisox]

boxy, Elderman keeps coming back with "quotes"...:-)

[RATTER15]

Jehova's Witnesses really are the most irritating.

[Bobbisox]

my friends Parents are JHs and they refused to attend her wedding?
very Christian indeed?

[Answerprancer]

"The Bible says that we need to show respect for those who hold positions of authority over us". The whole ethos of the bible and its advocates is based firmly on dogma.
So to answer your question, I don't.
I follow "authority" when I believe it is correct and I either ignore it or flout it when I don't.

So, "Elderman" - what kind of god-botherer are you ? A Joebo, a Mormon, or a Baptist (or other) ?

"You can't run a country
By a book of religion
Not by a heap
Or a lump or a smidgeon"

(Frank Zappa - "Dumb All Over")

[Bobbisox]

well said that Man :-)

[Answerprancer]

(I hope he's a Joebo so I can lay into him about the splitting up of my family!)

[Bobbisox]

sorry to hear that AP but the same can be said for my above mentioned friend

[237SJ]

<<<Why Respect Authority>>>?
Well, why not?

[boxtops]

You can comply with authority without respecting it.

[Answerprancer]

Why not ? Because they often don't get it right and I for one am not a sheep.

[237SJ]

Isn`t complying with it respecting it though? ie if you don`t respect, you won`t comply?

[Answerprancer]

Sorry, I should have been clearer:
I have a limited respect for 'authority'.
I comply with "the rules" if they tie in with my own standards of right and wrong but if I think "the rules" are wrong - I will flout them as much as possible.

[naomi24]

Elderman, //Well atheist are like parrots rather than taking time to examine the facts.//

OK, lets talk, just for a moment, about 'facts'. The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'fact' as 'a thing that is known or proved to be true', so give me just one 'fact' to support the existence of your God - and if you can't, then stop talking about 'facts'.

//The only way is for man to get such truth from a reliable source.//

But you don't have a reliable source. Since the bible offers no verifiable proof for your God, or for your beliefs, it must be considered unreliable and therefore cannot be offered, or taken, as evidence.

As for your questions, what you are actually saying is you don't know how or why things happen so you guess God must be involved somewhere, which means you've abandoned the search for the truth together with your intellectual integrity.

If you don't know the answers, why guess? What does that achieve? Certainly not valid and justifiable answers. I'm willing to bet you don't apply the same method to determining answers in other areas of your life - and if you do, as a student your exam results have been pretty abysmal.

//Why is there all this world confusion and strife?//

I'll give you a clue. Try thinking about religion and the effect that is currently having upon this world.

Guys, Elderman is not a JW. I suspect he belongs to a specific fundamentalist American cult of bible thumpers and TV evangelists. Pretty wealthy - aren't they always? - and all thanks to sin, misery - and gullible people like Elderman!

[RATTER15]

//Isn`t complying with it respecting it though? ie if you don`t respect, you won`t comply? //

No not at all, I have had to comply with many rules and laws, simply because I want to keep my job or I don't want to brake the law, not through respect, just necessity.