Local Church Discussions - View Single Post - Practice of Deputy Authority in the Bible

Freedom · 06-03-2015, 08:48 PM

In my experience, I never heard the topic of deputy authority brought up much within the LC, but there was always a clear chain of command. I could almost say that I don't even where I got the notion that authority was to not be questioned. It was basically an ingrained notion that I picked up somewhere along the way.

I had to stop and think about it for a minute. What seems most likely to me is that the LC is a groupthink environment, and as such, no one needs to exert authority in an obvious way. If an elder stands up and criticizes Billy Graham as one who preaches the "low gospel", and it's met with a resounding "amen", the job is already done. What should have been a statement that he was called out for saying, instead became something that was accepted by taking advantage of groupthink. If an elder knew that his statements were not going to be automatically accepted, wouldn't he be more careful in what he says?

Another consideration is that LC elders function mostly as an "MC", so their job is to say things like "sisters sing verse 1, brothers declaring." Because they are in charge of all aspects of what is happening during the meeting, they are naturally viewed as an authority figure. Their job is mostly to say and do trivial things, so it might lead to the idea that everyone else is to stupid to do the same thing. It seems people are used to listening to elders in regards to every little detail of what goes on in LC meetings, so the idea of authority is well ingrained.

06-03-2015, 08:48 PM	#2
Freedom Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 1,636	Re: Practice of Deputy Authority in the Bible In my experience, I never heard the topic of deputy authority brought up much within the LC, but there was always a clear chain of command. I could almost say that I don't even where I got the notion that authority was to not be questioned. It was basically an ingrained notion that I picked up somewhere along the way. I had to stop and think about it for a minute. What seems most likely to me is that the LC is a groupthink environment, and as such, no one needs to exert authority in an obvious way. If an elder stands up and criticizes Billy Graham as one who preaches the "low gospel", and it's met with a resounding "amen", the job is already done. What should have been a statement that he was called out for saying, instead became something that was accepted by taking advantage of groupthink. If an elder knew that his statements were not going to be automatically accepted, wouldn't he be more careful in what he says? Another consideration is that LC elders function mostly as an "MC", so their job is to say things like "sisters sing verse 1, brothers declaring." Because they are in charge of all aspects of what is happening during the meeting, they are naturally viewed as an authority figure. Their job is mostly to say and do trivial things, so it might lead to the idea that everyone else is to stupid to do the same thing. It seems people are used to listening to elders in regards to every little detail of what goes on in LC meetings, so the idea of authority is well ingrained.