Fermentation of the Present Rebellion

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

The lesson I take from this is that we all have to submit one to another. That is a safeguard and a protection to us.

Abusive leaders always teach us to submit. The real lesson is to obey the Lord. Church history is filled with men of God who refused to submit, for conscience sake, even to their death. The Bible spends far more time rebuking the rotten leaders than it does teaching the sheep to submit to their leaders.

[OBW]

Originally Posted by Ohio

Abusive leaders always teach us to submit. The real lesson is to obey the Lord. Church history is filled with men of God who refused to submit, for conscience sake, even to their death. The Bible spends far more time rebuking the rotten leaders than it does teaching the sheep to submit to their leaders.

That is partly because, despite the writing of some being to everyone (such as the gospels) to some extent, the letters are to the leaders even when the whole congregation is addressed.

But just because the amount of rebuking of leaders is great does not diminish the importance of the small amount of teaching to submit. Those who "refuse to submit, for conscience sake, even to their death" are generally not refusing to submit to spiritual authority. If they are, then they there is nothing praiseworthy in their testimony.