Oxford defines authority as “the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.” Humanity typically has a disdain for authority. This starts at an early age. As children, we disregard the authority of our parents. As teenagers, we disrespect the teachers in our classrooms. And as adults, we despise our bosses’ power over us. We don’t like taking orders, we hate the idea of someone making decisions for us, and we abhor the idea of someone else enforcing obedience upon us. Yet, there’s no way to escape authority. That’s just a part of life, no matter who you are. However, some of us have realized that authority is beautiful if the authority figure is good, meaning they have our best intentions. As children, we don’t know how to live as we ought; therefore, we have parents prohibiting us from going off the deep end. As students, we don’t know nearly as much as we should; therefore, teachers aim to equip us with the knowledge that’ll lead to future success. And a good boss will want their employee to flourish for the company’s sake. So really, it’s our sins and the sins of others that have distorted our view of authority. We need to rethink how we view authority.
Following is the transcript. It was initially intended to be heard, not read, so the tone is more conversational than academic. It has only been loosely edited, so forgive any grammatical, syntactical, or spelling errors. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to add a comment.
