Respect God’s Authority
Fundamental Christians often tell me that whether I believe in God or not, I will have to respect his authority. Of course, I inform them that even if their God does exist (and I am reasonably certain he doesn’t), I still see the God as portrayed in the Bible as immoral and would not follow such a deity. As such, I don’t recognize God’s Authority.
This is where the police argument comes in. The Christian usually argues, “Just because you don’t recognize God’s authority doesn’t mean you can ignore dealing with it. I could say I do not recognize the local police’s authority and break the speed laws or rob people’s houses. The fact that ‘I don’t recognize’ the police’s authority doesn’t mean I will not have to deal with it once I am apprehended.”
I actually love it when a Christian uses this type of argument because it shows just how bronze-aged the Christian God actually is. You see, humans learn stuff and we progress socially, politically, and morally. God doesn’t learn. God doesn’t progress. While the Bible has certainly changed over the years, the crappy character of God has changed very little if at all. The God of the Bible was written in a bronze-aged time by bronze-aged people.
Getting back to the argument, the police are not the authority. We the people are the authority. The police just enforce our authority. America has an entire political system for creating laws, trying particular cases, and redressing grievances. If I don’t like the speeding laws, I can contact my representatives in government and lay out my arguments. If the law was enforced unfairly, I can take the issue up with the courts. Even if I am found guilty, I still have the right to appeal and I can still be paroled or given a reprieve. While there is no guarantee that I will win at any point in the process and there is of course corruption, there is still a system in place for people who do not respect the authority of the people.
God doesn’t even have that. In other words, our obviously flawed legal system is better than God’s perfect justice system. Our legal system sentences people differently depending on the wrong-doing, but God sends everyone to be tortured for all eternity for the smallest sin to the biggest. Whether you work on Saturday or murder 6 million people, you are going to Hell forever… except if you ask Jesus for forgiveness. Then of course you are free to go because according to the story, God drank Jesus’s blood or something.
To summarize, I don’t have to respect the authority of the police. The police can arrest me, but then I get the opportunity to make my case. The court system does their best to pick jurors who don’t assume that the police are always right. The Judge does his best to make sure both sides are treated fairly and the lawyers do their best to represent their side. If you cannot afford a lawyer to help defend your position, the court will appoint one to you. The character of God has no such process and among other reasons (like his non-existence) is why I don’t respect his authority.
