After my article about Control Freaks messing the world up, and as I
went about the seminar using the book Good and Beautiful God by James
Bryan Smith, I had a vital epiphany. On page 45, Smith mentions that
the desire for control is one of the causes of people doing bad
things. Indeed, having such a desire would mean fear of loss of
control; this leads people to become fearful and desperate, and as a
result, they resort to forceful, coercive and rights-violating (and
indeed, sinful) measures to address this.
There is a false narrative I believe people must be aware of, that in
being a Christian, they have been granted license for control over
others. They believe that they are always right, that they should be
obeyed by others and anything they say or do cannot be opposed. If
someone opposes them, they have the right to punish.
This is something that, sadly, even the Christian world (and other
religions) had for years misused, leading to numerous wrongdoing and
abuses. For example, we have the Inquisition, where Catholic clergy
had used political authority to force people to follow their system,
or else they torture and kill people. They have acted as hypocrites,
ironically violating the very principles they preach.
The truth must be told: we are not granted any special authority to
control the world. We are not police, enforcers or thugs of morality
over the world. This is perhaps a result of misreading the Bible.
There are verses like “what you bind on earth will be bound in
heaven” or “they will inherit the earth.” Many believers have
thought that being a child of God means being granted special
authority on Earth, and that they would have political power aside
from religious power.
For example, we look at the example of when Kim Davis refused to
carry out a gay marriage. This divided many people; some people say
she should allow it because her position dictates it, while others
say she should crusade against all gay marriage. I would say, Davis
has the right to refuse according to her own beliefs. But if she
extends this to others, going out of her way to block every gay
marriage she could reach, I would not agree with that. That denies
from other people their own will, the very thing that God granted
them as part of his creation. If we force our ways on others, it also
does not mean that they believe the message we force. One can obey
something while not believing in it at the same time. We would be
encouraging this deliberate non-belief in the faith by using force.
This could also be from the Fall of Man. Remember when the Serpent
said, “You shall be like gods?” That sounds like, “you are the
one in control, not God.” That is the false narrative drilled in
our heads by the wily Serpent; we should be in control, and if we
control, we are right. In truth, if we try to control others instead
of ourselves, we sin (Rom. 13, love does not force its own way).
Being a believer does not give us authority or license to have
command over others. Rather, it gives us more responsibility than we
ever thought. That responsibility is marked out in 1 Peter 2:12 –
Be good even in the eyes of pagans or non-believers. We are not
supposed to force others to be good, we should be good ourselves and
show the example. That is how we bring God’s kingdom into the
world; we become the advertisement that entices people to the
kingdom. Belief that we have a right to force it is the devil’s
false narrative.
Those who continue to believe that they should have control over
others are still stuck in the sinful nature. People should learn to
give up their narrative of control and accept that they should
control themselves and not others. While some might say controlling
oneself is very difficult, that is the reason believers have Christ
in them, to help them. Only once the narrative of control has been
fully dumped from one’s life can they see the peace of God. Of
course, it’s not only among Christians or people with religion
where the this issue of control is relevant. It’s relevant to all
of humanity. I believe that this is one of the most important
messages to teach believers today. This is because it shows one
important side of the Good News: even if we are not in control,
things will be good – mainly because, when we try to take control
of others, we are the ones making things bad.
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