NN

To Sue (comment # 120)
You have hit upon the very crux of the matter:
“I do not feel that any person should have personal authority over another, due to the prevalence of sin. ”

Yet this is the instruction which the Bible repeatedly and explicitly gives us.

Rom 13:1 ~ Let every person be subject [hupotassoe] to the governing authorities [exousia]. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
(Titus 2:9, Titus 3:1, 1 Pet 2:13-18, Eph 6:1, Col 3:20, etc.)

Is this authority often abused sinfully and does sin cause harm? Of course: just read the Gospels – Pilate crucified the sinless Christ (and Christ acknowledged that He had such authority). Read the book of Acts, the “governing authorities” who Paul told the people to submit to repeatedly tortured and imprisoned him, and ultimately killed him. Yet he submitted to all this treatment at the hands of authority being used sinfully, just as he instructed in his epistles.

I understand that you do not feel that anyone should have authority over another because you can see the destruction so often incurred. Any power has this potential, gasoline is quite useful for running a car engine – but if you atomize and ignite it you can level a building (which itself can be fun in the right context); atomic energy has given us an amazing power supply, and Hiroshima and the nuclear fear of the Cold War; even the battery in my laptop can produce roughly the same explosion as a hand grenade if used incorrectly. As with any of God’s gifts – they are meant for good – but they can be twisted by sin to create something horrible.

We must realize that the inspired instruction of Scripture stands over our own personal feelings on any matter. Else we do not serve God, we require that God serve our own sensibilities and desires (and we can read the book of Judges if there is any doubt as to where this leads).