Source of Authority [Podcast]

Michael WintherPodcast

LISTEN NOW

In this lecture, Mike Winther condenses part of his 20-hour course. He talks about the worldview battle and clash of ideas that we are all part of. He says that there are six or seven principles that we clash on that result in almost all the conflicts that we have around the world. 

Is there or is there not a God? Do our rights come from God or the majority? Where does authority come from? Do we make decisions based on ends or means? Which is more important: collectivism or individualism? Mike walks us through these concepts to help discover what should be the real source of authority in government and our lives.

You’ll Learn:

  • [01:17] These main principles include is there or is there not a creator.
  • [01:42] Source of rights. Where do our rights come from? Our rights either come from God or the majority. 
  • [02:07] Where does authority come from? Do we make decisions on ends or means?
  • [02:29] Collectivism versus individualism. The collectivist says that the group is more important. The individualist says that the individual is more important.
  • [03:02] If there is no God, then God can’t be our source of rights.
  • [04:14] Mike discusses the survival of the fittest mindset. 
  • [06:43] How the source can determine the use. We need to carefully choose what the source of our rights is going to be.
  • [08:19] Our founding fathers debated whether to have a Bill of Rights, because they didn’t want people to assume the rights were coming from the government.
  • [10:54] We want our rights to come from God, because what the government gives the government can take away.
  • [13:20] We need to be prepared to go deep on these subjects of where our rights come from. 
  • [14:31] We want to be cautious about authority. We want power to be balanced with authority. 
  • [19:32] How do we know what the government can and can’t do? What is the source of authority?
  • [20:52] We need to know what the proper role of government actually is. 
  • [21:29] Do we want to leave government decisions in the hands of the majority?
  • [22:38] The Bible contains the instructions to know what the government should and shouldn’t do. This should be our source of authority.
  • [23:28] When we vote, we choose people of character who we want to carry out the predetermined government authority.
  • [24:58] The ultimate source of truth is God’s word.
  • [26:13] The root word of authority is author. All authority has an author.

Your Resources: