More on authority

I was struck by a recent experience I had with Flickr, the Internet photography posting site. Like over a million other people, I am a member. Anyone can join, and it's free. Flickr is not only a photography site, but, for many members, a social network. I'm one who uses it both ways.

There are Groups in Flickr. For example, there is one for photos of leaves, and another for gnarly trees. Membership is usually open to anyone, although some groups require invitation. Groups are administered by volunteers, usually the founder of the Group. (Anyone can found a Group.) Most Groups have requirements, such as only adding two photos a day, or not adding photos that don't belong in the Group's content area. Some Groups require members to comment on photos added by others. I belong to a few such Groups.

A few days ago, a discussion arose among one Group with a requirement for commenting on two other photos for every one you add to the Group. Some people occasionally ignore such requirements, sometimes by oversight, sometimes deliberately. An administrator said that he had asked a member to comment, as he was supposed to, once, twice, and a third time, with no compliance. The non-compliant member responded that the administrator was being "rude." I didn't think so, and most members didn't. That person was prevented, at least temporarily, from posting any further photos to that Group.

How did the administrator get that authority? He (or she) got it from the founder of the Group, who established the rules, and made the Group possible. There's a lesson in that. God has authority, because He is the author, the Founder. Genesis 1:1 begins the Bible by making that clear. That's the most important question about origins. Not how old the earth is, or whether Noah's flood was world-wide, or whether God designed the eye, but Who? And Genesis 1:1 tells us Who.

I discovered another person who had not been following the same rule. It developed that he is an administrator of the Group. I decided that, in that case, it was time to withdraw, and I did.

God is just, and fair, and abides by His own rules. We don't know what all of them are, but He does, and He obeys them. See here for a previous post on authority.

Thanks for reading.