Religious authority is sometimes a tricky one… Some churces may claim to be the ‘right’ church, or imply their the ‘only’ church, and with that assume their authority is basically the authority under the Word of God, and they’ll use scriptures to imply this authority. It’s up to us research the Word of God and decide how authority can be used, to what extent, and also be able to detect when it is being abused.
Have you ever been in a relationship or social setting where someone seems to be out to provoke you? It can be old friends, family members, partners, acquaintances, church members and coworkers. Often it’s the older relationships that can be the most bitter, and there’s so much baggage.
If you feel provoked by someone, manipulated or controlled, and feel that below superficial niceties they’re a very nasty person, ask yourself why they’re nasty. The biggest temptation is to be nasty back in kind. To play the same game. Perhaps it becomes intensely competitive with a ‘tit for tat’ kind of situation.
If you think about it, someone who is provocative and nasty is bound to be a deeply unhappy person. Whether you know it or not, you’re a threat to them. It could be ‘impersonal’ in that you represent a threat because of your talents, knowledge, position or clout, or it could be personal -they don’t like your personality, something you’ve said etc…
On the other hand, a self-assured person is content, so therefore, why be competitive? If you can be self-assured in yourself, you have no compulsion to be one-up on your fellow man. Someone who is content and self assured, no matter religion or philosophy, has no interest in dominating, controlling or exploiting their fellow man.
The biggest challenge for us is how do we react to someone who provokes us? The natural reaction is to do the same back, but the problem with that is you’re stooping down to their level. You become like them, and are liable to get caught in a downward spiral of biting back… The bible warns congregations not to get caught up in this, because in the end you destroy each other (‘envying and devouring’ each other).
But the alternative is much harder -to do nothing. And it’s a risk. By doing nothing, you may be successful in preventing a war, and things may settle down. On the other hand, the antagonist might be looking for a fight, in which case he or she will persist until they either get their desired affect or eventually give up.
There are some things to keep in mind about provoking people (rather than use the term ‘being provocative’, which can be seen as a noble artistic endeavor). There are advantages for people who provoke: they can gain the ‘moral’ upper hand by silently provoking their target until the target finally lashes back in front of witnesses -typical classroom trick with students, the teacher always catches the one who is being provoked while the instigator feigns innocence.
The other advantage in being the one who provokes is related -they have the advantage of planning ahead. They often have the element of surprise. Really clever provoking is when the instigator can provoke their target without their target realizing they’re deliberately being provoked at the time. The target is then prone to a knee-jerk reaction that can get him or her into trouble.
This can be relevant between classmates, family members, church members, employees, politicians and governments. It can exist on several levels: emotional and psychological, in conversation, in the media and any communications, in financial and business warfare and in military (tit-for-tat between borders for example). It can be on a conscious level and even subconscious – people may provoke you though they’re not consciously aware of it, they just feel you’re a threat for some reason.
As a Christian I feel answers to these dilemmas are not easy but wisdom can be found in the scriptures, through prayer and wise communication and negotiation. It also involves building up emotional self-control and checking one’s knee-jerk reactions, because when you lose it in anger that’s when you make mistakes and lose respect of those around you. Of course, we all have a limits and fall on many occasions, but we can learn from out mistakes.
