The Nonimortality of the Corporate SDA Soul

[Gregory Matthews]

See:

http://atoday.org/my-take-the-non-immortality-of-the-churchs-soul/

[pierrepaul]

The authoritarian point of view is deeply ingrained in our society. When we look at our political structures in Canada and the United States, even though we have both had federal systems, for almost 230 years in the US and for almost 150 years in Canada. Yet many people think that somehow the federal authority is the boss of the states or provinces. Many citizens of both countries do not realise that the states and provinces are sovereign within their area of jurisdiction. Here in Canada, when a province does something that people in other provinces don't like, one often hears comments like "the Prime Minister (the federal leader) shouldn't allow province X to do that", ignorant of the fact that the federal PM isn't the provincial premiers' boss, just like the US president isn't the boss of the state governors.

It's the same with the church, many members think that the conference president is the boss of the church congregations, that the union president is the boss of the conference presidents, that the division president is the boss of the union presidents, that the GC president is the boss of everyone. When a district pastor is elected conference president, it's seen by many as a promotion; when a conference president is elected union president, it's seen as a promotion, etc.

Maybe this attitude comes from the business world where a president is the boss of the VPs, who are the bosses of regional managers, etc. Or maybe it comes from people's view of the military where there is a Commander-in-chief and a "chain of command". I don't know. On SdA sites in the last week or two, I've seen members refer to the unions as not respecting the "chain of command" as if such a thing exists in the church.